Windows 7 : Searching Your Computer (part 2) - Search Filters

3. Searching Your Computer: Search Filters

Sometimes you won’t know the exact name of a resource you are looking for. Instead, you may know only part of the name, the approximate size of the file, the general type of file, or when you last modified the file. In these cases, you can use the Search pane to narrow your results using search filters.

Windows Explorer supports several important search filters for files:

Datemodified:

Filters the search results according the date files and folders were last modified.

Size:

Filters the search results according to file and folder size.

Kind:

Filters the search results according to general kind of file, such as all document files.

Type:

Filters the search results according to specific type of file, such as a .wma file.

Filtering Your Searches You can use just about any indexable property associated with a file or folder as a filter in your searches. The basic syntax is PropertyName: where PropertyName is the property name entered without spaces followed by a colon, such as Datecreated:. Incidentally, you can use Datecreated: in the exact same way as DateModified:. For example, you could use Datecreated:Last week as your search filter. Some other ones you may want to use include Rating: and Dimensions:. Rating: allows you to search on the star rating you assigned to media files. Use the value Rating:1 star, Rating:2 stars, Rating:3 stars, Rating:4 stars, Rating:5 stars or Rating:Unrated. Dimensions: allows you to search on the width and height dimensions of pictures. You can use the value Dimensions:="1024 x 768", Dimensions:="1152 x 864", Dimensions:="1536 x 2048", Dimensions:="2048 x 1536", Dimensions:="Unspecified" or whatever custom dimension you used. In addition to the equals (=) operator, which provides an exact match, you can use less than, greater than, less than or equal to, greater than or equal to, or not equals: <, >, <=, >=, <>. With pictures from a digital camera, you can even use Cameramodel: as a search filter. For example, you could search for all the pictures you’ve taken with your Sony Cyber-shot camera by entering Cameramodel:=cybershot. To find properties that you may be able to filter on, right-click different types of media files and select Properties. In the Details pane, you’ll see a list of all the properties for that type of file. Keep in mind that indexing options control what types of files are indexed.

You can use search filters with or without keywords. If you want to begin a search with a keyword and then filter the results, you type the keyword or phrase, click in the search window and then select or enter the filter prefix. If you want to begin a search without a keyword, click in the search window and then select or enter the filter prefix.

In the sections that follow, I’ll examine each search filter. Although I won’t combine search filters in the examples, you can combine multiple search parameters in a single search. For example, you could search using the date modified, size, and type filters. Searches that combine multiple filters and are difficult to recreate are the ones you’ll want to save for later reuse. See Section 6.4.4 for details.

3.1. Searching on a date or range of dates

When you are working with the Datemodified: filter you can select a date or date range to search. Any file with a last modification date matching your parameters is returned in the search results.

You can work with the calendar in a variety of ways. As Figure 6-24 shows, the current day and date are displayed by default. The calendar has the following views:

Month

The month view is the default. While working with the month view, you can view other months in the calendar using the right-facing and left-facing arrow buttons. Click and drag in the calendar to select a series of dates, such as the 9th through the 15th days of the month.

Year

The year view lists the months in a year. You can access the year view from the month view by clicking the month and year entry at the top of the calendar. While working with the year view, you can view other years in the calendar using the right-facing and left-facing arrow buttons. Click and drag in the calendar to select a series of months.

Decade

The decade view lists the years in a 10-year period. You can access the decade view from the month view by clicking twice at the top of the calendar. While working with the decade view, you can view other decades in the calendar using the right-facing and left-facing arrow buttons. Click and drag in the calendar to select a series of years.

Century

The century view lists the 10-year periods in a particular century. You can access the century view from the month view by clicking three times at the top of the calendar. While working with the century view, you can view other centuries in the calendar using the right-facing and left-facing arrow buttons. Click and drag in the calendar to select a series of decades.

Figure 4. Searching on the last modification date

Why this is important is because it can help you quickly find exactly what you are looking for. For example, if you know you created the photos you are looking for in the 1990s, you can quickly search on related dates by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Optionally, type a keyword or phrase to search on.

3. Select Datemodified:.

4. In the Search pane, click the top of the calendar three times, click the left arrow button and then click 1990–1999.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

The Datemodified: filter accepts shorthand entries as well. Using a shorthand entry, you can directly input the date search. The basic syntax varies by locality. For U.S. English, the syntax is:

Datemodified: Mm/Dd/Yyyy

or:

Datemodified: Mm/Dd/Yyyy .. Mm/Dd/Yyyy

where Mm is a one- or two-digit value for the month, Dd is a one- or two-digit value for the day of the month, and Yyyy is a four-digit value for the year. Knowing this, you could create a search from 1/1/2005 to 12/31/2005 by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Optionally, type a keyword or phrase to search on.

3. Select or type Datemodified:.

4. Type 1/1/2005 .. 12/31/2005.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

The calendar also has preset buttons for:

A long time ago

Search for files and folders created prior to the current year.

Earlier this year

Search for files and folders created earlier in the current year.

Earlier this month

Search for files and folders created earlier in the current month.

Last week

Search for files and folders created in the previous week.

Earlier this week

Search for files and folders created earlier in the current week.

Yesterday

Search for files and folders created yesterday.

You can search using the preset values by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Optionally, type a keyword or phrase to search on.

3. Select or type Datemodified:.

4. Type the preset label or click the preset button in the Search pane.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

3.2. Searching on an approximate file size

When you are working with the Size: filter, you can specify an approximate file size. Any file with an approximate file size matching your parameters is returned in the search results. As Figure 6-25 shows, the available options are:

Empty

Allows you to search for empty files.

Tiny

Allows you to search for files of 0 to 10 kilobytes.

Small

Allows you to search for files of 10 to 100 kilobytes.

Medium

Allows you to search for files of 100 kilobytes to 1 megabyte.

Large

Allows you to search for files of 1 megabyte to 16 megabytes.

Huge

Allows you to search for files of 16 megabyte to 128 megabytes.

Gigantic

Allows you to search for files over 128 megabytes.

Figure 5. Searching on the approximate file size

By typing the preset label or clicking the preset button in the Search pane, you can quickly find files that meet specific size criteria. For example, if you know the file you are looking for is small and has the keyword “report,” you could search for it by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Type report.

3. Select or type Size:.

4. Click or type Small.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

The Size: filter accepts shorthand entries as well. Using a shorthand entry, you can directly input the size parameters for the search. The basic syntax is:

size: SmallestSize .. LargestSize
  SmallestSize.. LargestSize

where SmallestSize is the smallest file size that meets your parameters and LargestSize is the largest file size that meets your parameters. Use kb to specify a size in kilobytes, mb to specify a size in megabytes, and gb to specify a size in gigabytes. Knowing this, you could create a search for files between 500 KB and 100 MB by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Optionally, type a keyword or phrase to search on.

3. Select or type Size:.

4. Type 500kb .. 100mb.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

You also can use the greater than (>) and less than (<) symbols in your searches. For example, to search for files less than 1 MB in size, you would type Size:<1mbSize:>1mb and then press Enter to begin your search. and then press Enter to begin your search. To search for files greater than 1 MB in size, you would type

3.3. Searching for a specific kind or type of file

When you are working with libraries and certain other folders, the Kind: and Type: filters are available when you click in the Search box. These filters are also available when you are working with other folders but you must enter the filter prefix, such as Kind: or Type: to access the filter’s options.

Any file with a kind of type that matches your parameters is returned in the search results. The kinds of files you can search for include:

Calendar

Filters the search results so that only calendar items are included in the search results.

Communication

Filters the search results so that only calendar, email, contact, and instant message items are included in the search results.

Contact

Filters the search results so that only contact items are included in the search results.

Document

Filters the search results so that only document files are included in the search results.

E-mail

Filters the search results so that only email messages are included in the search results.

Feed

Filters the search results so that only messages from RSS feeds are included in the search results.

Folder

Filters the search results so that only folders are included in the search results.

Game

Filters the search results so that only game data and other game files are included in the search results.

Instant Message

Filters the search results so that only instant messages are included in the search results.

Journal

Filters the search results so that only journal entries are included in the search results.

Link

Filters the search results so that only links are included in the search results.

Movie

Filters the search results so that only movie files are included in the search results.

Music

Filters the search results so that only music files are included in the search results.

Note

Filters the search results so that only note files are included in the search results.

Picture

Filters the search results so that only pictures are included in the search results.

Program

Filters the search results so that program files are included in the search results.

Recorded TV

Filters the search results so that recorded television programs are included in the search results.

Saved Search

Filters the search results so that saved searches are included in the search results.

Task

Filters the search results so that tasks are included in the search results.

Video

Filters the search results so that video files are included in the search results.

Web History

Filters the search results so that items from your web history are included in the search results.

By typing the Kind: prefix, an equals sign, and the kind label in the Search pane, you can quickly find files of a particular kind. For example, if you know the file you are looking for is a document file and the file name includes the keyword “report,” you could search for it by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Type report.

3. Select or type Kind:.

4. Click Document in the list provided or type =Document.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

The Type: filter allows you to search for a specific type of file by its file type label or file extension. For example, you can search for files with the type “MP3 Format Sound” or files with the .mp3 file extension. By typing the Type: prefix, an equal sign and the type label in the Search pane, you can quickly find files of a particular type. For example, if you know the file you are looking for is a .doc file and the filename includes the keyword “report,” you could search for it by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Type report.

3. Select or type Type:.

4. Type =.doc.

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

The Type: filter also accepts three special flags:

“Directory”

Filters the search results for directories only.

“File Folder”

Filters the search results for file folders only.

“Compressed (zipped) Folder”

Filters the search results for compressed (zipped) folders only.

Generally speaking, if you don’t use one of these special flags, any search you perform with a filter matches only files. In contrast, searches on keywords are matched only against both files and folders.

Following this, you could search for a directory with report as part of its name by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer to the top-level folder from which you want to start searching. If you want to search the entire computer, select Computer as your location.

2. Click in the Search box. Type report.

3. Select or type Type:.

4. Type ="Directory".

5. Press Enter to begin your search.

NOTE

Want to know a secret? A little-known fact is that these same search filters are available with Windows Explorer, the Start menu, and other search boxes in Windows 7. To use these filters with other Search boxes, simply type the filter prefixes, labels and search parameters to use. For example, if you click Start and then type kind:=music into the Search box, you’ll see a list of all the music on your computer. If you have a lot of music, you’ll then need to click See All Results to get an expanded view of the search results.

4. Searching Your Computer: Save Search Options

Whenever you perform a search, Windows 7 updates the menu bar in Windows Explorer to include a Save Search button. Clicking this button allows you to save your search criteria so that you can rapidly perform an identical search in the future. Windows 7 saves your search criteria as a search folder.

Search folders have a blue icon with a magnifying glass. As Figure 6-26 shows, searches are listed according to the search filters you used in the Searches folder under the Saved Search heading. You can work with search folders in the same way you work with regular folders. This means you can:

• Use Ctrl-X to cut and Ctrl-V to paste a search folder in a new location.

• Use Ctrl-C to copy and Ctrl-V to paste to create copies of search folders.

• Use Delete to remove search folders.

Figure 6. Saved searches are stored by default in the Searches folder

When you open or double-click a search folder, the Windows Search service either retrieves the cached results of your previous search or performs a new search using the search criteria. The result is a list of matching files and folders that appear to be in the selected folder. The folder actually does not contain any files or folders, however. A search folder’s only actual (physical) content is the associated search string.

You can create a search folder by completing the following steps:

1. Perform a search as discussed previously.

2. Click Save Search on the menu bar.

3. In the Save As dialog box, accept the default name for the search folder or type a new name.

4. Click Save to create the search folder. Searches are saved with the .search-ms file extension.

Search folders you create are stored by default in your Saved Searches folder within your profile. You can access saved searches at any time by clicking Start, clicking your user name on the Start menu, and then double-clicking Searches.

You can run a search again by accessing Saved Searches and then opening or double-clicking the search folder. Although you cannot edit search folders to update the search criteria, you can delete a search folder, configure the desired search criteria, and then save the new search using the old search folder name.