Putting advanced searches to work for you


Posted by Nick White on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 1:35 PM 8 Comments

A couple of weeks ago we showed you some of the more popular keyboard shortcuts in Windows Vista.  Now that you've had a chance to see how shortcuts can speed up your navigation, I thought it would be a good follow-up to show you how to not only speed up your searches, but also make them more relevant to what you're looking for.

Over the next few days we'll introduce you to some of the advanced search operators, show you how to create a Search Folder, and finally introduce you to a new Windows Vista-only search feature:  the "SearchMelt."

Here's what you'll see coming as part of our Windows Vista Search tips and tricks:

  • Basic and Advanced Desktop Search Operators -- these actually work for both Windows Vista and Windows Desktop Search 3.01 on Windows XP.  (This list can also be found here, but we've replicated so you can search it using our blog's search engine.)
  • How to create a Windows Vista Search Folder
  • How to create a Windows Vista SearchMelt

To start with, check out the latest article on putting search to work for you.

MAY 10
 

Posted by newscientist2000

Pretty Cool, seems like there are a lot of search options.

Now is there anyway to easily hide a file from these advanced searches?
MAY 10
 

Posted by Windows Vista Team Blog

OK, more on searching today. One of Windows Vista's coolest features that I use every day is the Windows
MAY 10
 

Posted by omgbbq

I tried creating a search folder using your instructions, and it's taking forever to list the tons of files I have on my machine, and when I attempt to apply the Type filter, all I see is "Computing filters..."

Is there an easy way to make a search folder without having to first list every single indexed file on the machine?
MAY 10
 

Posted by Teamzille.de

Mit Windows Vista hat Microsoft auch eine mchtige Suchfunktion in das Betriebssystem integriert. Diese Suchfunktion bietet aber noch wesentlich mehr Funktionen, als man auf den ersten Blick vielleicht denken knnte. So lsst sich zum Beispiel durch ein
MAY 10
 

Posted by arvindmishra007

omgbbq, you don't have to start the creation of your Search Folder with an "*".  Just start with a more scoped search, like on a Tag or keyword within a document.  That should make the Search Explorer much faster.  Then you can save that search.
MAY 10
 

Posted by Frank

On that page for search operators, it says "For example, to find e-mail from "jake" that was sent in 2005, your query would look like this: kind:email author:patrick after:12/31/2004." The search engine must be really smart to know patrick == jake:)
MAY 15
 

Posted by Nick White

Hey newscientist2000:  you sure can -- just save your content in a non-indexed location.  Currently, the index is scoped to capture locations under user profiles, but you could save the files at the root of C:, for example, which isn't indexed by default.
JUN 07
 

Posted by HiED West Technology Briefings, News & Training

Microsoft U.S. Education HiED West ATS Newsletter – June 2007 Microsoft News and Product Information
Anonymous comments are disabled
© Copyright 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.