Adding document and arbitrary file results to Start Menu search

[sear]

Hey guys,

I've been very heavily reliant on the program Everything lately and it's basically completely taken over as the way I navigate my computer. Being able to type in a random file name and have it instantly appear is a huge win for productivity.

But, I am wondering if there's any way to make Windows 7 behave in a similar manner. While I know I can run a standard Windows search, and Windows will let me search the Start Menu for installed applications if possible, is there a way that I can search using the Start Menu and find arbitrary files (namely documents) without needing to go into the more separate search function?

I figured that Everything exists largely to fill this niche but if there's some tweak out there that will let me accomplish something similar with Windows' built-in functionality, that would be awesome.

 

[Layback Bear]

I also use Everything Search and I have never found a way to get Windows 7 to do the same thing in the same way.

Because Everything Search works so easy and quick I haven't really look for a bunch of hacks to make Windows Search work the same way.
I really don't look for hacks to make Windows 7 do things it wasn't designed to do.

 

[sear]

So the answer is effectively no?

 

[Layback Bear]

It's no until someone wiser than me finds a way.

 

[tblob]

Go to control Panel, under Indexing Options, add the location of the folder/documents.
I have a folder containing all my offline emails from 2003-2013, I simply add this folder to windows indexing, and then the start menu can instantly search every word in every email and display the top 10 results.

I have not used "Everything" so I'm sure Windows Indexing is less fancy. I just add my locations to the index, then its always instantly searchable by word.

People use this well-known function everyday, so maybe I didn't understand your question. Apologies if I am mistaken!