search syntax

In Windows XP (and all previous versions of Windows that I can recall going
back to Win95) one could search for multiple words separated by commas, e.g.
*.jpg,*.bmp.

How do I do that in Vista?

Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search.
Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you can
see in the following table.

Filter
Example
Use this to

AND
tropical AND island
Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island" (even if those
words are not right next to each other).

NOT
tropical NOT island
Find files that contain the word "tropical," but not "island."

OR
tropical OR island
Find files that contain either of the words "tropical" or "island."

Quotes
"tropical island"
Find files that contain the exact phrase "tropical island."

Parentheses
(tropical island)
Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island," in any order.

>
date: >01/05/06
Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as after
01/05/06.

<
size: < 4 MB
Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as less
than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB.



--
Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson

"Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
news:81C2789A-F4D0-44D9-9807-...
> In Windows XP (and all previous versions of Windows that I can recall
> going back to Win95) one could search for multiple words separated by
> commas, e.g. *.jpg,*.bmp.
>
> How do I do that in Vista?

Thanks. I am familiar with Boolean searches. I'd tried this and I must be
searching from the wrong place because when I search for "mp3", I get over
5000 entries. Vista stops at 5000 and requests a user instruction to
display all results. If I add an operator, e.g. mp3 AND m4a, I get zero
results. Searching shouldn't be that difficult and counter-intuitive.

"Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
message news:E33473F2-0751-4143-80EF-...
> Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search.
> Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you
> can see in the following table.
>
> Filter
> Example
> Use this to
>
> AND
> tropical AND island
> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island" (even if those
> words are not right next to each other).
>
> NOT
> tropical NOT island
> Find files that contain the word "tropical," but not "island."
>
> OR
> tropical OR island
> Find files that contain either of the words "tropical" or "island."
>
> Quotes
> "tropical island"
> Find files that contain the exact phrase "tropical island."
>
> Parentheses
> (tropical island)
> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island," in any order.
>
>>
> date: >01/05/06
> Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as after
> 01/05/06.
>
> <
> size: < 4 MB
> Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as
> less than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB.
>
>
>
> --
> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>
> "Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
> news:81C2789A-F4D0-44D9-9807-...
>> In Windows XP (and all previous versions of Windows that I can recall
>> going back to Win95) one could search for multiple words separated by
>> commas, e.g. *.jpg,*.bmp.
>>
>> How do I do that in Vista?
>

You would not use AND to find both .mp3 and .m4a files, you would use mp3 OR
m4a. ( the query states, 'does this file contain either mp3 OR m4a?')
Boolean logic may not be intuitive, but is logical, by definition.

--
Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson

"Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
news:413BA853-6D5A-468D-A06D-...
> Thanks. I am familiar with Boolean searches. I'd tried this and I must
> be searching from the wrong place because when I search for "mp3", I get
> over 5000 entries. Vista stops at 5000 and requests a user instruction to
> display all results. If I add an operator, e.g. mp3 AND m4a, I get zero
> results. Searching shouldn't be that difficult and counter-intuitive.
>
> "Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
> message news:E33473F2-0751-4143-80EF-...
>> Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search.
>> Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you
>> can see in the following table.
>>
>> Filter
>> Example
>> Use this to
>>
>> AND
>> tropical AND island
>> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island" (even if those
>> words are not right next to each other).
>>
>> NOT
>> tropical NOT island
>> Find files that contain the word "tropical," but not "island."
>>
>> OR
>> tropical OR island
>> Find files that contain either of the words "tropical" or "island."
>>
>> Quotes
>> "tropical island"
>> Find files that contain the exact phrase "tropical island."
>>
>> Parentheses
>> (tropical island)
>> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island," in any order.
>>
>>>
>> date: >01/05/06
>> Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as
>> after 01/05/06.
>>
>> <
>> size: < 4 MB
>> Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as
>> less than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
>> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
>> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
>> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
>> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>>
>> "Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
>> news:81C2789A-F4D0-44D9-9807-...
>>> In Windows XP (and all previous versions of Windows that I can recall
>>> going back to Win95) one could search for multiple words separated by
>>> commas, e.g. *.jpg,*.bmp.
>>>
>>> How do I do that in Vista?
>>

Obviously, I'm just getting older... not smarter. I can't believe I was
using the "AND" operator. Thanks, Mark.

"Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
message news:...
> You would not use AND to find both .mp3 and .m4a files, you would use mp3
> OR m4a. ( the query states, 'does this file contain either mp3 OR m4a?')
> Boolean logic may not be intuitive, but is logical, by definition.
>
> --
> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>
> "Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
> news:413BA853-6D5A-468D-A06D-...
>> Thanks. I am familiar with Boolean searches. I'd tried this and I must
>> be searching from the wrong place because when I search for "mp3", I get
>> over 5000 entries. Vista stops at 5000 and requests a user instruction
>> to display all results. If I add an operator, e.g. mp3 AND m4a, I get
>> zero results. Searching shouldn't be that difficult and
>> counter-intuitive.
>>
>> "Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
>> message news:E33473F2-0751-4143-80EF-...
>>> Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search.
>>> Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you
>>> can see in the following table.
>>>
>>> Filter
>>> Example
>>> Use this to
>>>
>>> AND
>>> tropical AND island
>>> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island" (even if
>>> those words are not right next to each other).
>>>
>>> NOT
>>> tropical NOT island
>>> Find files that contain the word "tropical," but not "island."
>>>
>>> OR
>>> tropical OR island
>>> Find files that contain either of the words "tropical" or "island."
>>>
>>> Quotes
>>> "tropical island"
>>> Find files that contain the exact phrase "tropical island."
>>>
>>> Parentheses
>>> (tropical island)
>>> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island," in any
>>> order.
>>>
>>>>
>>> date: >01/05/06
>>> Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as
>>> after 01/05/06.
>>>
>>> <
>>> size: < 4 MB
>>> Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as
>>> less than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
>>> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
>>> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
>>> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
>>> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>>>
>>> "Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
>>> news:81C2789A-F4D0-44D9-9807-...
>>>> In Windows XP (and all previous versions of Windows that I can recall
>>>> going back to Win95) one could search for multiple words separated by
>>>> commas, e.g. *.jpg,*.bmp.
>>>>
>>>> How do I do that in Vista?
>>>

You can search for "kindics" or "kindictures" which is quick & easy,
then sort the results by type.
Or, search for
"ext:jpg OR ext:bmp"

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro.../advquery.mspx



--
Vista Home Premium 32 SP1
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview


"Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
news:413BA853-6D5A-468D-A06D-...
> Thanks. I am familiar with Boolean searches. I'd tried this and I must
> be searching from the wrong place because when I search for "mp3", I get
> over 5000 entries. Vista stops at 5000 and requests a user instruction to
> display all results. If I add an operator, e.g. mp3 AND m4a, I get zero
> results. Searching shouldn't be that difficult and counter-intuitive.
>
> "Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
> message news:E33473F2-0751-4143-80EF-...
>> Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search.
>> Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you
>> can see in the following table.
>>
>> Filter
>> Example
>> Use this to
>>
>> AND
>> tropical AND island
>> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island" (even if those
>> words are not right next to each other).
>>
>> NOT
>> tropical NOT island
>> Find files that contain the word "tropical," but not "island."
>>
>> OR
>> tropical OR island
>> Find files that contain either of the words "tropical" or "island."
>>
>> Quotes
>> "tropical island"
>> Find files that contain the exact phrase "tropical island."
>>
>> Parentheses
>> (tropical island)
>> Find files that contain both words "tropical" and "island," in any order.
>>
>>>
>> date: >01/05/06
>> Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as
>> after 01/05/06.
>>
>> <
>> size: < 4 MB
>> Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as
>> less than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
>> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
>> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
>> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
>> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>>
>> "Vista Newbie" <> wrote in message
>> news:81C2789A-F4D0-44D9-9807-...
>>> In Windows XP (and all previous versions of Windows that I can recall
>>> going back to Win95) one could search for multiple words separated by
>>> commas, e.g. *.jpg,*.bmp.
>>>
>>> How do I do that in Vista?
>>