Windows 7 : Custom Libraries and Saved Searches (part 2) - Using Saved Searches

2. Using Saved Searches

While Libraries are awesome for specific projects, sometimes you just want to search for certain kinds of files, regardless of where they're located, and then save this search for later use. This functionality is called Search Folders. These folders are built using Windows's indexing engine and stored in an XML file format that developers can easily access, modify, and extend. For users, they can be accessed at any time, like a regular folder.

There are two types of saved searches:

• Libraries

• Those that you build yourself

We've already spent a lot of time on Libraries, so now we want to take a look at custom saved searches.

Saved searches are dynamic, meaning that they can change every time you open them (and cause their underlying search query to run). For example, if you create a saved search that looks for all Microsoft Word (*.doc and *.docx) files (which, admittedly, wouldn't be hugely useful), you may produce a search result containing 125 matches; but if you add a new Word document to your My Documents folder and re-open the saved search, you'll see that you now have 126 matches. The point here is that saved searches aren't static, and they don't cease being relevant after they're created. Because they literally re-query the file system every time they're run—that is, when the folder is opened—saved searches will always return the most up-to-date possible results.

2.1. Searching for Files

To create a saved search, you must first search your hard drive for some kind of information. In a simple example, you might simply look for any files on your hard drive that contain your full name. To do so, open a Search window by tapping WinKey+F. If you don't have a Windows key on your keyboard, open the Start menu and tap the F3 key. This displays the Search tool, as shown in Figure 4.

NOTE

Searching is context sensitive. If you bring up the Search tool as described here, Windows 7 will search the most common locations where documents might be stored in the file system. (These locations are called Indexed Locations in Windows: They are the locations in the file system that are indexed, or kept track of, by the Windows Search indexer.) However, if you use the search box in any Explorer window, Windows 7 will search only the current folder (and its subfolders).

Figure 4. The Windows Search tool is a standard Explorer window. Simply type the word or phrase you are looking for into the search box.

In the Search window, select the search box in the upper-right corner of the window (it should be selected by default) and begin typing your search query. As you type, Windows Search queries the index of files contained on your hard drive and returns the results of your in-progress search in real time, as shown in Figure 5.

NOTE

In the original shipping version of Windows Vista, Microsoft included a Search entry on the right side of the Start menu. This entry is missing in Windows 7 (it was first removed with the release of Service Pack 1) and it cannot be added back via the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties interface, as you may expect. That's because Microsoft has bowed to pressure from its competitors—specifically Internet search giant Google—which complained that the integrated search functionality in Windows made it too difficult to sell competing desktop search solutions like Google Desktop Search. To appease Google and avoid a lengthy and potentially costly antitrust investigation, Microsoft agreed to make some changes, essentially treating search like other so-called Windows "middleware" that can be replaced by users. There are several components to this change, but the obvious visual change is that the Start menu's Search entry is now missing in action. (This change does not affect Start Menu Search, however, which is denoted by the "Start Search" box in the lower-left corner of the Start menu.)

If you want the absolute best performance, consider moving the index to your fastest hard drive. To do this, open Indexing and Search Options and click the Advanced button.

NOTE

Not surprisingly, you can change the locations that Windows indexes by default. Equally unsurprisingly, finding the user interface for this requires a bit of spelunking. Fortunately, we've done the dirty work for you: just open the Start menu and type indexing options (you should see it appear after just ind) and tap Enter to display the Indexing Options control panel. A word of caution: you don't actually want to add too many file system locations to the Included locations list, and certainly not the whole hard drive, because doing so could adversely affect your PC's performance. The only reason to change this setting is if you regularly keep your document files in a nonstandard location (for example, not the Documents, Music, or Pictures Libraries, or other logical locations). To add a location to the Included locations, click the Modify button, and then the Show all locations button in the Indexed Locations dialog that appears. In the next window, you can expand the locations—like Local Disk (C:)—that appear in the Change selected locations list. As you expand the tree view, you can place a check next to those folders you'd like indexed.

Figure 5. Windows Search truly is instant, assuming you're using the search box: here, search results are returned as you type.

This feature is called as-you-type-search or word-wheeling. Contrast this with most search tools, whereby you type a search query and then press Enter or a user interface button in order to instantiate the actual search. The reason Windows Search performs search queries as you type is that the information it's looking for is instantly available because it is indexed: on a typical PC, there's no performance penalty.

As Windows Search displays the search results, a green progress bar will throb through the Search window's address bar. When the query has completed, the progress bar will disappear.

NOTE

Although you're probably familiar with file and folder searching using the Find function in previous Windows version or a third-party tool like Google Desktop or MSN Desktop Search, you may not be familiar with some commonly used wildcard characters, which can help fine-tune your searches. For example, the character * stands for one or more letters, whereas the ? character is used to represent any one letter.

2.2. Filtering the Search Results

A search query as general as your name can result in hundreds or thousands of hits, so it's more useful to filter the search results down a bit to make the search more specific. You do this by using the special search filter drop-down that's available from the search box. To make it appear, click anywhere in the search box, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. You can filter search results via a handy drop-down on the search box.

You can filter by kind, date modified, type, or size. To select one of these criteria, click the appropriate link. When you do so, Windows Search provides an appropriate drop-down list of options. The date modified option is particularly nice, providing a calendar control for picking the date, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Some of the filter types are pretty creative.

You can, of course, mix and match filters too. That is, you can specify multiple filters until you have exactly the search query you're looking for.

2.3. Saving a Search

After you've created a search, especially a fairly complicated one that you may need to repeat later, it's a good idea to save it. The easiest way is to use the Save Search button on the toolbar. Alternately, tap Alt to bring up the Classic Menu, and then select Save Search from the File menu. This displays a standard Save As dialog box, where you can provide a name for your saved search. By default, saved searches are saved, naturally enough, to your Searches folder (found under your user's Home folder), but you can change the location if you'd rather save a search to your desktop, the My Documents folder, or another location. You can also drag any saved search over to the Favorite Links section of the Navigation pane in Windows Explorer so you can access it easily later.

Saved searches use the blue "stacks" icon that debuted in Windows Vista; and because they're treated like Libraries, you get the header area and resulting Arrange by options, so you can view your search results via organizational stacks, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Saved searches employ the little-used "stacks" icon from Windows Vista.

NOTE

When you save a search it is automatically added to the Favorites list in the Explorer Navigation pane as well. Apparently, Microsoft feels that if you went to all that trouble, then you must really intend to keep using this saved search.

2.4. Configuring Search

In Windows 7, Windows Search options have been added to the classic Folder Options window. To access these options, open Folder Options—the fastest way is by typing folder options into Start Menu Search—and navigate to the new Search tab, shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Windows Search is now configured via Folder Options.