Windows 7 : Indexing Your Computer for Faster Searches (part 1) - Adding or Removing Indexed Locations

In addition to performing searches, the Windows Search service is also responsible for indexing your computer. You tell the Windows Search service about locations that should be indexed by designating them as searched locations. Once you’ve designated a folder as an indexed location, the Windows Search service is notified that it needs to update the related index whenever you modify the contents of the folder.

You can manage the indexing of your computer’s files and folders in several ways. You can:

• Add or remove indexed locations.

• Specify file types to include or exclude.

• Optimize file properties for indexing.

• Rebuild indexes if you suspect problems.

The sections that follow discuss these indexing options.

1. Adding or Removing Indexed Locations

The Windows Search services indexes the following locations by default:

Internet Explorer feeds and history

This means that if you are using Internet Explorer, your RSS feed messages and browser history will be indexed for fast searching.

Microsoft Office Outlook

This means that if you installed Microsoft Office Outlook, your mail saved on your computer will be indexed for fast searching.

Offline files

This means that if you configured offline files, all offline file folders will be indexed for fast searching.

Start menu

This means that the Start menu and all related menu options are indexed for fast searching.

Users

This means that your personal folders and the personal folders of others who log on to your computer are indexed for fast searching.

Libraries

This means that anything that is stored in a Library (including Libraries you have created and folders you have added to a Library) is indexed for fast searching.

NOTE

Your computer includes application data folders within user profiles. These data folders, saved in the %SystemDrive%\Users\%UserName%\AppData folders, are excluded from indexing by default. This is the desired setting in most cases, as you don’t want to index folders or files associated with application data.

The fastest and easiest way to index folders is to just add the folder to a Library.

You can add or remove indexed locations by completing the following steps:

Figure 1. Reviewing the current indexed locations

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel. In the Control Panel, click Large Icons or Small Icons on the View By list (to return to the original view, click the View by list and select Category). Finally, click Indexing Options.

2. As shown in Figure 1, the Indexing Options dialog box provides an overview of indexing on your computer, which includes the total number of items indexed and the current indexing state. The currently indexed locations are listed under Included Locations.

3. In the Indexing Options dialog box, click Modify.

4. In the Indexed Locations dialog box, click Show All Locations (it’s at the bottom of the dialog box).

5. In the Indexed Locations dialog box, shown in Figure 2, select locations to index, or clear checkboxes for locations you no longer want to index. The locations you can index include offline file folders, Microsoft Office Outlook, hard disk drives, and devices with removable storage. If a node can be expanded, you’ll see an open triangle to the left of the location name. Click this to expand the location. For example, you could expand Local Disk (C:) to select a folder on the C: drive.

   NOTE

   Some system folders are excluded from indexing and are displayed dimmed to prevent them from being selected. If you enable indexing of the entire system drive, those system folders are excluded automatically.

Figure 2. Modifying the indexed locations

1. When you click OK to save your changes, the Windows Search service index adds locations and removes indexes for removed locations.