Search in Windows 10 has evolved into a powerful and comprehensive tool. Whether you want to find documents, applications, photos, files, folders, emails or even web searches, Search can find just about anything.
Although you can start using it right away Search in Windows 10 It would be good to take a few minutes to set up how Search works, so that you can do it exactly as you like. See how:
How to open search settings in Windows 10
You must first reach the Search settings. A quick way is to click the lens on the taskbar to open the search window and from there click the three horizontal dots on the top right. Then select "Search Settings" from the drop-down menu.
Another way to go to search settings is to open Settings (Windows + I keyboard shortcut) and then click Search.
Either way, you need to go to this Windows 10 search settings page.
Let's look at five basic settings you can make in Search:
1. How to filter adult web content
The first setting you can change in Windows 10 Search Mode is called SafeSearch. Allows you to choose if and how you want to filter web search results. Windows 10 first tells you that "In Windows Search, web previews will not automatically load web results if they are likely to contain adult content."
However, if you choose to preview web results in Search, you can choose to use one of three adult content filters:
Strict - displays no text, images, or videos of web results that may contain adult content.
Moderate - filters images and videos that may contain adult content, but does not exclude any text from web results.
Off - does not use any adult content filters.
2. How to include content from OneDrive and Outlook
By default, if you sign in to Windows 10 using a Microsoft account, or if you sign in to your Microsoft account in applications such as OneDrive or Outlook, Search can search for content in your cloud services. This means that the search results you receive may include things like personal email, photos, videos, documents, files, and people.
However, you can stop Windows 10 Search from looking at your cloud accounts. On the "Permissions and History" page of the "Settings" application, there is a section called "cloud content search". In it, you can enable or disable two switches - one for the Microsoft account and one for the work or school account - to enable or disable searching for "your personal emails, photos, documents and files".
3. How to make Windows 10 Search use your history from other devices you are connected to,
On the same page, "Permissions & History" from the Settings app, you can choose whether you want Windows 10 Search to be able to use your History. Your History is divided into two different entities: your device history and your search history. The switches for each of them are named accordingly:
"My device history" can "enhance your searches on your device using the history of applications, settings, and other history from devices you've already signed in to."
My search history can "enhance your searches on your device using the search history of devices you've already signed in to."
Below the two history switches, you can also see a link called "Search History Settings". Clicking this link opens the default web browser and will take you to the Microsoft Account privacy page, where you can manage your search history.
4. How to choose what content is indexed in the Windows 10 search index
Clicking "Search in Windows" on the left side of the search settings will give you access to indexing options. In other words, there you can tell Windows 10 Search which types of content from your computer or device to index.
The first thing you see here is a message from Windows telling you that "indexing your computer content helps you get faster results when searching for files, emails or other local content". You can then see Indexing Status: if your computer has indexed content, how many items have been added to the index, and how many are pending.
The "Find My Files" section lets you choose which sites on your computer are included in the searches.
The "Classic" option means that Windows 10 Search can only see files in your libraries and desktop, while the "Enhanced" option allows the search to look at your entire computer, including libraries and the desktop ”.
If you want to use the Classic option, but also want to include other folders in your search sites, click or click the 'Customize Search Positions Here' link. A window called "Index Options" will open, where you can add or remove locations as you wish.
To add your own folders to the Windows 10 directory, click Modify. You can then see a list of available sites for indexing. Browse them, select the sites you want to list, and remove the ones you want to exclude from the index.
Returning to the "Settings" application, you will also see the "Folders Excluded" list. You can click "Add a excluded folder" to stop Windows 10 from indexing those folders.
The final section of the "Search" page on Windows is called "More search index settings" and, as Windows 10 says, "if you want to specify exactly how or where or for which file types Windows will search." , you can use the advanced settings ”.
Clicking "Advanced Search Index Settings" opens the same Index Options window we talked about earlier, where you can add or remove sites from the search index.
5. How to configure the search index and select the file types contained in it
In the Index Options window, you can not just add or remove locations in the Search Index, but you can access advanced search settings. Keep in mind that you need to handle these settings carefully as they can change the way search works and make bad decisions that can break or slow down searches, as well as prevent you from seeing some information that you may need. If you are sure you need to change your advanced search settings, click the "Advanced" button (you must be an administrator to be able to do this).
The Advanced Options window has two tabs: Index Settings and File Types. Let's see what settings are available in each:
In the "Index Settings" tab, the first setting is "Encrypted Index Files". By default, this setting should be turned off, and you can only enable it if you are going to specify locations that use bitLocker disk encryption or similar solutions.
The second available setting, "Handling similar words with spelling marks as different words" does exactly what it says. Although you may find it useful to use two or more languages and save files with names that include insignia, you should be aware that if you enable this setting, the entire Windows 10 directory will need to be rebuilt and this can take a long time.
Then, in the Troubleshooting area, you can rebuild the search index if you think something is wrong. Be careful why the same warning applies as before: it can take a long time!
The final choice from Index Settings is the location of the Index. By default, Windows 10 stores the search index in C: \ ProgramData \ Microsoft. However, you can choose a different location if you want. Click "Choose New", select the location, save your settings by clicking OK, and then restart Windows 10 so that it can start using the new index location.
On the File Types tab, you can manage which file types are indexed by Windows 10. If you do not want a specific file type, just uncheck it from the list. Also, for each file type, you can choose whether you want Windows 10 to list only the properties of the files or also the contents of the file.
Finally, if you find that a specific file type is not in the index list, you can add it manually. Type the extension you want for the file type and click "Add".
Click OK and all the changes you have made are saved.
These are all settings you can change for Windows 10 Search mode.
Hello. By default, File explorer looks for results in addition to the file name, file extensions, and file content. Is it possible to change this default so that explorer only searches for file names?