One of the more important functions
that Windows Explorer provides in Windows 8 is an advanced search
capability. There’s nowhere else in Windows that offers this capability
(although there are third-party tools that do so).
When you click in the Search box to the right
of the address bar, Explorer displays a Search tab that provides a
number of search options .
The Search Tools tab of the ribbon
To perform a simple search
• Enter a search string in the Search text box, and then press Enter.
• Use the wildcard * for any string of characters, and ? for a single character.
• Use “ ” (quotation marks) around text to perform an exact search for the content in the string.
To perform an advanced search
• To sort by location, click the buttons in the Location group of the ribbon and select a search drive or folder.
The default is to search all subfolders, but you can use Search in your Home group, your libraries, or on the Internet.
• Sort by Date Modified, Kind, Size, or
Other properties by clicking the buttons in the Refine group. You might
search by date to find work you did yesterday or last week.
When you select these filters from the Refine
group on the Search ribbon, Explorer enters the filter into the Search
box to accompany the string you search for. In the example ,
the filter for Genre was selected from Other Properties and the
drop-down menu appeared in the Search box, letting you select Classical
from the choices.
To perform a search you have recently done
Click the Recent Searches button in the ribbon, and select the search from the drop-down menu.
To use advanced options
• Select the Change Indexed Locations command from the Advanced Options drop-down menu to move searches to different indexed locations.
Advanced Options menu. You can select multiple options on the Advanced Options menu.
• Select Partial Matches to search for partial matches to your string at your current location.
• Select the File Contents command to search within a file’s content.
• Select the Change Indexed Locations
command, and then select that location in the Indexing Options dialog
box that the appears to move searches to different indexed locations.
• Select the Zipped (compressed folders) command in the Advanced Options menu to search within zipped or compressed files.
To save a search for later use
1. Perform your search.
2. Click the Save Search button.
3. Give the search a name you can remember.
To close a search
Click the Close button (X) to the right of the Search ribbon; or click another folder, object, or location.
Tip
Searching indexed locations is much faster
than searching non-indexed locations. If you find a location that you
intend to search regularly, index it.
Tip
A library can organize an
information type across multiple locations—music or photos, for
example. Library searches are therefore very powerful.
