"Open File Location" in Search Results opens Recent Items Folder

I am using Windows Vista Business. Whenever I search for files using Vista
Search, it often returns documents present in the "Recent Items" folder.
When I click on these items, they successfully open up with the appropriate
program. However, if I right click on them and select "Open file location,"
it opens the recent items folder instead of the folder where the file is
actually located. Also, if I attempt to drag and copy these files, it only
copies the shortcut, rather than the actual file. It would be nice if these
problems could be fixed.

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http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/co...icrosoft.public.windows.vista.file_management

 

All I have is a workaround. You could clear the Recent Items List, or turn
Recently Opened Files off completely. I don't know why it only shows the
shortcut in the Recent Items folder, and not the actual file in the results
list. It will do this if a shortcut doesn't exist in the Recent Items
folder. It should actually show both, however, if both files exist. Too, I
guess, when you select "Open file location" and the Recent Items folder pops
up, you could do the "Open file location" one more time.

 

Dorjen1

I doubt that this will be changed. What you see in the Recent Items folder
are simple shortcuts to files that you have used. The behavior you are
seeing is the same as you would see with any other shortcut.

 

Hi Ronnie, I think the OP meant that by typeing example.doc in Start Search
in the Start Menu, it only lists a shortcut to example.doc found in
Recent Items. This makes it impossible to copy or cut the file directly .
However, the standalone "regular" Search window will list both the Recent
Items shortcut and the actual file the shortcut points to, e.g., example.doc
and example.doc.lnk.

Curiously, if the shortcut is deleted in Recent Items, Start Search will
then list the actual file. It's just that if there's a shortcut in Recent
Items, Start Search only wants the shortcut listed, and not both the
original file and the shortcut. Since Recent Items is located on the Start
Menu as well, it seems Start Search should show the actual item, and not be
a redundant function of Recent Items.

 

Dean-Dean

Thanks. I wasn't paying attention.

This is definitely a bug with the search component. The only way around it
that I can see would be to exclude the Recent Items folder in the Indexing
options.

 

Hi Ronnie. Yes, excluding the Recent Items folder in the Indexing options
is actually an excellent idea. When searching, I'm not really looking for
those shortcuts anyway. Thanks.