Finding a File in Windows

• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Advanced File Finding
• Usimg Wildcards to Finding Files in Windows (offsite)

Windows XP

1. Right click on the Start Button.
2. Left click on "Search"
3. On the screen that appears, drop down the menu next to "Look in." Select the appropriate drive or folder by clicking on it. In most cases the file that you want will be in "My Documents."
4. Enter the criteria to use for searching. Note you can search by either words or characters in the title of words in the file itself. Searching in the file may take a long time if you have many files. Be sure to spell the criteria correctly.
5. If you know the information such as "When it was last modified, or its size the search will be faster if you enter this information. To do this:
   1. Click on the radio button after your choice and enter the information.
   2. When you have entered all the criteria, click on "Search."
6. You will probably want to maximize the screen to see the results. Note that you can change the size of any of the columns by dragging the line between them either way. You can also sort by date by clicking on the date column.
7. To open the file, click on it!
8. To refine your search further use the options in the original search window such as when the file was modified, or its size.

 

Windows Vista

Click the Start Button. Enter term in the Search box. As soon as you start to type, files may appear above the box.
	Vista will place the files in the column above the search box. If there are more files meeting the search criteria than can fit in that column, Windows Explorer will open. If the file you want is found, click on it to open it.

 

Advanced File Finding

Unfortunately, although it is easy to do an advanced search in XP, for some reason known only to Microsoft, it requires arcane codes to do this in VISTA. They are seen below.

In XP, simply use the options in the first search box.

 

 

In VISTA, you can either enter the command as seen to the right, or, if your search has taken you to the Windows Explore Screen, in the upper right hand corner of the screen, click "Advanced Search and enter the information in the box that appears. (See below)

 

 

Created April 23, 2009

 

 

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