Vista full text search extremely limited?

[pcartier]

I am going crazy trying in Vista to execute a simple search for a string of text in all files of a particular type, something I used to do very often in earlier versions of Windows!
It appears that to do this I have to:
(a) first type in the file type (eg *.doc) and wait for that to deliver results ..
(b) then type in the search string and click on "Search in File Contents" to trigger a second search
... and even then the second search ignores the file type and searches for the string in ALL files types in the given folder.

Setting search options is no good: it only provide the option to search for a string in file name AND inside all files!!

"Advanced Search" is also useless .. there is no field to specify a search string or a file type!!!

Is Vista searching really this limited ??!!
This is something which could be accomplished with minimum fuss and a single button push in WinXP.
I presume I am missing something and can still do this in Vista ...
... or have Microsoft actually gone backwards in this area??

If you type in the search box:

searchstring type:*.doc

Should return your files in one step.

Using:

type:word

would return all files that have 'word' in the file type description

The Help topic "Tips for finding files" is a good starting point for
learning how to get the most out of Search.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]



"pcartier" <pcartier.39s7ke@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com> wrote in message
newscartier.39s7ke@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> I am going crazy trying in Vista to execute a simple search for a string
> of text in all files of a particular type, something I used to do very
> often in earlier versions of Windows!
> It appears that to do this I have to:
> (a) first type in the file type (eg *.doc) and wait for that to deliver
> results ..
> (b) then type in the search string and click on "Search in File
> Contents" to trigger a second search
> .. and even then the second search ignores the file type and searches
> for the string in ALL files types in the given folder.
>
> Setting search options is no good: it only provide the option to search
> for a string in file name AND inside all files!!
>
> "Advanced Search" is also useless .. there is no field to specify a
> search string or a file type!!!
>
> Is Vista searching really this limited ??!!
> This is something which could be accomplished with minimum fuss and a
> single button push in WinXP.
> I presume I am missing something and can still do this in Vista ...
> .. or have Microsoft actually gone backwards in this area??
>
>
> --
> pcartier
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>

[pcartier]

Keith,
Thanks for your reply ...
I have just tried your
searchstring type:*.doc
option and I am sorry to say it does not turn up anything in a test directoy
which I KNOW has certain files with certain content. I have just tried it with simple .txt files and a more obscure file type with extension .inc. Neither worked. I had limited success last night with
searchstring ext:doc
also tried searchstring name*.doc without success.

I have seen several negative comments about this search engine and all I really need to know is if it is actually stable. If so I am doing something wrong! Otherwise I shall just switch to a 3rd party desktop searcher ...

OH.... and I checked ... the Search options for the directory inn question does have "search file names and contents" checked...

Also: it appears that even if I get this stuff to work I cannot differentiate between a text search and a file name search ... AM I CORRECT HERE TOO ?

"pcartier" wrote:

> I have just tried your searchstring type:*.doc
> option and I am sorry to say it does not turn up anything in a test
> directoy which I KNOW has certain files with certain content. I have just tried
> it with simple .txt files and a more obscure file type with extension
> .inc. Neither worked. I had limited success last night with searchstring ext:doc
> also tried searchstring name*.doc without success.

Where are the files? Is this an indexed location? These searches should
work properly. Try just doing a search for * and seeing if the files come
back. Please take a look at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932989/en-us for
reasons the file might not be found. Also, please take a look at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266512.aspx for reference about the
AQS search syntax.

> I have seen several negative comments about this search engine and all
> I really need to know is if it is actually stable. If so I am doing
> something wrong! Otherwise I shall just switch to a 3rd party desktop
> searcher ...

There are some occaisional reliability issues that are known in the indexer
that are being addressed in Windows Search 4. It is currently available as a
Beta release on download center. You should see far less indexing
reliability issues in that release. This release is only about searching in
indexed locations.

I haven't determined if the issue is related to this sort of reliability
issue or not. If the item is not being returned in any search (try searching
for * in the folder containing the item), this may be the issue.

Otherwise, it is likely confusion about what the system is trying to do
versus what you're trying to do. Answers to other questions I've posed will
help straighten this out.

> OH.... and I checked ... the Search options for the directory inn
> question does have "search file names and contents" checked...

Search options are per-system, not per-location. You should not see the
"Search in file contents" button unless you're not currently searching the
file contents due to your search options. The default is to only search file
contents in indexed locations, as searching contents is an intensive
operation on non-indexed items.

> Also: it appears that even if I get this stuff to work I cannot
> differentiate between a text search and a file name search ... AM I
> CORRECT HERE TOO ?

You can using the "contents:" property. Unfortunately, this syntax only
works on indexed searches.

> --
> pcartier
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>
>

[pcartier]

Justin,
First, thanks for your detailed response ..
I have been out of town ... hence the late riposte here!

I just started reading your reply and it appears that just about everything you talk about which is supposed to work depends on locations being indexed ....
Conclusion 1: search is useless without indexing locations

next logical step .. how to ascertain what is indexed and what not ....
so I hit the first link you supplied and on this page I started reading "
Cause 1: The file is not in an indexed location ...
Do I honestly have to go through the rigmarole of adding my entire file system through these dialogs? This is what turns me completely off about Vista ... Search is a BASIC function and basic stuff should work out of the box!!
Conclusion 2: Vista search does not work out of the box ... you need to MANUALLY add locations to be indexed ...

It is now late at night here ... all I want to do is be able to quickly effect searches at various places in my file system as I used to in earlier versions of windows ... Search is BASIC function ... so should be default setting somewhere to make it work!

QUESTION: Is there a way to simply set indexing of your whole file system as a default and one go??

Ref: <335543E7-8AE1-408F-A884-BB8753BD6E8A@microsoft.com> de " Keith Miller
\(MVP\)" <k.miller@NOSPAM.mchsi.com>
>If you type in the search box:
>
>searchstring type:*.doc
Strange: on my computer I use "ext:doc" (no star, no dot) which gives expected
results *very* quickly.

using "type:*.doc" takes *ages* to finish (regarding the progress bar) but
apparently gives the same results.

BTW I've upgraded vista search to desktop search 4.0
(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro.../getitnow.mspx)
but it's strange that Microsoft changed search query language syntax

Query language syntax documentation here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro.../advquery.mspx

[pcartier]

Gilles,

Thanks for your input ... well, in a test dir ext:doc is not working ... tonight at any rate ... I have had some limited success with it in recent past!!!
So then I ask .. is my dir indexed ... no quick way to ascertain that either ... then i go over to the Control Panel - Indexing Options dialog and .... well this is incredibly unintuitive ... a few clicks but there is no obvious way to add a location ... is this really what one has to do to every location ????
anyway it's late at night again here ... and quite honestly I have no desire to plough through help manuals and microsoft "knowledgebase" articles to do something which ought to be simple and standard ...
When I think of how simple, intuitive, efficient and reliable the file and text search was in XP I end up with tears in my eyes wondering what kind of moron decided this Vista search is "better" :-)

However, your tip about the new search is useful ... thanks again ... I have downloaded and installed it ...
apparently many things are "better" ... which means they have been fixed and therefore did not work in the first place!!!

now I have to restart .. which will be tomorrow ... and then I shall let you know if things work any better ..

PC

[pcartier]

I have finally had it with Vista's utterly useless search with it's unpredictable failures ...
Does anybody know of a good and stable 3rd party search tool which will do what Vista cannot ... perform targeted full text searches recursively through a file tree based on a simple initial directory selection ... and which is guaranteed to work each and evey time!

"pcartier" <pcartier.3cpos6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com> wrote in message
newscartier.3cpos6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> I have finally had it with Vista's utterly useless search with it's
> unpredictable failures ...
> Does anybody know of a good and stable 3rd party search tool which will
> do what Vista cannot ... perform targeted full text searches recursively
> through a file tree based on a simple initial directory selection ...
> and which is guaranteed to work each and evey time!
>
>
> --
> pcartier
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>

There are lots of them. I like the freeware Agent Ransack, it's small and
quick, and can find anything you can properly describe.

Just remember that Vista by default only indexes a few user files, and no
system files. You can change it to index whatever you want, and then the
search will find it IF you set Windows Explorer to show both Hidden AND
System files.

Good luck

Hi pcartier
Go to your folder options in the control panel and click on the search tab.
There
you can make changes to your search options. Hope this helps.


"pcartier" <pcartier.3cpos6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com> wrote in message
newscartier.3cpos6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> I have finally had it with Vista's utterly useless search with it's
> unpredictable failures ...
> Does anybody know of a good and stable 3rd party search tool which will
> do what Vista cannot ... perform targeted full text searches recursively
> through a file tree based on a simple initial directory selection ...
> and which is guaranteed to work each and evey time!
>
>
> --
> pcartier
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>