How to search for content inside files?

I'm poking around in Vista and cannot find how to do a search for *.xls in a
specific folder, and look for documents containing particular text. Could
someone point me in the right direction?

"Joe Grover" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I'm poking around in Vista and cannot find how to do a search for *.xls in
> a specific folder, and look for documents containing particular text.
> Could someone point me in the right direction?

Windows provides several ways to find files and folders. There is no one
best way to search; you can use different methods for different situations.


The Search folder is a good choice when:
a.. You don't know where a file or folder is located.

b.. You want the search results to include files from more than one
folder, such as Pictures and Music.

c.. You want to search by using more than a single file name or file
property.

By default, this search is based on a set of locations called Indexed
Locations. This includes all of the folders in your personal folder (which
includes Documents, Pictures, Music, Desktop, and other common locations),
e-mail, and offline files. If you commonly store files in different
locations, you can add those locations to Indexed Locations. For more
information, see Improve Windows searches using the index: frequently asked
questions.

1.. Click to open Search.

2.. Type a word or part of a word in the Search box.

As you type, files from a variety of locations on your computer will
appear that match your text.

3.. Now do any of the following in the Search pane:

a.. Click one of the available filter buttons to show only certain kinds
of files, such as E-mail, Documents, Pictures, or Music.

b.. Click the Advanced Search button to show additional filters. To
build a more advanced search, enter information in any of the list boxes,
and then click the Search button.

c.. Click an item in the Location list to choose a different set of
locations for your search. The default search is Indexed Locations, but you
can choose to search an entire hard disk or any other location.

For more information about creating a search using the Search folder, see
Tips for finding files.

Tips
a.. The default search, Indexed Locations, is usually the best way to
search. Because these locations are indexed, the search is very fast, and it
includes all of the most common places for storing files.

a.. You can use the location called Everywhere to perform a thorough
search of your entire computer. When you search Everywhere, you will quickly
get results from Indexed Locations, and then results from outside the index
will slowly appear as the rest of your computer is searched.

The Subject Question: How to search for content inside files?

Is not answered here best I can tell so i'll give a scenario;

I have file types of excel, word, html, and text all over 2 hard drives C &
D. The file im looking for is misfiled and I don't know what type it is. I
want to do a search by content because it will contain the word "Deposit".
So I do an advanced search look in the location of "Local Hard drives
(C:;D" , I dont know the name so I leave it blank, The file has no tags.
How do I search for files containing the word "Deposit".

"Wilber Sok" <> wrote in message
news:C9CA0B39-C8D3-4729-AEFB-...
> The Subject Question: How to search for content inside files?
>
> Is not answered here best I can tell so i'll give a scenario;
>
> I have file types of excel, word, html, and text all over 2 hard drives C
> &
> D. The file im looking for is misfiled and I don't know what type it is.
> I
> want to do a search by content because it will contain the word "Deposit".
> So I do an advanced search look in the location of "Local Hard drives
> (C:;D" , I dont know the name so I leave it blank, The file has no tags.
> How do I search for files containing the word "Deposit".


The slow way is to do that - typing the word 'deposit' in the top-right
search box, and then clicking the 'Search in file contents' link that
appears.under the results.

The quick way is if the files are likely to be in subfolders of an *indexed*
location (subfolders of c:\Users by default) is simply to type

Start > Search

and then put 'deposit' (minus quotes) in the top-right box


--
Jon

There is no "'Search in file contents" link, at least I can't find it. How
does one search for files by it's content? I've just spend 3 hours trying to
do that... I've changed the filetype to "Index properties and File Contents"
(for the filetypes i canna search it's content), I've enabled the "Always
search for file names and contents"... I've clicked the rebuild button under
"reindex selected locations" in Indexing options. I still get no results. How
the h*ll do I search files by content in vista? I miss the XP searcher..

"Jon" wrote:

>
> "Wilber Sok" <> wrote in message
> news:C9CA0B39-C8D3-4729-AEFB-...
> > The Subject Question: How to search for content inside files?
> >
> > Is not answered here best I can tell so i'll give a scenario;
> >
> > I have file types of excel, word, html, and text all over 2 hard drives C
> > &
> > D. The file im looking for is misfiled and I don't know what type it is.
> > I
> > want to do a search by content because it will contain the word "Deposit".
> > So I do an advanced search look in the location of "Local Hard drives
> > (C:;D" , I dont know the name so I leave it blank, The file has no tags.
> > How do I search for files containing the word "Deposit".
>
>
> The slow way is to do that - typing the word 'deposit' in the top-right
> search box, and then clicking the 'Search in file contents' link that
> appears.under the results.
>
> The quick way is if the files are likely to be in subfolders of an *indexed*
> location (subfolders of c:\Users by default) is simply to type
>
> Start > Search
>
> and then put 'deposit' (minus quotes) in the top-right box
>
>
> --
> Jon
>
>
>

Use Windows Explorer to go to the directory containing the files.
Type the search word in the search box.
If it doesn't find a match in the filename, then click on "Search in File
Contents"



"Sixhearts" <> wrote in message
news:FE39D8B0-E42B-4F09-ADBD-...
> There is no "'Search in file contents" link, at least I can't find it. How
> does one search for files by it's content? I've just spend 3 hours trying
> to
> do that... I've changed the filetype to "Index properties and File
> Contents"
> (for the filetypes i canna search it's content), I've enabled the "Always
> search for file names and contents"... I've clicked the rebuild button
> under
> "reindex selected locations" in Indexing options. I still get no results.
> How
> the h*ll do I search files by content in vista? I miss the XP searcher..
>
> "Jon" wrote:
>
>>
>> "Wilber Sok" <> wrote in message
>> news:C9CA0B39-C8D3-4729-AEFB-...
>> > The Subject Question: How to search for content inside files?
>> >
>> > Is not answered here best I can tell so i'll give a scenario;
>> >
>> > I have file types of excel, word, html, and text all over 2 hard drives
>> > C
>> > &
>> > D. The file im looking for is misfiled and I don't know what type it
>> > is.
>> > I
>> > want to do a search by content because it will contain the word
>> > "Deposit".
>> > So I do an advanced search look in the location of "Local Hard drives
>> > (C:;D" , I dont know the name so I leave it blank, The file has no
>> > tags.
>> > How do I search for files containing the word "Deposit".
>>
>>
>> The slow way is to do that - typing the word 'deposit' in the top-right
>> search box, and then clicking the 'Search in file contents' link that
>> appears.under the results.
>>
>> The quick way is if the files are likely to be in subfolders of an
>> *indexed*
>> location (subfolders of c:\Users by default) is simply to type
>>
>> Start > Search
>>
>> and then put 'deposit' (minus quotes) in the top-right box
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jon
>>
>>
>>

"Sixhearts" <> wrote in message
news:FE39D8B0-E42B-4F09-ADBD-...
> There is no "'Search in file contents" link, at least I can't find it. How
> does one search for files by it's content? I've just spend 3 hours trying
> to
> do that... I've changed the filetype to "Index properties and File
> Contents"
> (for the filetypes i canna search it's content), I've enabled the "Always
> search for file names and contents"... I've clicked the rebuild button
> under
> "reindex selected locations" in Indexing options. I still get no results.
> How
> the h*ll do I search files by content in vista? I miss the XP searcher..

Apparently, Microsoft has decided we don't need to search by content
anymore. If what you're looking for doesn't get into the index file they
build, you can't search for it.

File Search in Vista Worse than Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP?
http://www.pcmagvote.com/story.php?t..._2000_and_XP-1

See the two cases in the comments. No one has answered case 2 yet. In a
controlled experiment, case 2 shows you can only find one of three identical
files using Vista's search.

This link would useful for Microsoft's index search, but doesn't help
looking for strings in files that are not indexed:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/wi...echniques.aspx

I keep asking Microsoft to tell me how I can run Windows Explorer from
Windows 2000 but no one will answer that question.

This is quite close to a deal breaker for me and a return to XP. I can't
find files that I need to find and Microsoft doesn't care. The time wasted
on this has been considerable for me, and it's quite frustrating that
Microsoft has no solution and took functionality away from earlier versions
of Windows.