Advanced search in Windows or how to find a file in Windows? Easily find recently changed files in Windows.
It's time to move from theory to practice and look at search filters in action.
Search within the index
I already said that the display of search results corresponds to the library in which it was executed. Then I came from the end, since the search still begins with a request. In each library, the set of proposed filters also corresponds to its type.
Example of searching in the Documents library
In the library search field Documentation the same filters are displayed as in the main search window (WIN+F).
Let's say I need to find a document Microsoft Word, which I created in the spring or summer. The name is not preserved in my memory, and I remember the contents very vaguely. Let's check the search in action? Selecting filters:
Doc and move to the extension .doc or .docx
dock or wo and select from the list Microsoft Document Office Word or Document Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003
Type- a list of file extensions is dynamically displayed. You can select a type from the list, or type on the keyboard:
Date of change- the calendar opens. It already has terms with different statutes of limitations, such as Earlier this year. There is no “summer and spring” option, but it’s easy to create it yourself - just type March..August. Do you prefer a mouse? Go to August and click on the 31st. Then by March and holding down the key SHIFT, click 1 number. You've probably selected several files with the key more than once SHIFT- the calendar has the same principle. The resulting range will be 03/01/2009 .. 08/31/2009.
When you use multiple filters at the same time, they are combined. In my example, there are documents that meet all three conditions. As a result, there are about a dozen files left, among which it is not difficult to find the one you need, if necessary, using the ordering of results in Explorer or sorting in tabular mode.
Notice that I didn't even use the file name or contents of the document in the search.
To change a filter, just click on its parameter in the search field. You can then select another parameter, or enter it from the keyboard.
Example of a search in the Music library
In library Music filters are offered that match the properties music file(tags).
For example, in my music collection I want to find a beautiful long composition by Jose Padilla, but, of course, I don’t remember the name. I enter the musician's last name into the search - padilla. If you click the Duration filter, the search will offer several options - all you have to do is select the one you need.
The results can then be sorted by duration in Explorer by going into Tabular mode. If column Duration you don't have it, click right click mouse over any column to add it from the menu.
If you don't store your music in a custom folder Music, and on another partition, add the folder to the music library - it will be more convenient to search.
Example of searching in the Images library
The above advice can also be applied to pictures and photographs - there is a library for them Images, and the corresponding filter sets in it. You probably have a lot of digital photos. Search will help you find what you need if you formulate your request correctly. With a little ingenuity, you can easily find the photos you need, even if they all have the same names like IMG_3046.JPG.
Let's say I want to find photos that were taken last summer. I know they're in JPEG format, and I remember exactly that they were cropped, i.e. their size is smaller than the standard one created by the camera. I'll try:
Shooting date- range 06/01/2008 .. 08/31/2008.
Type- .JPG.
Size - <3мб. Такого размера нет в динамическом списке, я использовал один из логических операторов поиска, о которых подробнее расскажу ниже.
For complete happiness, I can even filter by the model of the camera on which the shooting was made in order to exclude unnecessary ones (for example, other people's cameras).
The cameramodel filter is not listed under the search window, but it is very easy to find - open the tab Details in the properties of any photo. All properties can be used as filters - from photo width to focal length.
Filters View And Type work together. If you set, for example, the form Image, then the filter Type will dynamically display only image file extensions - JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.
Library Search Video try it yourself, and I’ll tell you about searching for mail.
Mail search example
By using Windows search You can easily find email messages from applications that use Windows 7's search capabilities. Of course, Microsoft Outlook 2007 and Windows Live Mail are perfectly integrated with Windows 7 Search, and their search is based on its index. For example, if Outlook 2007 is installed on Windows XP, for a full search you will need Windows Desktop Search, but everything is already built into Windows 7.
Of course, email programs have their own search, where you can set search conditions in the graphical interface. Moreover, the power of Windows 7 search can also be used by third-party email programs. Take a look at search in Mozilla Thunderbird, an open-source email client that added Windows 7 search integration in version 3.x.
Each of us has encountered a situation when we needed to find a file, but the problem is that it is not clear where it is or in what folder it is saved. It's good if we know the file name. Then searching becomes an easy task. And if not? Then you will have to look for indirect signs, be it the time of creation, size, time last change etc. With each new version of Windows, Microsoft tries to increase the functionality of all applications in the system. The search function is no exception. The search itself in Windows 7 has been significantly redesigned and improved compared to WindowsXP. Windows 8 and 10 were no exception. The most noticeable difference that immediately catches your eye is the different ways to launch a search. In Windows 7, to do this, you had to click the start button and enter the desired query there. In Windows 8 and 10, the search bar is already available on the Start screen.
In Windows 7, the programs and settings you searched for were always sorted in order of priority. In Windows 8 and 10, files, settings, applications, etc. are simultaneously displayed in search results.
The search menu in the Explorer feed allows you to filter search queries by:
- Change date
- Tipu
- Size
- Name
- The path to the folder
- Tags
You can also use complex query syntax:
- View (search by document type properties)
- Date/changes (search files by date/changes)
- Type (search files by type)
- Name (search files by name)
Let's look at a specific example. Let's say we want to find a specific file, but we don't know the exact date of its creation. But we can approximately indicate the date range. Windows 8 and 10 allow you to search for files by date range.
You can search for files in two ways: using the mouse or using the keyboard. We will show in detail how to search for files by date range using each of the methods we have noted.
How to Search Files by Date Range Using the Keyboard
The method is simple, the main thing is to know the request syntax. Open a File Explorer window and enter the following query in the search field:
date modified: 03/01/2016 .. 01/08/2016
In principle, you don’t have to type such a long request using the keyboard; just type “date modified:”. A calendar will automatically open, in which, highlighting the necessary dates, we select the range we need using the mouse.
You can also search for files by typing “date created:” in the search bar. Explorer will automatically offer you search options.
How to search files by range using the mouse
In the Explorer feed, open the Search tab and click Date Modified. A list of preliminary search options will open: today, yesterday, this week, last week, etc. We select any of the proposed options and see that the condition we selected is displayed in the search field. You can specify a specific date. To do this, left-click anywhere in the search bar after the colon and the calendar will open. Select a specific date to search for files.
Now let's try to search by date range. The search can be carried out in several ways.
Try it, experiment. Combine queries, add different search parameters. If you frequently search for files using the same criteria, save your search options. To do this, on the Search tab, click Save Search Terms.
When might it be necessary to search for files? The number of files present on a computer's hard drive (or hard drives) can reach tens of thousands. Most of them are most likely service files written to the hard drive when installing the operating system or various applications, but the number of work documents processed on this computer can also be significant. Even if the user carefully keeps the catalog system organized, it is almost impossible to remember where all the working documents are located. There are also cases when, in a hurry or due to an oversight, a file is written not to the usual designated place, but somewhere else, and it is not known where exactly. The Windows XP operating system provides tools for searching for files about which the user has only incomplete information. The search result is a complete list of files on the computer that meet the specified search criteria.
How to start the file search program?
There are several ways to launch the ib file search tool. The standard method involves using the Main Menu (Start» Find» Files and folders). If there are no active windows on the Desktop or a folder window or the Explorer program is active, to launch the ^fjg file search program, you can use the F3 key or the command View » Browser Panels » Search The search tool is implemented as an additional panel in the folder window.
What are the general techniques for conducting a search?
During a normal search, you must first click on the Files and folders link. After this, you can set irreducible search parameters in the panel. To set additional parameters, you need to expand the corresponding categories by clicking on the “herringbone” button. After all parameters have been specified, the search can be started by clicking the Find button. Information will appear in the window next to the search bar
Found files. The data is always presented as a table that contains an additional Folder column. The window fills as the required files are found, but any of the icons can be used as soon as they appear, without waiting for the search to end. In order to repeat< >To start the search procedure (possibly with different initial data), click on the Start a new search link.
How to find files by name?
Most often, when searching, the UI:I of a file or its fragment (for example, a name extension) is used. To search n>; name, you must enter the file name or its fragment in the field Part of the file name;] or the entire file name. In this case, you can use wildcard characters: the “*” (asterisk) symbol replaces any number of arbitrary characters (including their absence), and the “?” (question mark) replaces exactly one arbitrary character. The Word or phrase in file field allows you to enter a word or phrase that should be contained in the searched file. It should be noted that such a search only makes sense for unformatted > ; data text files, since otherwise information about document formatting violates the integrity of the text and interferes with the search. The Search in field allows you to specify the areas to search for the desired file - the folder within which the search will be performed. In particular, you can specify specific disk, where you need to find the required file. To select a folder, expand the list; for ease of selection, the Browse item is included. After setting the search parameters, click on the Find button.
What is special about searching for files with long names?
In previous Windows versions the search tool accepted a series of words separated by spaces as alternative search terms, that is, it looked for files whose name included at least one of the specified words. Windows XP requires that all specified words be included in the name of the searched file. However, the space itself is not considered as meaningful symbol. To search for a file name, including spaces, you must enclose the specified sequence of characters in quotation marks.
How to find files by creation date?
If you need to find files created or modified during certain period time (this is often necessary when they are working on one project on one computer different people), you should click on the Christmas tree button next to the question When were the last changes made? By default, the date the file was last modified is not taken into account. The search tool allows you to search for files modified in the last week, month, or year, and you can specify a precise range of valid dates. By default, the From and To fields are entered The current date, so most often it is enough to change only the start date for the search.
How to find files by size?
If you know the approximate size of the file you want to find, you should click on the herringbone button next to the question What is the file size? In the panel that opens, you can roughly set an estimate of the file size using switches, or by setting the Specify size switch, you can set a more precise limit.
What additional search options are there?
Extra options search (Advanced options panel) allow you to specify the file type using a drop-down list, although this is easier to do by specifying the name extension. This panel also contains a set of checkboxes. They allow you to enable search for files in system and hidden folders, refuse the subfolder viewing mode, which is enabled by default. You can also consider the case of the characters you enter, although CMI.K usually doesn't do this. ia.
How to find files based on combine! signs?
How more information known about the file you are looking for, the more accurate the search results will be. Indeed, if the list of found files is several hundred, then the task of selecting the specific file you need is practically not made easier. Psot: mu file search tool allows you to simultaneously specify multiple search criteria different types on the panels. When searching, files are checked for compliance with all specified criteria simultaneously.
How to use search results?
The search results panel is similar in content to the main one work area folder windows. The main thing is that the table contains an additional column Folder. The user can sort the data by any of the columns using the column headers, the context menu or the View menu. The icons allow you to open any of the found files or use the context menu. Open , a folder containing this file, you can > : using the command File > Open the folder containing the object.
How to save search terms?
If you frequently repeat searches with the same terms, you can save your search terms. For<:охранения параметров поиска следует дать команду Файл >Save search terms. In the dialog box that opens, you can select a folder and specify a file name. Search terms are saved in a file with the FND extension. To load conditions, double-click on the corresponding icon.
I can't save my search terms. What can be wrong?
For unknown reasons (possibly :UR; error in the operating system), saving search conditions is only possible if no restrictions on the file name are specified during the search. Field Part of the file name or the entire file name must be< (ставлено пустым или в него может быть введена комбинация подстанопочных символов, соответствующая любому имени файла (например, *.*), То есть, сохранить можно только ограничения на дату файла и на его размер, что существенно снижает полезность этой функции.
How can I search again?
When you change settings on one of the tabs in the search program window, everything that was set on another tab remains unchanged. To avoid accidental inconsistencies and incorrect search terms, you should use a new window for each search operation. For example, you can re-enter the Start > Find > Files and Folders command each time. In this case, the search parameters will exactly return to their initial state.
In this article we will look at searching for files and folders in the operating room Windows system XP.
If your computer has Windows 7, you can refer to the note: “”.
It can be useful, for example, when the files on the computer are not sufficiently organized into folders, i.e. when it’s difficult to find anything on the computer on your own.
Also, searching for files and folders is suitable when everything on the computer is organized, but you just want to find some information faster.
In Windows XP, searching for files and folders is quite well provided and organized.
Finding files in Windows XP through the Start menu
To find a file or folder on your computer, click on the button Start and further on Search as shown in the picture:
We are taken to a menu that allows us to select what we want to find. The most commonly used search categories are: image search, music and video search, document search, and file and folder search:
Let's take a closer look at these three main features.
Find pictures, music, or videos on your computer
By choosing the first search option, we get to an additional window in which:
1. We choose what we want to find: images and photographs, music or video
2. Enter the name of the file to search
3. Click on the button Find
Note: You can also use additional search options by following the suggested link and specifying where on your computer to look for the file, in which folders, etc.
A fairly flexible search system allows you to narrow the scope of your search so as not to waste extra time searching for files and folders.
You can also specify the file extension to find all files of that type. Let's say you need to find all video files in order to display in one list all video films and videos stored in different places on the computer.
For such a task, we simply indicate, separated by commas, the main video formats that we may have on our computer. For example, we write like this: *.avi, *.mpeg, *.mp4, *.mov *.flv, *.3gp, *.swf and perform a search. Or you can specify only part of these formats, for example: *.avi, *.mpeg, *.mp4, if we want to find films only in these formats.
The same can be done with any other groups of files: photographs, text documents, archives, etc., by specifying the appropriate file extensions.
Searching for documents on your computer
This search is carried out according to the same principle as the previous one, so I won’t add a photo, so it will be clear.
By the way, in addition to what is described above, here, as in all categories, you can search for documents by the date of last changes, by size and other criteria.
In addition to the search options described above, in the section search for files and folders, you can also select in the additional parameters from the list of files the format we need for searching:
We can find in which files the word we need appears.
For example, we remember that in some text document they wrote about dumplings. But where is this recording, they have now forgotten.
Let's also go to search for files and folders and perform 4 simple steps:
1.
To narrow the scope of the search, we can indicate the extension of the document format in which we could write about dumplings. For example it could be Text Document .doc.
But, if we don’t know how the format is indicated, we can leave this field empty, and in the field File type search for a suitable format for the file you are looking for.
Or you can choose nothing at all, a search will simply be made across all documents. Of course, this may take much longer, but further we will also look at how this process can be accelerated.
2.
We indicate the word that we want to find in the file we are looking for. In our case we write: dumplings
3.
And we indicate: where to look for this word? If we remember what drive the file is on, we indicate that drive. If we don’t know, you can specify the entire computer, as shown in the picture.
4.
All you have to do is click on Find and wait until the file we need is found.
Note: You can even specify part of the file name (starting characters) in the search criteria. You can also use “masks” like: “*” and “?”, as shown in the picture (*.doc).
Sign * (asterisk) indicates to the system that we do not care about the file name, and the system will search for all files with the suggested extension. For example, an indication *.doc will tell the system to search for all files with the .doc extension, i.e. all Word editor documents.
Or an indication book*.xls will show you to search for all files with the extension .xls, i.e. all documents Excel editor, whose name begins with the characters book.
And if you use question mark and specify it like this: ????.txt, then the system will search for everything text files with extension .txt, whose file name consists of any four letters. For example, like this: window.txt
If you often need to search for files on your computer, you can speed up this process. To do this you need to follow the link Set up an assistant, then select: Using an indexing service And Turn on this service:
After this, the computer will index all the files on the computer, “remember” where they are, and when searching for files or folders, it will quickly display them in the search results.
So we looked at how to search for files on a computer in Windows XP.
By the way, in this article we looked at how to find files using standard search Windows. If with file search standard means There will be difficulties, I recommend using a third-party one that allows you to find files instantly!
Sometimes you need to see which files were recently created or changed - for example, because someone else installed it without asking unnecessary program, or you just need to find a document that was changed last week, but the name of the file and folder is completely forgotten. Windows has convenient search tools that let you quickly get a list of all recently created or modified files.
About timestamps
Each file has one or more timestamps that can be used to operating system marks when the file was created, last time changed or opened. On Windows, this information is recorded for each separate file or folders.
– 64-bit parameter indicating the number of 100 nanosecond intervals that have passed since January 1, 1601 (UTC). Conversion from this system-wide format to a more human-readable format occurs when Windows accesses the file's label. The system extracts information about the year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds from it. File NTFS system stores time values in UTC format, so they are not affected by time zone changes, the transition from winter to summer time and back.
System timestamps are, of course, not immune to errors and changes, but they are very useful in a variety of situations, from calculating the date of a particular business transaction to collecting evidence as part of a police investigation.
Date Created is the date and time the selected file was created. This value is written once and, as a rule, does not change - unless using third-party utilities.
Date Modified– this is the date and time of the last rewrite of the file, i.e. the last change in its contents. Renaming a file does not reflect the modification date, nor does opening a file without making any changes.
Date Accessed– this is the date (and on NTFS volumes also the time) of the last access to the file for reading or writing.
How to view timestamps in Explorer
If you want to view timestamps for all files, folders and subfolders in a specific directory, you can do this in File Explorer. By default, only the date and time of modification are shown. If you also want to know the date of creation and last access, you need to change the view settings.
Open Explorer and select Table view (Details). By default, the Name, Size, Type, and Date Modified columns are displayed. Right click on any of them and select in context menu“Date of creation” item.
Then select the “More” command, check the “Access Date” item in the list that appears and click “OK”. Now sort the columns in descending order to see all recently modified files.
How to find recently modified files using search
To search for recently modified files, you can use the “datemodified:” filter. Open the folder in Explorer where you want to find the changed files, or the “This PC” section to search throughout the system. In the search bar, enter “date modified:” (without quotes). A window will appear asking you to select a date or range.
For the most standard search scenarios there are presets “Today”, “Yesterday”, “This week”, “Last week”, etc. Since we are interested in recently changed files, you can use one of these presets or enter “date modified:today” (“yesterday”, “this week”, “last week”, etc., without quotes) into the search field. Windows will begin searching for matching files and displaying them in the search results.
By default, the system only shows recently modified files in indexed locations. To include in the results those folders that are not indexed, click on the “Search Tools” tab, click the “Advanced options” button and select “System files”. Include in search every time system files not required, but may be useful in some situations.
Let's say you accidentally pressed the wrong button during installation. software and after a while they discovered that they appeared on the desktop extra shortcuts or some strange pop-up panel has been added to the browser. Unnecessary files easy to find by looking at the list of recently created or modified ones.
If you don't mind using the keyboard, you can simply type in the search bar specific request. For example, to find all files modified from June 6 to June 7, 2015, just enter “modified date:dd/mm/yy..dd/mm/yy” (without quotes, in English version– “datemodified:Mm/Dd/Yy..Mm/Dd/Yy”, two dots between dates are required).
Saving search terms
Having spent a lot of time creating the right search conditions, you don’t want to bother with it again later if you need to find the latest changed files again. Luckily, Windows allows you to save search terms to special file with the extension ".search-ms".
To do this, on the “Search” tab, click the “Save search” button. Enter suitable name for the file and save it. If you don't manually select a file location, a link to it will appear in the Favorites section of the Explorer navigation bar.
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