Find a file

You can search the titles, contents, or properties of Microsoft Office files, Microsoft Outlook items, and Web pages.

  1. Click Search .
  2. Do one of the following:

    Search for a file or Outlook item containing specified text

    You can look for a file or Outlook item by the properties it contains, or by specific text contained in its title or contents.

    1. In the Search text box, type the text to search for in Office files, Web pages, and Outlook items.

      Tip

      Type a question mark (?) to match any single character in your search text, or type an asterisk (*) to match any number of characters. When searching for Outlook items, use natural language searches. Natural language searching is only supported in English versions of Microsoft Office XP.

    2. To limit where to search, in the Search in box, select one or more drives, folders, Web sites, or Outlook mailboxes. To search everywhere, select Everywhere.

      Tip

      You can type a folder location directly in the Search in box. Search will look in the folder and all of its subfolders.

    3. To limit the types of search results, in the Results should be box, select the types of items to find. To find all types of files, Web pages, and Outlook items, select Anything.
    4. Click Go.

    Search for a file or Outlook item based on one or more properties

    1. In the  Search task pane, click Advanced Search.
    2. Enter one or more search criteria.

      How?

      1. In the Property list, center a property name. 
      2. In the Condition list, enter a condition.
      3. In the Value list, enter a value to associate with the condition.
      4. If previous search criteria exist, click and to add a criterion that must be true in addition to previous criteria. Click or to add a criterion that is sufficient regardless of previous criteria.
      5. Click Add to add the search criterion.

        Note   If the value is invalid for the condition or property, the Add button is unavailable.

    3. To limit where to search, enter one or more drives, folders, Web sites, or Outlook mailboxes from the Search in list. To search everywhere, select Everywhere
    4. To limit the types of search results, select the types of files, Web pages, and Outlook items to find from the Results should be list. To look for all types of files and items, select Anything.
    5. Click Search.
In the  Results pane, you can take one or more actions after viewing the results of the search: Or is it, After you review the results in the Results pane, you have a number of choices:

How?