Step-by-step tutorial on how to search the content of files in Windows
How can we search the contents of files in Windows? Stay with us to find the answer to your question.
It is difficult and almost impossible to find and remember the location of all the files on the computer, but the search feature of Windows makes it much easier. But have you ever not found the result you want? This may be because you searched for text within the file. By default, Windows cannot see the content inside the file when searching. In this article, we will teach you how to fix this problem.
In this article, in addition to the Windows search function, we mention other third-party programs that will help you experience a proper search.
Searching the content of files in Windows with the search function
Windows 10 performs better in search than previous versions. This version usually shows a great performance in finding the files you want, but still it may not give you the desired result.
This is because, by default, Windows cannot detect the contents of any type of file, and of course, it does not scan files that are not indexed. Below you will see how to solve both of these problems.
About indexing files to search the contents of files in Windows
Windows Index lists information about your files, such as metadata and the words they contain. This feature allows your computer to find files faster. With this method, it is not necessary to scan each file individually, but it can be searched in the index.
Many programs in Windows use indexes. File search is an obvious example, but Photos, Groove, Outlook, and Cortana also use this feature.
As soon as the files on the computer are changed, the index list is also updated automatically. It is only about 10% of the file size (i.e. a 100 MB file is about 10 MB in the index).
While searching for files is better with this method, it should be noted that it reduces the speed of the system. The more files indexed and the more folders created, the longer the search takes. If you notice that this time is getting longer, you can reduce the amount of these files and index more necessary files.
Change general search options
There are several general options that you can change to improve indexing and searching.
Indexing options
First, we’ll look at how to change some system-wide indexing options. Open the start menu, search for “Indexing Options,” and select the result. In the window that opens, click on the “Advanced” option and stay in the “Index Settings” window.
Under the File Settings heading, you can enable two options:
- Index encrypted files
- Treat similar words with diacritics as different words
The first option adds encrypted files to the index list. The second option provides the possibility of separating different words that have specific symbols on their letters. For example, it can distinguish the two words “Café” and “Cafe”. This option is useful for those who have different files in different languages on their computer.
When finished, click “OK” to save the changes.
Options for searching the contents of files in Windows
Now we will see how to change the way the file search works. Open the start menu, look for “Change search options for files and folders” and select the result.
You can enable these options for files that are not indexed:
- Include system directories (which is enabled by default)
- Include compressed files (which includes compressed files such as ZIP, CAB, etc.)
- Always search file names and contents (which includes searching the names and contents of files and takes several minutes)
You can enable any one you want, but if you want a detailed search of the file and its contents, choose the third option.
Click “OK” to save the changes.
Search and add more locations
By default, Windows indexes place like Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. You can add more locations to the index if you want.
To do this, open the start menu, search for “Indexing Options” and select the result. This will show you a window containing all the places in the index list.
To add to this list, click on “Modify” and then select “Show all locations”. Select the “Change selected locations” option above and click on the arrow to add the drive or folder and then click the corresponding tick. Finally, click “OK”.
Search the contents of other types of files in Windows
By default, Windows only indexes the content of certain types of files. To change that, we need to use the index options again. Click on “Advanced” and go to the “File Types” section. Here you will see a list of most different types of files on the system; select any one you want. If the desired file type is not in this list, add it with the “Add new extension to list” option and click “Add”.
If you click on the extension of a public file such as Doc in the list, you will reach the “How should this file be indexed” section at the bottom. Don’t forget that you have to click “Index Properties and File Contents” option in this section. This means that Windows Search can read the contents of Doc files, or any file selected in this list, when you perform a search.
Of course, you can select the “Index Properties Only” option, which reads only metadata such as file names instead of their contents during the search. Anyway, whichever of these options you choose, you must press “OK” at the end to save the changes.
Searching the contents of files in Windows by a third-party program
We have previously introduced a list of Windows search options, but these do not specifically search the contents of files. If Windows search is not suitable for you, you can use a third-party tool called “Agent Ransack”. It is not the only program available, but it is the best program that you prefer to use because of its system compatibility, special features and capabilities, and reasonable price.
This program is made by Mythicsoft and is actually a free version of the exclusive FileLocator program. With this program, you can search your entire system for the desired content and even apply other parameters such as the size of the file or its date. With this program’s simple and easy user interface, you can do this even more easily than searching Windows itself.
This tool tells you exactly which line your search keyword is used in (plus how many times it occurs) and gives you file search results quickly. Of course, if you search the entire system, it will take a little more time, but you can limit the search to the desired folders.
Conclusion
We were with you with another educational article on the website. In this article, we learned how to search the contents of files in Windows. We hope that this article has also been of interest to you.
