Solved Search Function Way Too Basic!

[RealGem]

Hi,

When I had XP I could search for a pdf anywhere in My Documents and have two words in the search that I know were contained somewhere in the pdf.

Now I know I have a pdf somewhere with two particular words in, but as neither words are in the title, the Search function is not giving me anything in Windows 7!

Does anone know how to do a more advanced search please?

Thanks a lot

 

[seth500]

Hmm it works for me when I use it outside of the start menu like when I search from My Computers:

 

[Nigsy]

Works for me to??

Let it pull back the initial results, then click on 'see more results' - you can then filter the file type.

 

[RealGem]

Thanks guys

Seth - judging from the highlighted words in your pic, your search pulled docs where the word was in the title.

I need words in the document but not in the title.

Nigsy - I do not get a 'see more results' link!

 

[severedsolo]

Start Menu search will pull files where the words are in the document and not in the file name, although I believe it prefers file names first. I believe the main search will do too.

The reason seth's didn't is because he was looking for red blue, which is unlikely to appear together in a document.

 

[RealGem]

OK Nigsy, I see you used the Start button to do your search.

Yeah I tried that too, but not only did I not get the file I wanted. ZERO pdfs came back! The only results were xlsx and docx!

At least with the top right search box in Windows Explorer I got pdfs returned, but only with words in the title.

Why can't they make Search like it was in XP?
You could find millions of files that had a particular word in!!

 

[RealGem]

SeveredSolo,

I did the Start menu search and clicked See more results, but still only got excel and word docs.

I also reduced the word to ONE, so that would get rid of the problem of having two words together or not together.

But to no avail.

I know I have HUNDREDS of pdfs with the word "article" in, but I'm getting like SIX word docs returned in a Search.

Unbelievable!

 

[severedsolo]

Odd... it works fine for me. Actually it bugs me a little, cuz usually I know the file name I am looking for, and it presents me with files containing that word instead.

Only thing I can think of, are these PDF's in an indexed location?

 

[RealGem]

Only thing I can think of, are these PDF's in an indexed location?

What do you mean by that sorry?

I looked in the whole of MyDocs, and the file is definitely in thewre somewhere. I have many thousands of files.

 

[severedsolo]

In order for Start Menu search to function, the files have to be indexed. Basically... it's like a "catalogue" of files. So windows knows where they are. By default Start Menu search (and regular search if you don't specify location) won't search non-indexed locations.

I know that User files (My Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos etc. anywhere in Libraries I believe) is indexed. So make sure the PDF's are in there, and then give it a little while to index them. (not sure exactly how long it takes to be honest)

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Your hard drive may not be indexed.

Right click the drive in Explorer and look at properties. Is there a checkmark in the bottom box that refers to indexing?

 

[RealGem]

Thanks for your prompt reply SeveredSolo.

All of my files are within the folders you mention. And this one has been since last year, so the time can't be an issue.

I have now found the file through an email search, but this Search issue is not solved.

The pdf file had both the word "article" and the name of the author in it, and was from September last year.

So what should I have done to locate this file, had I not been able to do it any other way?

Also, the title is 4 words together as one word. And the annoying thing is, it does not return the doc in a search if I search for any of the words separately either; only EXACT titles!!

When you say "indexed" do I have to "tell" my PC to index stuff? And how do I do that please?

thanks a lot

 

[RealGem]

Your hard drive may not be indexed.

Right click the drive in Explorer and look at properties. Is there a checkmark in the bottom box that refers to indexing?

Hi, yes, the index box is checked on the C drive!

thanks

 

[ignatzatsonic]

See my previous post. You have to make sure you have that checkmark in the drive properties. I think the default is to have it checked, but many people don't use indexing if they don't search file contents.

 

[RealGem]

Hi thanks,

Did we cross posts?

Yes, it is already checked thanks. Damn - I was hoping that was what I was doing wrong!

 

[Barman58]

Type index into the start search and it should present the indexing options entry - open this and in the advanced options section you can specify which of the file types are searched fully and which are searched filename only.

The actual quality of the search will depend on what search algorithms are available, These are provided by 3rd party for the various file-types there are separate suppliers of these algorithms, some free and some paid for .... will see if I can source some

Update

The windows search 4.0 on which the built in search in Win7 and Vista is based, utilised a system of optional .DLL files called iFilters to enhance the basic search, this may still be the case but I CANNOT CONFIRM THIS.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/ifilter.mspx
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2611
http://www.ifilter.org/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266451(v=VS.85).aspx

 

[RealGem]

Type index into the start search and it should present the indexing options entry - open this and in the advanced options section you can specify which of the file types are searched fully and which are searched filename only.

The actual quality of the search will depend on what search algorithms are available, These are provided by 3rd party for the various file-types there are separate suppliers of these algorithms, some free and some paid for .... will see if I can source some

Hi Nigel thanks

I have now changed it to include Index Properties and File Contents, thanks.

(it also said it would take some time to update).

But next to pdfs it says "Registered Ifilter is not found". Is that important?

thanks

 

[Barman58]

I used iFilters quite a bit in Vista but have not done anything with them since. it may be worthwhile trying more than one installable filter until you get one to show in the list correctly, (may just need a re-boot).

The default in win7 without the iFilter is a text search and may actually be good enough for your needs.

Check for the Ifilter DLL and check that it is saved to the correct place (should be in System32 if I recall), also be careful if you are on a 64Bit system as the iFilter must match the OS

 

[RealGem]

I used iFilters quite a bit in Vista but have not done anything with them since. it may be worthwhile trying more than one installable filter until you get one to show in the list correctly, (may just need a re-boot).

The default in win7 without the iFilter is a text search and may actually be good enough for your needs.

I am hoping so.

Check for the Ifilter DLL and check that it is saved to the correct place (should be in System32 if I recall), also be careful if you are on a 64Bit system as the iFilter must match the OS

There is nothing called ifilter.dll in System32

thanks

I just did another search and it is still not working, so as the C drive is still making "busy noises" I will wait til tomorrow, and see if changing the Advanced options in Index Properties has worked.

thanks

 

[Barman58]

I've just tried to add the adobe PDF filter into my system and it does not install, (not unexpected as I am on x64 ). The standard option seems to be the only one I have available, this being the plain text search, system is indexing as I type so the change from the default has been accepted

BTW the filter DLL may be called anything, (the iFilter DLL above is two words not a filename ), the built-in filter for most standard files is called "Query.dll"