Windows 7 Search: The 5 Best Tips
Windows Search allows you to search your computer for any file. Whether music, video or a Word file does not matter. You can access the search using the Windows key (formerly "Start") and can now enter a search term. Alternatively, you can also call up the suspected location and enter the file name in the search field at the top right.
The 5 best tips for Windows search
- Search specifically for a format: If you know the file type, you can simply enter it in the search field. For example, search for "Vacation JPG" to limit your search to JPG images.
- Adding operators "AND" / "NOT": If you put an "AND" between two words in the Windows 7 search field, only search results that contain both words will appear. A "NOT", however, excludes the second word in the results. "Vacation NOT Italy" shows you all hits for vacation that do not contain the word "Italy".
- Find files by criteria: Knowing the approximate time it took to create a file can help you reduce the results in advance. All you have to do is enter the word "date of change:" (without the quotation marks) in the search field, along with a date. You can also limit the results with the file size. Simply enter "Size:" in the search field and select a size scale.
- Exclude results: With helpful system keywords you can get the best out of your search, for example "System.Kind: Bild". This shows all files that are not image files. You only have to put your search term behind this combination. You can also replace "image" with various other types, for example "music", "document" or "video".
- Simple search: With the "Use natural language" setting, the computer recognizes your search intentions. If you type in "Urlaub 2013 JPG", you will only get the holiday pictures from 2013. You can make this setting in the control panel under "Presentation and Customization" in the "Folder Options". In the "Search" tab you can activate the box "Search in natural language".
The tips refer to the search for Windows 7. We will show you how to find missing files in Windows 8 here.