Searching for word inside a file?

In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I can't
seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents or
text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title but
inside the document.

How do I do this in Vista?

Thanks
Lara

"lforbes" <> wrote in message
news:EE219670-4426-48AA-8686-...
> In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I
> can't
> seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents
> or
> text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title
> but
> inside the document.
>
> How do I do this in Vista?
>
> Thanks
> Lara


This is probably how I would do it...

Start > Search > "mileage" AND (Ext:txt OR Ext:doc) AND (NOT
filename:"*mileage*")

The thing to remember is that the default is to search contents as well as
titles, so you need to explicitly exclude the title if that's what you'd
want.

--
Jon

This is the default behavior if the files are in an indexed location.
Start -> Search and then type into the search box on the top-right of the
search window.

"lforbes" <> wrote in message
news:EE219670-4426-48AA-8686-...
> In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I
> can't
> seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents
> or
> text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title
> but
> inside the document.
>
> How do I do this in Vista?
>
> Thanks
> Lara

Well then Vista Search doesn't work properly then. My Documents is indexed
and the file was in My Documents. I found it eventually. It is a text
document with the word mileage clearly typed in the document. I tried all
sorts of ways after I found the file to get Vista to find it based on the
content. It didn't.

"Dave Wood [MS]" wrote:

> This is the default behavior if the files are in an indexed location.
> Start -> Search and then type into the search box on the top-right of the
> search window.
>
> "lforbes" <> wrote in message
> news:EE219670-4426-48AA-8686-...
> > In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I
> > can't
> > seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents
> > or
> > text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title
> > but
> > inside the document.
> >
> > How do I do this in Vista?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Lara
>
>

> Well then Vista Search doesn't work properly then. My Documents is indexed
> and the file was in My Documents. I found it eventually. It is a text
> document with the word mileage clearly typed in the document. I tried all
> sorts of ways after I found the file to get Vista to find it based on the
> content. It didn't.



"Vista Search doesn't work properly" = you hit the nail on the head.

More than likely the indexing wasn't finished before you were searching.
Indexing works in the background so if your computer is busy it may be a
while before the indexing completes. I'm very disappointed in the search
inside a file being available outside of indexing as I need to search many
servers that have files changing all the time, the indexing isn't an option
so Vista becomes useless for this and I'm forced to go back to previous
windows.

"lforbes" wrote:

> In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I can't
> seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents or
> text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title but
> inside the document.
>
> How do I do this in Vista?
>
> Thanks
> Lara

On Dec 19, 6:51 am, Dega <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> More than likely the indexing wasn't finished before you were searching.
> Indexing works in the background so if your computer is busy it may be a
> while before the indexing completes. I'm very disappointed in the search
> inside a file being available outside of indexing as I need to search many
> servers that have files changing all the time, the indexing isn't an option
> so Vista becomes useless for this and I'm forced to go back to previous
> windows.
>
>
>
> "lforbes" wrote:
> > In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I can't
> > seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents or
> > text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title but
> > inside the document.
>
> > How do I do this in Vista?
>
> > Thanks
> > Lara- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Try Agent Ransack - it is a nice free search tool.

Why would you assume indexing isn't finished? Several of us are having the
exact same problem and indexing is definitely finished. All you have to do
is look at the indexing dialog box to see that it says indexing is complete.

"Dega" wrote:

> More than likely the indexing wasn't finished before you were searching.
> Indexing works in the background so if your computer is busy it may be a
> while before the indexing completes. I'm very disappointed in the search
> inside a file being available outside of indexing as I need to search many
> servers that have files changing all the time, the indexing isn't an option
> so Vista becomes useless for this and I'm forced to go back to previous
> windows.
>
> "lforbes" wrote:
>
> > In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I can't
> > seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents or
> > text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title but
> > inside the document.
> >
> > How do I do this in Vista?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Lara

This is really becoming a JOKE! I have spent more time trying to find out why
Vista will not find contents in a file, I could have found the file already!
But, I need to find out how for the next time!

"SixSigmaGuy" wrote:

> Why would you assume indexing isn't finished? Several of us are having the
> exact same problem and indexing is definitely finished. All you have to do
> is look at the indexing dialog box to see that it says indexing is complete.
>
> "Dega" wrote:
>
> > More than likely the indexing wasn't finished before you were searching.
> > Indexing works in the background so if your computer is busy it may be a
> > while before the indexing completes. I'm very disappointed in the search
> > inside a file being available outside of indexing as I need to search many
> > servers that have files changing all the time, the indexing isn't an option
> > so Vista becomes useless for this and I'm forced to go back to previous
> > windows.
> >
> > "lforbes" wrote:
> >
> > > In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista I can't
> > > seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word documents or
> > > text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the title but
> > > inside the document.
> > >
> > > How do I do this in Vista?
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Lara

I tuned in late, but is the question how to get Windows to be able to search
for text inside all types of files, not just .doc and a few others? If so,
the answer, at least in XP and earlier, is this registry setting:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\ContentIndex]
"FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions"=dword:00000 001

Haven't actually tried it in Vista.



"Todd_CAD_MAN" <> wrote in message
news:EEFFF621-BC3F-485F-B678-...
> This is really becoming a JOKE! I have spent more time trying to find out
> why
> Vista will not find contents in a file, I could have found the file
> already!
> But, I need to find out how for the next time!
>
> "SixSigmaGuy" wrote:
>
>> Why would you assume indexing isn't finished? Several of us are having
>> the
>> exact same problem and indexing is definitely finished. All you have to
>> do
>> is look at the indexing dialog box to see that it says indexing is
>> complete.
>>
>> "Dega" wrote:
>>
>> > More than likely the indexing wasn't finished before you were
>> > searching.
>> > Indexing works in the background so if your computer is busy it may be
>> > a
>> > while before the indexing completes. I'm very disappointed in the
>> > search
>> > inside a file being available outside of indexing as I need to search
>> > many
>> > servers that have files changing all the time, the indexing isn't an
>> > option
>> > so Vista becomes useless for this and I'm forced to go back to previous
>> > windows.
>> >
>> > "lforbes" wrote:
>> >
>> > > In XP I could search the contents of documents for a name. With Vista
>> > > I can't
>> > > seem to find this option. For example I want to search all word
>> > > documents or
>> > > text documents for ones containing the words "mileage" not in the
>> > > title but
>> > > inside the document.
>> > >
>> > > How do I do this in Vista?
>> > >
>> > > Thanks
>> > > Lara