Mastering Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax

menace · Mar 28, 2010

Fantastic article.

Mastering Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax

Search has become an integral part of Windows, particularly in later versions. While the major search improvements began with Windows Vista and were backported to Windows XP, it's really only with Windows 7 that the larger majority of users are discovering the search bar all over in the operating system. Search is built into every aspect of Windows 7 to help users cope with the increasingly rapidly growing number of files, be they work documents and e-mails, personal photos and videos, or music collections.

Many users perform searches without thinking nowadays: it's an ingrained habit of using the operating system. Like many habits, this one is worth breaking in order to to develop an even better one. Here we take a quick look at a few basic search techniques and a few more advanced ones. Force yourself to use them and you'll soon become a master of Windows Search. A bit of extra time now will save you loads of effort in the long run.

Basic Search Tools

There are five main places you can perform a search in the latest versions of Windows: the search box in any Windows Explorer window (to bring up just search, use Windows Key + F), the search box at the bottom of the Start menu, the search box in the Control Panel, a common file dialog box, and in Windows-only applications. The first one is the broadest: it includes the entire search index and excludes all non-indexed locations (it's the same as entering a term in the search box on the Start menu and then clicking the See More Results link). The remaining ones are slightly more particular, in that they are tailored to their specific areas of Windows. Windows Search works in a contextual way depending on where you're searching from. For instance, search in the Start Menu will prioritize Start Menu items and programs, search in Windows Explorer will prioritize personal documents, and search in Internet Explorer will prioritize Favorites and History.

There are three rules to remember about searching in Windows, all of which you probably have learned over time from previous versions of the operating system or while using search engines on the Web. First, search terms are not case-sensitive and they return results related to the beginning of the word (searching for Emi will give you results will results related to Emil and Emily as well as emit and emigrate). To search for an exact phrase, use quotation marks ("Emil Protalinski" will give back files that contain my first and last name together, while Emil Protalinski will give me those results along with those that contain just Emil or just Protalinski). Last but not least, searches ignore diacritics such as accents and umlauts by default. To turn this feature off, open up Indexing Options (search for it in the Start menu or the Control Panel), click on Advanced, and under File Settings check off "Treat similar words with diacritics as different words."

A basic query typically begins with a few characters typed into a search box. The list of search results includes any item in the location you searched for, and you can then narrow the search by using additional parameters. These can be used in any search box you find in Windows: it's incorrect to assume that the only search filters you can use are the ones suggested for that folder type (in fact, Windows Explorer will turn the text to blue when you enter a recognized parameter followed by a colon). These additional filters are explained further in the next section.

Advanced Query Syntax

Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) is the official set of rules that Windows Search follows when interpreting what you type in the search box. In addition to keywords, AQS supports three main types of search parameters: file properties (size, date, tags, and so on), kinds of items (folders, documents, music, images, videos, e-mails, and so on), as well as data stores (databases and locations containing indexed items). Each of these parameter names is followed by a colon (loose), or a colon and equals sign (strict), and then a value for that operator that the user wants to specify. Below are some of the most common forms of AQS. We use the loose method in all of our examples as it brings up more results and is typically the more popular choice.

File properties

You can always further narrow down your search if you know a certain property of a file. When looking for a file at first, you may not think you know much about it, but after you read the list below you'll realize that you actually know a lot more than you'd think. Here are a few properties that certain types of files can have. We will look at some more closely a bit later.

All files - title:manager, status:active, date:lastweek, datemodified:lastweek or modified:lastweek, importance:high or priority:high, size:>50MB, deleted:true or isdeleted:true, isattachment:false, to:johnsmith or toname:johnsmith, cc:david or ccname:david, company:Microsoft, category:business modified:lastweek keywords:sports, album:greatest, file:2006hits or filename:2006hits, genre:jazz, author:david or by:david, under:administration or path:administration or folder:adminstration, fileext:.rtf or ext:.rtf, keywordersonal or tagersonal, and type:image.

Contact files - jobtitle:manager, imaddress:luis@adventure-works.com, assistantsphone:555-1212, assistantname:roberto, profession:accountant, nickname:louis, spouse:susana, businesscity:redmond, businesspostalcode:98052, businesshomepage:Microsoft Corporation, callbacknumber:882-8080, carphone:555-1212, children:anna, firstname:emil, lastnamerotalinski, homefax:555-1212, manager:eric, pager:882-8080, businessphone:555-1212, homephone:555-1212, mobilephone:882-8080, officelocation:red/101, anniversary:yesterday, and birthday:tomorrow

Communication files (e-mail, appointments) - from:simon, sent:yesterday, subject:budget, hasattachment:true, attachmentresentation.ppt, bcc:michael or bccname:Michael, bcc_emil@hotmail.com or bccaddress_emil@hotmail.com, ccaddress:editors@arstechnica.com or cc:editors@arstechnica.com, flagstatus:completed, toaddress_emil@hotmail.com, duedate:03/23/2010 or due:03/23/2010, read:false or isread:false, iscompleted:true, incomplete:true, isflagged:false or hasflag:false, and duration:>120

Calendar files - isrecurring:true or recurring:true, by:emil or from:emil or organizer:emil, and location:toronto

Document files - comments:excellent, lastsavedby:aaron, documentmanager:jon, revisionnumber:4a, datelastprinted:yesterday, and slides:>20

Music files - bitrate:>150kbps, artist:U2, year:1977..1987, album:"greatest hits", genre:rock, lyrics:"happy birthday to you", #:12 or track:12, and year:>1980<1990

Picture files - cameramake:Nikon, cameramodel:eclipse, dimensions:8x10, orientation:landscape, taken:last or datetaken:6/12/2006, width:33, height:66, and flashmode:no flash

Recorded TV files - broadcastdate:2005, channel:7, closedcaptioning:true, datereleased:2007, and episodename:zeppo

Video files - name:vacation, subject:Hawaii, and ext:wma or filext:wma

Datemodified

You can use datemodified for searching by the date a file was modified.

Datemodified:23/02/2010, Datemodified:23/02/10, Datemodified:yesterday, Datemodified:lastweek, Datemodifiedastmonth, Datemodified:21/02/04..2/3/09

Kind

You can use "kind" for searching by the properties of a document type. Here are a few examples:

kind:everything, kind:communications, kind:contacts, kind:email, kind:im, kind:meetings, kind:tasks, kind:notes, kind:docs, kind:text, kind:spreadsheets, kindresentations, kind:music, kindics, kind:videos, kind:folders, foldername:mydocs or in:mydocs, kind:favorites, and kindrograms

Although "foldername" and "in" are not the "kind" operator, they're worth mentioning as they restrict a search to a particular folder or a database containing certain types of items. There's also store; store:mapi will return items in your Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 profile and store:csc will return offline files.

Type

You can use "type" for searching by file type. Here are a few examples:

type:image, type:.doc, type:.pdf, type:excel, type:mp3

It's important to note that the search syntax will not let you use two or more search terms (trying "type:.docx, .pdf" will not bring up search results for all Word and PDF files). Furthermore, searching by file name extension still works (such as *.txt or ext:*.txt) but the results include files that incorporate the extension in their contents as well as in their file names. If you don't want this, that's what the above Kind and Type parameters are for.

Boolean

Remember that you can also use Boolean Operators as well as Boolean Properties. Here are a few examples of each:

Boolean Operators: social NOT security, social -security, social OR security, "social security", (social security), date:>11/05/04size:>500, date:<11/05/04 size:<500, and date:11/05/04..11/10/04

Boolean Properties: report is:attachment (same as isattachment:true), essay isonline:true, article isrecurring:true, news isflagged:true, brief isdeleted:true, feature iscompleted:false, mail hasattachment:true, and tweak hasflag:true

Date and size ranges

We've already touched upon numbers and ranges with the examples above, but it's still important to illustrate the different variations. There are Days (Sunday, Monday ... Saturday) and Months (January, February ... December). In addition to relative dates (today, tomorrow, and yesterday) there are multi-word relative dates (this week, next month, last week, past month, and coming year) that can be contracted (thisweek, nextmonth, lastweek, pastmonth, and comingyear). Windows Search recognizes all Windows date formats so you don't have to worry and can type in the date in the format you're used to.

To specify a date range, type the property followed by two dates (from:eric sent:11/05/08..11/05/09). In general, date:>2/7/05<2/10/05 will give you files dated between the values 2/7/05 and 2/10/05, excluding the end dates, and date:>=2/7/05<=2/10/05 or date:2/7/05 .. 2/10/05 will include the end dates. You can use the same range tricks when you know the approximate size of a file. To search for files with a value in the Size between 69KB and 420KB, excluding the end values, use size:>69KB <420KB. If you want to include end values, use size:>=69KB <=420KB or size:69KB..420KB.

Closing Thoughts

We hope the above gave you a closer look at how you can use Windows Search to find what you're looking for more quickly. If you want even more details, check out the official documentation for Advanced Query Syntax on MSDN linked below.

raged · Jan 11, 2011

good info

B00STED4V · Jan 11, 2011

raged said: ↑

good info

The Windows search or the penis pills?

Meghan · Jan 11, 2011

both

Sk1n · Jan 11, 2011

Masterbater.

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Mastering Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax

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Mastering Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax

menace Thread Gestapo

raged I like guys who eat meat.

B00STED4V Caution: Pees Everywhere When Drunk

Meghan David tried PIITB to me but was denied due to sub

Sk1n When they put their paws on the fence, it means ta

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