Search for a phrase in all word documents on computer

kneehowguys · Nov 23, 2014

I've been searching for how to do this:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...the-file/86f5dd53-c0c6-4bbe-a167-cfcdde6d13a4

I don't understand alot of what I read in my search but the key seems to be this phrase: "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" I don't know how to get to that checkbox and determine if this will actually allow me to search all my word docs.

There is a word doc with the word "agglomerative" in its contents in it on my computer. And simply searching that after pressing the windows key doesn't find it. I am not convinced that windows search searches anything but the filename.

Someone said use google desktop 8 years ago but that program seems discontinued:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070618080843AARTVPI

I wish microsoft word could be like onenote where doing control-E will search all documents. So convenient!

kneehowguys · Nov 23, 2014

Google drive works decently to find the document with the word or phrase in it but will not show me where in the document the word is. Are there any solutions for this?

adamf · Nov 24, 2014

kneehowguys said:
I don't understand alot of what I read in my search but the key seems to be this phrase: "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" I don't know how to get to that checkbox and determine if this will actually allow me to search all my word docs.

go to indexing options (type "indexing options" on search and press enter), then select advanced and file types. Then make sure you have "index properties and contents" button enabled for file types .doc and .docx. It will then rebuild your index and your search for "agglomerative" will work OK.

Note it will not take you to the line in the document - when you open the document in MS Word you need to search again for the "agglomerative" using :winkey: F

4wd · Nov 24, 2014

While you descramble any Windows search intricacies, try this > Agent Ransack - Free File Searching Utility, will find anything wherever it may hide.

Kari · Nov 24, 2014

kneehowguys said:
I've been searching for how to do this:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...the-file/86f5dd53-c0c6-4bbe-a167-cfcdde6d13a4

I don't understand alot of what I read in my search but the key seems to be this phrase: "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" I don't know how to get to that checkbox and determine if this will actually allow me to search all my word docs.

There is a word doc with the word "agglomerative" in its contents in it on my computer. And simply searching that after pressing the windows key doesn't find it. I am not convinced that windows search searches anything but the filename.

Someone said use google desktop 8 years ago but that program seems discontinued:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070618080843AARTVPI

I wish microsoft word could be like onenote where doing control-E will search all documents. So convenient!

There's absolutely no need for third party software, you can easily do it in File Explorer. Simply open File Explorer, click This PC on left pane to search whole computer and type this to Explorer Search field:

Code:

content:[COLOR=#333333]agglomerative[/COLOR]

... and Windows finds your document. See the screenshot (I have no documents with the word "agglomerative", my search returns nothing):

(Click screenshots to enlarge.)

If you want to search a string instead of a word, put the string within quotes like here I am searching the whole computer for documents which contain the string "Eight Forums":

Easy and fast. Tutorials:

Kari

Search for a phrase in all word documents on computer

kneehowguys

New Member

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kneehowguys

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adamf

Banned

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4wd

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Kari

Old geek, new tricks

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