JRuiter
asked on
Windows 7 search syntax - all folders containing word "Users"
I need to do a search on drive with the following criteria:
Content: "Some Content"
Over all folders that contain the word "Users". I have a subdirectory structure containing backup dates and directory trees.
2007-01-01
Data
Users
User1
User2
...
2007-04-01
Data
User1
User2
...
I'm only interested in the files under the various Users subdirectories. 2007-01-01\users\user1, user2, ... and 2007-01-04\users\user1, user2, ...
How do I contruct a Windows Search query such that I only look for content:"Some Content" in files with "Users" somewhere in the pathname?
Content: "Some Content"
Over all folders that contain the word "Users". I have a subdirectory structure containing backup dates and directory trees.
2007-01-01
Data
Users
User1
User2
...
2007-04-01
Data
User1
User2
...
I'm only interested in the files under the various Users subdirectories. 2007-01-01\users\user1, user2, ... and 2007-01-04\users\user1, user2, ...
How do I contruct a Windows Search query such that I only look for content:"Some Content" in files with "Users" somewhere in the pathname?
Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the top of the Users tree, in the top right Search Bar, enter "Some Content" in quotes and let it search. It should find what you want. If there are a lot of answers, select View All at the bottom and it will open another Explorer window with all the selections.
Narrow your search with more precise text to be found.
Narrow your search with more precise text to be found.
I have found WIndows Search to be unreliable and returns many results I'm not interested in. If I search for "Users" it will return all files with "users" in the file name as well as files which contain the word "users". It doesn't always return all occurrences of files containing "users". It may be that my indexes are corrupt or I just don't know what I'm doing but either way it doesn't work for me.
I use a product called FileSeek. It has very powerful search options, is very fast, easy to use and I can be confident it will return what I'm searching for.
You can find FileSeek here: http://www.fileseek.ca/
I use a product called FileSeek. It has very powerful search options, is very fast, easy to use and I can be confident it will return what I'm searching for.
You can find FileSeek here: http://www.fileseek.ca/
If the index is properly set up and built, Search always works for me. It is certainly worth trying.
ASKER
I'm searching over 3TB of data, so I don't want to look at every file. I'm *only* interested in the files in the various User directories. If I wrote it in SQL it would be something like:
select all files where content like 'some content' and directoryname like '%users%'
Can I construct an equivalent windows search query?
I've tried things like foldername: *Users*, but I only get things in a single Users directory - I want the Users directory and all the subfolders.
select all files where content like 'some content' and directoryname like '%users%'
Can I construct an equivalent windows search query?
I've tried things like foldername: *Users*, but I only get things in a single Users directory - I want the Users directory and all the subfolders.
Does this help at all?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb266512(v=vs.85).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb266512(v=vs.85).aspx
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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The author stated "Turns out Windows Search is simply too limited to perform as I require". This backs up what I stated in my comment. I suggested FileSeek which would have achieved what the author wanted. It seems he ignored my comment and found another product to do the same job.
ASKER
Turns out Windows search simply isn't powerful enough to do what I need. I got PowerGrep and it works well. Highly recommended
This question has been classified as abandoned and is closed as part of the Cleanup Program. See the recommendation for more details.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/advanced-tips-for-searching-in-windows
Also I would advise you to look into a tool called Treesize which has been very helpful for searches in the past for me.