atw: Re: Windows 7 search

  • From: "Robert Levy" <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:24:47 +1000

I don’t know whether someone already mentioned this, but if you click in the 
search window after you’ve searched, you get filter options.

 

When I used the filter for type, I then chose Word template, and that narrowed 
it down.

 

rwl

 

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard Silcock
Sent: Monday, 16 April 2012 12:20 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Windows 7 search

 

I have just discovered the joys of searching for files in Windows 7. 

 

I was trying to find my Normal.dotm template. (I think the system 
administrators have deleted it again. Luckily I've learnt not to store 
important stuff there now.) I selected Computer  in the Windows Explorer window 
and typed Normal.dotm in the Search pane. And, my God, it displayed a huge list 
of documents, none of them called anything like Normal.dotm! Oh I see, it must 
have been finding all documents based on the template. Don't you love it when 
the system designers decide for you what you really meant when you typed your 
search term?

 

It reminded me of a search for a book in the public library catalogue. The 
book's title was just 'Wild', and I couldn't remember the author's name, so I 
selected Search By Title, then typed Wild. It returned pages and pages of 
books, many of which didn't even have the word 'wild' in the title! Apparently 
it decided that a Search By Title didn't really mean that and it searched in 
all sorts of other fields as well - hence the huge list. I found the book I 
wanted on the sixth page. 

 

Back to Windows 7. I did some research and discovered that there's an 'Advanced 
Query Syntax' that you can use to tell Windows what you really did mean. It's a 
very complex system and it's very hard to find any documentation. (Of course, 
the help file for the system is useless.) I eventually came up with a 9-page 
document describing the syntax. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. I think I 
probably should have type System.FileName:="Normal.dotm" into the Search box. 
Well, of course! Silly me!

 

Howard

 

 

 

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