Indexing and Search: Frequently asked questions
Windows indexes the most commonly searched locations on your PC to make your searches faster. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the index.
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Your libraries, email, and offline files are indexed by default. Folders that typically store program and system files aren’t indexed, because most people don’t need to search these very often.
When you search an indexed location, both file names and contents are searched. To search only by file name, follow these steps:
Open File Explorer by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering File Explorer in the search box, tapping or clicking Apps, and then tapping or clicking File Explorer.
Tap or click the search box.
Tap or click the Search Tools tab.
Tap or click Other properties, choose Name, and then enter your search term in the search box.
The easiest way to add something to the index is to include a folder in a library. When you do that, the content in that folder is automatically indexed. To learn more about including folders in libraries, see Libraries: How to add or remove a folder.
You can also add something to the index without using libraries. To add or remove an index location, do the following:
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Open Indexing Options by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering indexing options in the search box, tapping or clicking Settings, and then tapping or clicking Indexing Options.
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Tap or click Modify.
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To add or remove a location, select or clear its check box in the Change selected locations list, and then tap or click OK.
If you don't see all locations on your PC in the list, choose Show all locations.
You might be asked for an admin password or to confirm your choice. (If all locations are already listed, Show all locations won't be available.)
If you want to include a folder but not all of its subfolders, select the folder, expand the folder, and then clear the check box next to any subfolder you don't want to be included in the index. These folders will appear in the Exclude column of the Summary of selected locations list.
Indexing options
Indexing runs in the background to keep track of changes you make to files. It's best to let the index run uninterrupted, but if you think it's making your PC run slowly, you can pause the index for a while when you're working on something. It will restart automatically after 15 minutes, or when you restart your PC.
To pause the index
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Open Indexing Options by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering indexing options in the search box, tapping or clicking Settings, and then tapping or clicking Indexing Options.
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Tap or click Pause.
You might be asked for an admin password or to confirm your choice. (The Pause button is available only when the index is running.)
It's not recommended to index all of the files and folders on a PC. If you make the index too large, or if you include system file locations (such as the Program Files folder), your searches will get slower. It’s best to add only those folders that you search a lot.
This could happen for a few reasons:
If you recently made changes to the folder, or changed settings for the index, indexing might not be complete. Make sure the indexing status at the top of the Indexing Options dialog box says Indexing complete.
Make sure any file types that aren't appearing are added to the index.
Make sure that the folder has the System permission. Most folders already have this, but there are some cases where a folder might be missing the System permission.
To add the System permission to a folder
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Select the folder in File Explorer, tap or click the Home tab, tap or click Properties, and then tap or click the Security tab.
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If you don't see System listed under Group or user names, tap or click Edit.
You might be asked for an admin password or to confirm your choice.
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Tap or click Add, enter System in the box that appears, and then tap or click Check Names.
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Under Matching names, choose System, and then tap or click OK until all of the dialog boxes you've opened are closed.
Rebuild the index.
Open File Explorer by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering File Explorer in the search box, tapping or clicking Apps, and then tapping or clicking File Explorer.
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Tap or click the search box.
On the Search Tools tab, tap or click Recent searches, and then choose Clear search history.
If you're experiencing problems with searching, for example if the searches are unusually slow or if you get incomplete search results, run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter to see if it can identify the problem.
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Open the Search and Indexing troubleshooter by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering search and indexing in the search box, tapping or clicking Settings, and then tapping or clicking Find and fix problems with Windows Search.
Depending on the problem, the Search and Indexing troubleshooter might need to restart the Windows Search service.
You might need to install the Windows Search Service feature to make search and indexing options available. To do this, you can use the Add Roles and Features Wizard or the Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet. To use the Add Roles and Features Wizard, open Server Manager, tap or click Manage, and then choose Add Roles and Features. For more info about installing features, tap or click Help in Server Manager, tap or click Server Manager Help, and then select Adding and Removing Roles and Features.
