How can I change sort order for "Search Programs and files" results?

Indexes rebuilt. But sort order it still in filename order. And this is irritating almost every time I use Search !

For now I am forced to abandon MS Search and use X1 Search (not free, and rather resource heavy but IMHO, pretty powerful). With X1 Search, my click/actions are:

1. Click on X1 Quicklaunch icon (to open X1 search)
2. Type in "accounts"
3. Double-click to open.

And note:
- Search results are sorted by date (not filename) order
- Highly customizable - unlike MS Search! (e.g. I can v easily change the sort order if required)
- You get a preview of the file on the right before you open it (occasionally useful)

Conclusion
For simple searching I would still rather use the Microsoft Search - mainly because it opens & searches so fast. But for now it is almost unusable. >:^[


Anyhow fwiw, here is a visual of what I'd do in X1 Search.
...

For simple searching I would still rather use the Microsoft Search - mainly because it opens & searches so fast. But for now it is almost unusable

You got my understanding, same here.

X1 looks good. Am using Agent Ransack (FileLocator Pro) here for any important search (and windows search to find the calc and snip tool lol)

Yes I tried Agent Ransack too but didn't get on with it - I cant remember why exactly. In fact I solemnly tried them all (i.e. about 8 of them) and I hated them all. But that was a couple of years ago. Strangely enough Google used to do a very good one but it stopped working so well for some reason. PLUS I suddenly realised that should the state (or anyone Evil) take control of Google they would know far, far, FAR too much about all of us so I stopped using them.

X1 Search is pretty good. But they feel like a small and poorly resourced company. Worse they are very sluggish to respond to customer requests. e.g. They are very proud of their "as fast as type" results, but even on my new computer it rather gets in the way of the typing and there is no way to turn it off. Do let me know if you try it as I'd love to know how it compares!

andrew129260 said:

The same place where you rebuild the search indexing (indexing options) you can also add directories to indexing.

Er... in principle I would love to be able mark this as solved. The trouble is that my problem has not been solved.

I have already added "c:\docs" which is where I keep all my documents so the correct files are now being indexed, but I still however I still cant work out how to change the sort order so as to get the most recently changed files to appear first.

ship691 said:

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EDIT: I am told that the files listed are ranked partly by frequency of use. And I am now wondering is this is data which my CCleaner utility is deleting. Either way the sort order have become VERY much less useful in the last couple of weeks. Any thoughts?

In my testing, I saw no evidence of files being ranked by how often I opened them.

ship691 said:

It now seems that installing Classic Shell does nasty things to the order of results that result from using the Search box (i.e. the one just above the Start Button).

Specifically within the "Documents" section, the results seem to be sorted purely by name, rather than Date Modified. Bl**dy irritating. And almost enough to make me uninstall Classic Shell completely.

Classic Shell does whatever it wants to the shell and there are no settings within Classic Shell (that I can see) to make it do what you want. There is nothing that you can do to W7 that is going to impact the sort order that Classic Shell forces. That is kind of the point of having a modified shell.

Classic Shell 4.0.0



The stock shell seems to sort by last file opened - not Date Modified. So getting rid of Classic Shell would not get you exactly what you mentioned... but it would probably do.




You might want to ask for a sort feature to be added to Classic Shell.

ship691 said:

For now I am forced to abandon MS Search and use X1 Search (not free, and rather resource heavy but IMHO, pretty powerful). With X1 Search, my click/actions are:
~~~

Like ICit2lol said, the stock W7 shell does everything that you mentioned from within the Windows (file) Explorer. If you are going to give up on using the Start Menu search (due to Classic Shell), then why not just use Windows (file) Explorer?

ship691 said:

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I still cant work out how to change the sort order so as to get the most recently changed files to appear first.

You mention the Start Menu search return sort order in post #1 and something totally different in post #12 - please clarify which you sort order you are talking about.

UsernameIssues said:

Like ICit2lol said, the stock W7 shell does everything that you mentioned from within the Windows (file) Explorer. If you are going to give up on using the Start Menu search (due to Classic Shell), then why not just use Windows (file) Explorer?

Yes, Windows Explorer works okay, but simply put it's way too many clicks.

UsernameIssues said:

You mention the Start Menu search return sort order in post #1 and something totally different in post #12 - please clarify which you sort order you are talking about.

In Post 1 and Post 11 I am talking about the sort that you get when you click the Start button (bottom left) and start typing.

In Post 12, I am simply pointing out an alternative (called X1 Search) and showing how, with very few clicks you get excellent results. X1 works pretty well but it is slightly resource heavy and it is not free.

Btw, I the latest release of Classic Shell (v4.0.2) has now been fixed to show files in last modified order. It now works very much better IMO.