Search tips

Some of the content in this topic may not be applicable to some languages.

To help you get the best results in finding files, here are some tips about using basic searching from the Basic Search task pane.

Specifying the search text

In the Search text box, you enter one or more words. Basic searching returns files containing these words, whether they are in the body of the file, in keywords or in other file properties. By entering more words in the Search text box, you make your search more specific and limit the number of documents found.

Basic searching finds files containing various forms of the words you enter in the Search text box. For instance, searching for "swim" finds any documents containing "swim," "swimming," or "swam."

Note   Basic searching uses word forms only if you are searching in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, or Swedish documents.

You can use wildcard characters in basic searching:

• The asterisk character "*" represents any group of one or more characters. For instance, entering "s*nd" finds any documents containing "sand," "sound," or "send."
• The question mark character "?" represents any single character. For instance, entering "f?nd" finds any documents containing "find" or "fund," but would not find documents containing "friend."

If you are searching your Microsoft Outlook mailbox, you can use natural language in your search text. In natural language searching, you formulate searches using conversational phrases such as "Find all messages sent yesterday."  You can use natural language searching to find  e-mail messages, calendar items, contacts, tasks, journal entries, and notes. Natural language searching is only supported in English versions of Microsoft Office XP.

Specifying where to search

Before searching, you must specify at least one place to search in the Search in field. If you know exactly the folder you want to search, you can type it in directly.

To search across multiple folders or network places, use the Search In list to specify where to search:

• My Computer  Contains all the drives and folders on your computer.
• My Network Places (W eb Folders on Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0)  Contains all the network places that you use. Note that some network places do not support searching, and some only support searching of document libraries.
• Outlook  Contains all your messages, appointments, contacts, tasks and other information stored in Outlook.

Click the plus sign next to a folder name in the Search in field to expand the display of that folder to include any folders within it. With the display of a folder expanded, click the checkbox next to a folder name to select it. Click the checkbox again, to select that folder and all folders within it. Click the checkbox a third time, to deselect it, keeping the folders within it selected. Click it a fourth time to deselect the folders within it.

Specifying the types of documents to find

You specify the types of files to find in the Results should be field. You cannot enter a file-type directly into this field. Use the Results should be list to specify the types of files to search for:

• Anything  Specifies the broadest set of file types, including file types unfamiliar to Microsoft Office.
• Office Files  Specifies Microsoft Office documents. You can narrow the search by selecting specific Office applications.
• Outlook Items  Specifies e-mail messages, calendar items, contacts, tasks, notes, and journal entries.
• Web Pages  Specifies Web page (.htm or .html), Web archive (.mht or .mhtml), and other Web page-related formats (.asp).