Can I search for text inside files?
QIs there a way of searching folders or drives to find particular text references inside of documents? Say, to find all documents with the word 'Manchester' in them, or potentially to carry out more complex searches of several words. Whilst I'm keen to have this facility, I would not like to compromise the security of my documents. I've seen reference to the indexing of documents and wondered if this had any security implications? Martyn Denton
AYou didn’t say which version of Windows you’re using but an indexing facility has been available from Windows XP onwards. From Windows 7 on, the search aspect of this – simply called Windows Search – has been built into both the Start menu and Windows/file Explorer.
You quite likely know some or all of this, as when you type anything into the Start menu or Cortana search box you are executing a hunt that’s powered by Windows Search. However, by default, Windows Search will not look ‘inside’ files unless specifically instructed to do so – so its index does not contain the contents of your documents.
You can fix this by allowing Windows Search to index selected file types, such as Word documents or text files. Enabling this doesn’t introduce any new security risk, as such, but obviously anyone with access to your PC and Windows account will be able to use the Start menu or Cortana search toolbars to search the contents of your documents – just as you intend to do yourself.
To enable content indexing, first press Windows key+r to open the Run box, then type control srchadmin.dll and press Enter 1 . This opens the Indexing Options box. Here, check the list under Included Locations. If the locations or drives containing your documents are not listed here, then first click the Modify button. On the Indexed Locations box that appears 2 , use the tick boxes to select or deselect the drives or specific folders that you want Windows Search to index. When you’re done, click OK to close the Indexed Locations box.
Back at the Indexing Options box, click the Advanced button and then, on the Advanced Options window, click to select the File Types tab 3 . Now scroll through the list to find the file extension of a file type that you’d like Windows Search to be able to search inside. For Word documents, for example, scroll down to the ‘docx’ box (see screenshot top right). Make sure ‘docx’ is ticked and then, directly below, click to select the ‘Index Properties and File Contents’ option. Now repeat for all other file types (tick ‘odt’ for Libreoffice Writer documents). Click OK to close the Indexing Options box.
You’ll now be prompted to click OK again to confirm that it’s fine for Windows Search to rebuild its index. This warns that the process could take a while, which it certainly will – but you can continue using your PC as normal. Within a few hours, queries typed into the Search menu or Cortana search box will include the contents of your file types selected above (such as the word 'Manchester' 4 ).