Win 7 - search is not returning results

[Brookston]

Looking for a certain document, I tried using the search the computer window. I got no results at all. Then I ran a test entering words I knew I should be able to find. Nothing. Any ideas??

 

[Macboatmaster]

Could you provide details of the type of file you are searching for AND is the file on your user account or the system as against a jpeg file for instance on another user account

 

[TonyB25]

Use a different search program. Windows' isn't very good.

http://www.voidtools.com/

 

[Brookston]

Hello there.

By the way, best wishes to Wales. My wife and I visited there in the mid to late 1980's...Cardiff and Swansea mostly.
We enjoyed the land and the people very much.

In response to your post... I was searching for a Microsoft Word document and perhaps a report document generated by QuickBooks. I hadn't thought of something so complicated as what you seemed to be suggesting. On all my other PC's, I simply click the START button, and the large gathering of frequently used program icons appears in a tall, narrow menu immediately above the START button. Just below that, there is a narrow SEARCH window that says, "Search Programs and Files" in faded type.

On all my other PC's--and until today, on this computer as well--I could enter a word in that search window, hit ENTER, and discover a list of most likely matches from the various programs, documents, and other fragments found in this computer that might have contained something similar to my input. Today, with the exception that follows, all I get is "No items match your search." This is the new, unhappy experience.

NOW, after more testing, I see that it IS returning SOME things, but only program icons and things from the Control Panel--no documents at all (I discovered that when I entered the letter "C"). Incidentally, when I entered ".jpg," I again received "No items match your search."

I'm only searching on this one computer for items that are, in fact, saved to this one computer. Puzzling. This has never happened before. It certainly seems that something somewhere within it has caused the search capability to malfunction.

Thanks for your interest. Unless you're up quite late, I'll hear from you later.

 

[Brookston]

The thing is, Tony, this has always worked before. It's handy for quickly locating documents, pictures, etc when you have a fragment of the file name. It works on all my other computers and I like it...it's simple. I think we should be able to get this to work. But...

I assume that link is to an alternative. Thanks for the input. I'll have a look.

 

[Macboatmaster]

1. On the start - search
type
C:/
does it now list the contents of C - including users
if so still showing
C:/
type
Users
does it now change to show just Users
If so still with the previous showing
type just
/
does it now change to show all the users by list
if so now add your name
it should change again to show just that
then add a /
and it should change again to show your user content
then add
pictures
and then add a slash
YOU should now have a list of your jpegs
look at anyone and add that after the slash
does it now show that one
when you then click on that listed above does it then open the picture


2. See screenshot for example


3. If it does not work - at what stage does it fail please


4. Also see below re the possibility of rebuilding the index - HOWEVER even without the index although it will take LONGER it should still find files




Control Panel
Indexing Options
when that opens
click advanced button
click rebuild


then OK
it will take hours depending on how you have the indexing configured


The index requires almost no maintenance. However, if the index can't find a file that you know exists in an indexed location, you might need to rebuild the index. Rebuilding the index can take several hours, and searches might be incomplete until the index is fully rebuilt.


5. YOU mention that this has only occurred today - have you by chance installed any new software?


6. Is there another account on the computer and does search work on that one.




Thanks for the best wishes to the Land of Song

 

[delwin18]

The Search function is one of the most useful and frequently used feature in Windows 7. And if it does get broken for some reason and does not display results at all or display results incorrectly, it can be quite frustrating. This article will tell you how you can repair your Windows Search and the Search Indexer function.
[FONT=&quot]http://goo.gl/pykVsD[/FONT]