Windows 7 - Search feature in Windows 7 = No Search!

Hi there,

I know it has been discussed, i followed everything I could, but maybe I missed something?

The search feature in windows 7 is not working properly. It seems like there is NO search functionality in windows 7 (x64).

Just take a look at the screenshots below. The first screenshot on the left just shows few files with a Translucent word in it. On the screenshot there is 8 visible, but there is more of them inside this folder.

So I want to see all files with Translucent word only. You would expect that by typing Translucent word in the search box would do the job, but no, not this time.

I don't want to be rude, but since vista was released the search functionality is just pathetic. Yes I have all indexing options correct, I've been studying it since the day one, but then gave up until last night when I couldn't perform a very simple task. This is very frustrating.

I really don't understand this indexing thing. In win xp I could find EVERYTHING. Literally. I'm not bothered about searching through my emails and contents of the files since it doesn't even find what I want.

Summarizing, the search feature works, but only when it wants too. In this particular folder it doesn't and in my opinion "you're as strong as you weakest link" which in this case makes my search features useless. I know I can turn the indexing off, but that didn't fix it. I still can't find files with a "Translucent" word in it.

What's that about?

Or am I missing something?

Kind regards,

M.

Try to search with this pattern:

Try this search and come back to tell if it worked: filename:*Translucent

The wild card * replaces any amount of preceding characters, so this search should find all files where string Translucent is included in filename. The wildcard is not needed at the end of the filename.

Kari

*translucent* does work and shows me all the files I want, but since when I have to type stars in order to find something? Thank you.

filename:*Translucent doesn't work at all, but *translucent does as well. Thank you too.

So basically when I'm looking for a file anywhere on my system I need to type stars? Interesting, but why is that? Why can't windows be more clever? :>

Star means "any character".
So to search for file thaat has "translucent" INSIDE the name you have to type "*translucent".
At the end there is no need for the star

Strange. That is the correct syntax to search files where a certain string is included in the filename. There's a huge difference searching with or without filename parameter; if you search *Translucent it finds not only files containing that string in filename but also files where the string is to be found anywhere in the file contents. Searching filename:*Translucent restricts the search for filenames only.

Just two examples to show it works:




Here's an excellent tutorial about Windows Search: Windows Search - Configure and Use

Kari

Try this;

Everything Search Engine

<http://www.voidtools.com/>

Regards....Mike Connor

Do the search from the "F" drive not from "Computer". Where you do your search is important. Doing it from "Computer" will only ever use the Index.

I will

It's very good, but I got stuck as soon as step 2) "Type "index" (without quotes) in the search box". In Vista, when I typed appdata in start-search, it took me to the right place. Here, in 7 I have to type %appdata%.. Now, typing "index" doesn't find what it supposed to find, Indexing Options. (I know how to open it manually ;p so I can skip this step, but you can see already that there is something not right). Windows can't even find its own programs :]
edit: That's weird, I typed Index, not index and it was found straight away. Does the case matters then? Edit: No, the case doesn't matter now, because now I can just type index with lower or upper case and it finds Indexing Options...

I used stars before, on the net, on one particular search-site. I didn't even think of doing the same in windows

I was in this location: F:\Downloads\Mobile\iPhone\Themes\_Black_test\_Black_test__\_Black_test.themes\UIImages, in UIImages folder, with 14 files containing Translucent in their names.

All is amazing, but I just can't understand, why, when typing in the search box word Translucent, windows is telling me Nothing Found..

I'll check the settings again.

Thanks

edit: I checked the settings and I have all drives selected and indexed. Over 480 000 files indexed.
So when a new file is created, say a simple text file with some text inside and it's saved somewhere on one of these drives. Is it indexed straight away..? ..or when?

I just used this program called Search Everything. It finds things instantly! Obviously only filenames, not their contents. I created a text file with a certain name and a certain content on one of my drives. I opened two new windows by pressing Win+F. In one of these windows search box, I typed the filename:file.ext or file.ext I've just created and in the other window I typed the content of the text file. The first window found the file, but it took at least 5 minutes and a massive CPU load! It's been 15 minutes now and the second window did not find anything yet, though it consumes 33% of my 4 core CPU!

edit: It took 45 minutes! to find the content of the text file saved on F:\Folder\Folder\file.txt. Really? What's so advanced about this? Terrible.

Technically, "?" means any character. "*" means any number of characters. If you typed something like "?.*" in the box, you would get an assortment of files with names like a.out(Lol, UNIX reference) and z.image. Though why you would make files with one letter in the label is beyond me.