Home » Amount in excel » How to open a search box in windows 7. How to find a file on a windows computer. How to search for pages created on a specific date

How to open a search box in windows 7. How to find a file on a windows computer. How to search for pages created on a specific date

The search mechanism in Windows 7 is organized a little differently than in Windows XP, but it is no less convenient and is performed at a much faster speed.

How to start a search

To start searching for files in Windows 7, you need to open Explorer and select the folder in which you want to search, or, if you do not know approximately what directory the file is located in, select “My Computer.” Then the search will be performed on all hard drives.

You need to search for files of any format using the search bar, which is located in the upper right corner of Explorer in any of its windows. Keyword or phrase must be entered in this line.

The search is performed very quickly, similar to the request processing mechanism in any search engine. As you enter a query word, the system immediately begins scanning files and producing results with titles containing the characters, words, or phrases you entered.

How to use search filters

At first glance, it may seem that the usual filters available in XP, such as date created or modified, file type, size and author, are not available when searching in Windows 7, but this is not at all the case.

When you enter a search query in the drop-down line below, a list of filters corresponding to the desired file type appears, the conditions of which can be set right there in the search line. To do this, click on the desired filter and set its value, for example, the change date “Last week”.

How to find files of a specific type

To find a file whose format is known, for example audio, video, photo or document, but its name, creation date or other parameters are unknown, you can use a search by file type, specifying its extension in the search conditions.

Documents. To search for documents Word format you need to enter the characters “*.doc” (for Word 2003 format) or “*.docx” (for Word 2007-2010 format) in the search bar. An asterisk denotes any sequence of any characters.

For Excel files you need to use the symbols “*.xls” (for Excel format 2003) or “*.xlsx” (for Excel 2007-2010 format).

For text format files created using the Notepad application, you need to enter “*.txt” in the search bar.

Video. To search for video files, enter the video file extension in the search bar. The most popular extensions: “*.avi”, “*.mp4”, “*.mpeg”, “*.wmv”, “*.3gp”, “*.mov”, “*.flv”, “*.swf” " You can find out the file extension by clicking on it right click mouse and selecting context menu“Properties”, where the “File type” line will indicate its extension.

Audio. The most popular audio file format used on computers is MP3, and to search for them you need to enter the characters “*.mp3” in the line.

Images and photographs. To search for pictures, you should enter the most used extensions of such files “*.jpg”, “*.jpeg”, “*.png”, “*.bmp”, “*.tiff”, “*.gif” in the search bar.

How to find a file in a large list of already found files

It often happens that file attributes are unknown, or only one is known, and it is very uninformative. For example, we know that the document was created last year. However, over the past year, a huge number of documents have been created and stored in different places. It is often not possible to view and check a huge number of files found based on one criterion.

To find required file in the list of already found files, you can use several filters simultaneously, setting and changing each of them during the search process as necessary. Each time you add a new filter, the selection will be made again in the list of found files, reducing processing time and the number of results, which greatly simplifies the search for the very desired file.

How to find a file by content

Typically, files are searched in Windows 7 based on the content of the query in the file name, and not on the text that the file contains. To find a file with with the right word in its text, and not in its name, you need to make simple settings.

Let’s say the task is to find a document among 500 files with the word “Shovel” in its content. To do this, click “Arrange” on the control panel and select “Search folder options” from the drop-down menu.

It is worth noting that a search specifying this parameter will take more for a long time, and when the need to search by content is no longer necessary, this option should be disabled.

How to save search terms

It often happens that files need to be searched frequently, for this the same search conditions are used, and there are several of these conditions. In order not to waste time each time entering the same search parameters, the list of these conditions can be saved.

To do this, you need to set the search conditions, wait for the results to be displayed, and upon completion, click “Save search conditions” on the control panel, and in the window that opens, enter the file name for the recurring query, for example, “JULY 2013.”

In the future, when the saved set of search conditions is needed again, the desired shortcut can always be selected in Explorer in the “Favorites” folder under the saved name.

How to clear your search terms

Click on the cross at the end search string, you can clear the previously entered information and filter conditions that were used for the search, and the line will become empty.

Having tried search in Windows 7 several times, you can see in practice that it is practical, easy and fast. Now you know how to search for files in Windows 7.

In this article you will learn some very interesting things about the built-in file Windows search and after reading the material you will be able to find even files lost in folders about which you know bits of information.

It is not difficult to guess that this article will talk about advanced search in Windows. Undoubtedly, every computer user periodically uses a form of the standard Windows “search engine,” but not everyone knows that this search engine can be used much more productively and is a difficult tool, as it might seem at first glance.

Options and parameters that expand search capabilities

Despite the fact that the title contains the word “expanding”, these same options will help us install additional screening filters on our search query by files and folders in Windows and will actually narrow down the number of files found, which is to our benefit.

* - Means any sequence of any characters, i.e. all characters.

? - Any one character

~<" something" - Search for a name (File name, author, etc., depending on where to put it) which should begin with the one in quotes. The example searches for the name where the beginning is something.

~>" something" - Search for a name that must end with the one in quotes.

=" Coursework" - Search for an exact match with what is in quotes.

~=" Well" - Search for names that contain exact dial characters like the one in quotes. Those. on request filename:~="course" there will be files not only with the word Well, but also simply containing this sequence of characters (Kursovoy, Kursach).

~!" Well" - Search for files that do not contain what is in quotes. Those. this parameter is completely opposite to the previous one.

<> - Means like “neither is”, “not”. Those. request where it will be view:<>picture , will search everything except pictures.

() - Brackets serve to separate and clarify the combining group where the operators operate.

"" - Quotes are used to accurately find the order of characters inside quotes. Because of this, operators inside quotes do not work at all, as do filters.

OR- Operator OR. For example, request filename: kcoursework OR work will search for files where words occur either coursework or Job well, or both. In the English version OR.

AND- Operator AND. For example, request filename: k ursovaya and work will look for files where both words are present, and it makes no difference in what places they are located and not necessarily next to each other. In the English version AND.

NOT- Operator NOT. For example, request filename: coursework NOT work will search for files containing the word coursework but there is no word Job. In the English version NOT.

Here are some examples of using operators:

size:10MB and- Finds Ivan’s files of 10 megabytes, which were changed after 2009.

filename: (*156*) AND type:(PNG OR JPEG) - Finds files where the name contains 156 and its extension is PNG or JPEG.

Now filtering options.

Below we present what filtering options you can use when searching for files and folders.

file name:- The name of the file you are looking for. Analogue on English-language Windows - filename.

type: Specifies what type of file is being searched for at the moment. Can take both file extension values (For example, type: PNG), and their logical definition (For example: type: music or type: picture ). Analogue on English-language Windows - type.

view:- Same thing as type:. Analogue on English-language Windows - kind :

modification date:- Indicates when the files were modified. Can take exact values, ranges, as well as verbal meanings (long ago, yesterday, etc.). Analogue on English-language Windows - datemodified.

modified date: 05/25/2010

date modified: >2009

date modified: 21.01.2001 .. 05.01.2014 (Required two points in the range)

creation date:- Indicates when the file was created. The values are the same as for date modified. English equivalent datecreated.

size:- Indicates the size of the searched files. Can take as precise values up to decimal numbers, and the range of sizes. The units of measurement are KB, MB, GB. English language option - size:.

size:<=7Мб >1.5MB - files larger than 1.5 megabytes, but less than or equal to 7.

attributes:- Sets an additional search mask by tags. The parameter is not often used due to the fact that tags are rarely used.

owner:- Search for files of a specific owner.

executor:- Specifying this attribute is relevant when searching for music of a particular artist.

Combining filtering options

You can use several different options at once when searching, and this will even be better, because it will reduce the list of found files, while increasing their relevance. With several search filters put a space between them; in fact, it replaces the AND operator.

Attention! The AND and OR NOT operators are never highlighted in blue in the search bar. If yours is highlighted, it means you forgot either quotes or brackets or something else. Please note that some filters may not work with certain operators. For example it cannot be type:(BMP AND PNG), since any file can only be of one type.

For example, you can use the query:

size:5KB..20 KB type:picturefilename:~<"m" *little* датаизменения:‎01.‎03.‎2014 .. ‎31.‎03.‎2014

This app ros looks for images between 5 and 20 kilobytes in size with a file name that begins with a letter m and in which the word appears little. In this case, the file should have been changed during March 2014.

As you can see for yourself, with such capabilities you can easily search for files from many years ago, remembering at least some little details about it.

Several templates

In order for you to understand everything better and be able to try Windows advanced search yourself, we decided to make several of the most commonly used advanced search templates that can often come in handy.

How to find all files in a folder?

Sometimes a person wants to count how many files are in a particular folder and he is faced with the question of how to do this. Using Windows Search? But then what should I introduce? The input originates from regular expressions, and those who know firsthand what it is have already guessed what kind of character needs to be entered into the search field.

In the search field you need to enter: * (Star).

How to find all files of the same type (Extensions)?

If you want to find, for example, only pictures, use the filter type:picture, and if you want to find files of a specific extension, then you can use either *.jpeg or type:JPEG.

How to find files created at a specific time?

For this you need to use a filter creation date:DD/MM/YYYY. It is written about above. You can also filter not by the exact time the file was created, but by the interval. For example, from September 2011 to December 2012. The correct formulation of a search query with such a filter is described above.

How to find files of a certain size?

You need to use a filter size: and indicate the required file size in kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes. You can read above about how you can search in a range of sizes and how to correctly indicate the size of the files you are looking for.

We really hope that this material will be useful to you, and if you have anything to add, then write in the comments.

When upgrading from Windows Vista, search in Windows 7 it just becomes more convenient and does not contain any special surprises. This cannot be said about many Windows XP users who are just discovering the daily use of the system with such a convenient tool as instant search. Searching in Windows 7 is really very simple. But, as in any search, the goal is to find what you need, and sometimes difficulties arise with this. With this article I begin a story about how search works in Windows 7, how to configure it, how to search, and most importantly, how to find.

How search works

You've most likely heard about an index - a set of files that contain various information about files and documents stored on disk. When you use search, it is the index files that allow you to quickly display results. The index includes various file properties, and this is not just the path, name or size. For example, all tags of MP3 files are indexed - from the author to the bit rate. For office documents, data is indexed, which can be seen in the file properties on the tab Details, document content, and so on. If this search is new to you, I recommend reading a couple of help articles to get some background information on searching. Minimize all windows, click F1 and in the field Search help enter... Search.

Indexing happens constantly - if you add, delete or change a file in a folder, it will immediately be reflected in the index.

The screenshot shows the locations that are indexed by default. Therefore, if you store your documents somewhere in F:\Documents, they will not be included in the index and will not be found by a quick search - they must be added to the index separately. Setting up the search will be discussed below.

Search and indexing settings

To be honest, the standard search settings are quite good, and most users do not need to change anything in them, especially if documents and files are stored in standard folders. To configure settings, open the Start menu and enter search options in the search box.

So casually we used one of the search options Windows 7- quick access to control panel elements from the Start menu.

Change search options for files and folders

I will not duplicate the parameters that are clearly visible in the screenshot.

Please note the following points:

By default, search within a folder searches all subfolders

in non-indexed locations, only file names are searched and compressed files are ignored

you can use language search, i.e. compose search queries in a more fluent language - for example, last week's video (there will be a lot of unexpected results mixed in here, especially in localized versions)

Indexing options and Windows Search services

Here you can configure many more settings. To add folders to the index, click Change.

It is no coincidence that the Windows and Program Files folders are excluded from the search - they will greatly increase the size of the index, and will be of little practical use. Programs can already be found by searching in the Start menu - after all, the main menu is indexed by default.

Clicking Additionally, you get access to two groups of settings:

indexing technical parameters

indexing options for file types

In the first of them, you can add encrypted files to the index, rebuild the index (which may be necessary in case of problems) and set a new location for it.

For file type (extension) you can:

include or exclude it from the index

determine whether only properties or content will be indexed

add new extension

For example, if your instant messaging client suddenly saves history in text files with a LOG extension, or you just need to analyze logs, their contents will not be indexed by default. But you can easily customize the search - just type log on your keyboard to move through the list of extensions and enable content search.

How to search

When starting a search, it is advisable to immediately imagine whether the search object is included in the index. As I said above, the index covers the user's profile - libraries, files, etc. Here you can find the files you need relatively easily.

But if you open the main search window and expect to find something in the Program Files or Windows folder, you may generally get the impression that “the search finds nothing” because only the results from the index are displayed. We'll talk about searching in non-indexed places later, but now we'll look at general search methods in Windows 7. You can search:

from the Start menu

in the main search window

in libraries

in other Explorer windows - folders, "Open" and "Save As" dialogs

Search in the Start menu

When you search from the Start menu, the search results show not only files and documents, but also programs and Control Panel items. Now you can safely give up the Windows XP habit of carefully sorting applications in the menu Programs. It is enough to enter the first few letters of the program name to find it. This is much more convenient, especially if you have many programs installed.

Advice. If you use portable applications, simply add their shortcuts to the %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder (you can create a subfolder for them). They will appear in a group in search results Programs.

In Windows 7, search results in the Start menu are very conveniently grouped, and the number of results in each group is immediately visible - this point has been improved compared to Windows Vista. As you can see in the screenshot, a search for the word word finds not only Microsoft Word and WordPad applications, but also offers results in other groups.

The Start menu displays multiple results for each group, and clicking on the group name opens a search box with all the search results for the group.

Searching in the Start menu is good when you have an idea of the file name or its contents - the first 5 - 10 results are visible immediately, and you don’t have to look far. In addition, the Start menu is indispensable for quickly accessing programs and Control Panel items using search.

Main search window

A blank search window can be opened by pressing the keyboard shortcut WIN+F. It, in my opinion, has somewhat lost its meaning, since it no longer contains advanced file search capabilities. Searching in Explorer windows practically forces it out of the system. It seems to me that links to help on using search or a link to this article could brighten up its dull appearance.

However, the main search window still carries a payload. It opens with search results if you enter a query in the Start menu and click on the name of the search result group, or on View more results right above the search field.

Libraries

Now I will explain why I separated the search in libraries and other Explorer windows. Notice how library search results are displayed. They correspond to the type of files in it and are very well perceived visually. For example, for music files, the album cover, large song name, size are displayed, and there are also “musical” options for organizing the results. This is a property of all libraries, which confirms the thesis - the capabilities of Windows 7 are best used together. In this case, it is searching in libraries, which has other advantages.

This is what a simple library search will suggest: Music.

While in File Explorer, you can organize your search results by available file properties. The default display order is Best results, but, for example, you can organize music files by album or genre. This feature is available along with the traditional Explorer tools of sorting and grouping (although the latter may be new to Windows XP migrants).

In this case, the results will display several tracks from each album. You can view all the songs on an album, and then “fold” it if the one you need is not there.

If you don't find the file you need in the current folder, you can search again:

Other Explorer windows

In folders and libraries, the search field is the same as in the main window. But we must not forget that the same option is available in the “Open” and “Save As” windows, which are used even by those who prefer alternative file managers.

It is more convenient to search in folders when you know the approximate location of the file or document - in this case you will not get lost in the results. In addition, this method is useful when it is known for sure that the file is not included in the index. Finally, in the Open and Save As windows, you can quickly filter the contents of a folder using search.

I'm sure you've already tried simple search queries and you're probably completely satisfied with them. However, sooner or later you will need to find the file, and a simple query will not help. Next, I'll show you how to use Windows 7's advanced search capabilities to find the files you need.

New advanced search features in Windows 7

To master search, of course, you need to practice using its capabilities. In articles about Windows 7 search, I will give a number of examples that you can easily reproduce in your own home.

If you're upgrading from Windows XP, absolutely everything in your Windows 7 search will be new. Compared to Windows Vista, Windows 7 looks:

have changed search filters

Search filters

When you roughly know the name of a file or the topic of a document, finding the desired file is usually not difficult - you simply enter a partial or full query into the Start menu search. But this information is not always stored in the RAM of the brain, and it is simply often necessary to set special search conditions - size, modification date, or author of the file. Windows XP had a search assistant, Windows Vista had filters.

At first glance, there is nothing that stands out visually in Windows 7. In fact, filters are still there - they just become visible when you place your cursor in the search field.

Advice. To see more filters, expand the search field - position the cursor on the separator between the field and the address bar and drag to the left.

In the screenshot you see a standard set of filters in the main search window.

Hints

Your search queries are remembered if they were entered:

to the search window

in explorer folder or library

in the Start menu (assuming you navigated to results and didn't just open the file)

These prompts annoy some users, and they tend to turn them off immediately. And, in my opinion, they are doing it in vain. The tips remember not only search queries as such, but also filters searches that you specified - for example, the size or modification date of the file. Suggestions are very useful if you want to use the full power of Windows 7 search. It's easy to change the old condition to the current query, and it's faster than entering it again. And you can always delete an unnecessary hint - just select it (with the mouse or cursor) and press Delete on the keyboard.

As I said above, the new features of Windows 7 are best used together. The connection between search and libraries is not only in the display of results, but also in the formation of search conditions. In the next part of the article I will look at:

using filters to search libraries and mail

search in Internet Explorer 8

search in non-indexed places

search operators

Almost all users who switched from Windows XP to “Seven” were disappointed with the more meager set of search functions, since, at first glance, the search for programs and files in Windows 7 is not equipped with the usual filters. However, if you know the basic techniques for using the system in order to find the necessary data on the computer, it will not require a significant investment of time and effort, even for novice users. Below are all the main methods on how to quickly find any file or program on a computer with Windows 7.

Using the Start button

You need to do the following:

Note: As you can see from the example above, this same method allows you to find the program, not just the files.

As an example of quickly finding and launching a utility, consider launching the “Console”. You can simply type “cmd” in the same column, and a link to open the “Command Prompt” will appear in the top line.

Using a special search interface "Windows 7"

Of course, the relevance of this method has almost completely disappeared after specialists from Microsoft introduced a search field directly in the start menu, but knowing about its capabilities will be useful for any owner of a computer running a “Seven”.

The following sequential steps are required:

Via Explorer

The algorithm of actions consists of the following stages:

How to configure search parameters

You need to take the following few steps:

Quick search by file type

In the case when the user knows the type of file being searched, you can specify its extension, and only specific types of files will be displayed: images, videos, text, audio, etc.

To perform the operation only among “Word” files, you need to type the extension “*.doc” or “*.docx” in the column. Instead of *, enter characters from the document name. The procedure for Excel is similar, only “*.xls” or “*.xlsx” is used.

Examples for searching images, videos, text and audio files:

*.jpg, *.avi, *.txt, “*.mp3”.

Search by content

“Seven” has a convenient ability to find the file you need by the text it contains. For example, the user knows that inside the document there are definitely characters printed sequentially and next to each other - “Shovel”.

To identify the location of a file with such a word, you will need to perform the following steps of sequential actions:

Note: the search procedure will now take the user several times longer, so it is recommended to use this filter only when the others do not allow you to obtain a successful result.

Fixing search parameters

Users usually need to use the same search parameters. In Windows 7, there is a convenient option for saving them in order to eliminate the time wasted on re-entering them in the future.

For this purpose, it is enough to specify the necessary parameters once and, having received the result, click “Save conditions”. Next, a menu will be displayed in which you should type the name of the request and click “Save”.

During the next search with similar parameters, the user will only need to enter the “Favorites” section and click on the previously specified name of the request.

Windows 10 has a good built-in search, which for some reason few people use. Meanwhile, this is a really cool tool that will come in handy if you are not very careful in sorting your files into folders. And in general, often opening documents with a search is simply faster than going through the full path to the file.

There are two ways to start searching for files. You can click the search icon (magnifying glass) on the taskbar. Or simply open the Start menu and start typing a search term.

Here are a few tricks to help you search quickly and efficiently.

Start searching for files, applications and settings as usual. Then click on one of the three icons at the top of the Start menu, which filter out apps, documents, and web pages, respectively.

You can also click on the “Filters” button at the top to specify what to look for: folders, music, photos, settings or videos.

One of Windows 10 is the non-obviousness of the settings. Being a mixture of Windows 7 and Windows 8, the “ten” has confused many users since its release by having two control panels at once. The settings in them are not scattered very logically, and it is easy to get lost in them.

But Windows 10 Search makes it easier to navigate through Settings. If you need a specific item, just start typing it into the Start menu, and the corresponding option will be found. It doesn't matter which of the two controls it is located in.

In Windows 10 Explorer, as in previous versions, there is a panel for quickly searching for files and folders. Enter a file or folder name and Windows 10 will find it. The search bar also allows you to sort found files by type, size, modification time and other parameters. And in Explorer there is another cool opportunity - to save a search query for the future, like . To do this, simply click “Save search term.”

If you want to find something but don't know what it is, Windows 10 Search's ability to guess words in a search can help. For this, special wildcard characters are used.

* - a wildcard that replaces one or more characters in the search expression with any possible ones. Suppose you enter cat*. Windows 10 will find files containing words cats, which, boiler and so on.
? - allows you to search for only one missing character. For example, upon request k?t the system will find and cat, And whale.
# - used to search for any number. For example, 5#3 will find files containing numbers 513 , 573 and so on.

Searching for a file by its properties

Let's say you want to find a file whose name you don't know, but you remember its format, size, or the time you created or last modified the file. Start searching for any files with a query * , and then in the search filtering settings, specify a format or time range that roughly matches the file you are looking for. You can search by properties such as date, file type, author, and so on.

Note that when you change the search filter conditions in the panel, strange words appear in the search bar. Here's what they mean:

kind- file type. You can enter kind:document or kind:video to search for documents and videos respectively.
tags- tags with which the file was marked. Are you not using tags in Windows 10? In vain. Tag the files you need and then search for them with queries like tags:work or tags:read.
author- name of the user who created the file. For example, you are sure that your wife named Ophelia, with whom you share the same computer, has created some kind of file that you need. Enter , and you will see all the files it created that you have access to. The main thing is to write the name of her account correctly.

Expressions “and”, “or”, “no”

These expressions will allow you to use multiple search terms at once.

AND- searches for multiple words or phrases that are present in one file. For example, request cats AND dogs will find files for you that talk about both cats and dogs.
OR (or)- searches for files that contain at least some words and expressions. Request cats OR dogs OR hamsters will find all files that mention either cats, dogs, or hamsters.
NOT (no)- searches for files that do not contain the mentioned expression. For example, request Heavy Metal NOT Justin Bieber will find for you documents or music related to heavy metal and not containing even the slightest hint of Justin Bieber.
«» - search for files containing a certain exact phrase. For example, search "cats and dogs" will find exactly the file cats and dogs, not mad cats And patient dogs.
() - search for words that can appear in the file in any order. That is, the request (cats, dogs, hamsters) will find and hamsters cats dogs, And dogs cats hamsters.
> And < - look for files with inaccurately specified values. For example, date:>01/01/2018 will find all files created after the first day of January of this year. size:<10MB will find files smaller than 10 MB.