Windows Server 2008 Search engine not working

I have a network that includes a Windows small business server 2008 and 7 workstations running Windows 7 professional

Up till recently, the users could search, from their workstations,  for content in a Word document in a very large 80 GB master folder on the server called "MasterFiles" that all users have full access to.

Recently, one of the attorneys  is looking for a specific document and he provided specific content that was in the body of the document. The user has a drive letter map to the masterfiles folder on the server. They would try a search for any content, from their workstation,  of what they believe was in this document - but come up with nothing.

I logged on to the server and attended the same search and advanced search to no avail.

When I went to confirm if indexing was enabled on the server, it shows that is not enabled but from what I understand, you should still be able to search

Looking for best recommendations to search for specific content in a Word document on the server.
Should I consider using a third-party tool?

Any help and suggestions would be appreciated