Can't search for contents in Windows Explorer

I've never been able to search file contents in a folder. I've rebuilt my index; I have the indexing options set to search the users folder, except for appdata. And I have Index Options>most File types & e.g. ".doc" files are set to "Index Properties and File Contents".
Yet when I'm in a Windows Explorer window & search for a word, it will only find files with that word in the name, not files that contain the word.
I've attached two images of my settings. I also tried https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-9acc170481ac suggestion of powershell: $manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest but it didn’t work. I also used sfc & it found no problems.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

This helped me before:

https://winaero.com/blog/fix-search-does-not-work-in-pc-settings-app-in-windows-10/

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"I think 'Everything' does not index file contents, the prime focus of the question. "
Sorry, I misunderstood this part - "when I'm in a Windows Explorer window & search for a word, it will only find files with that word in the name, not files that contain the word."

dalchina; you're correct. I tested Everything with a name that I knew was in a spreadsheet and pdf & it produced no results. I then searched in File Explorer and the results came up immediately ! My indexing screens look just like his too, except I don't have his Office app locations. If he's rebuilt his index, I'm not sure what else he can try other than to rebuild it again.

dalchina said:

Turning to file explorer contents search: which I can assure you works, rather than there being some Win 10 bug.
What are the conditions for contents search to work? I think you know most:
a. File must have been indexed
b. File and folder must have content indexing permitted
c. Content indexing must be allowed for that file type in Indexing Options, Advanced Options, File types
d. There must be an appropriate ifilter for the file type in question
e. File explorer must be open at a point in the file hierarchy above the file sought

Please post screenshots showing file explorer open at a point above the (doc) file sought, the search string used, the string in the file containing the search string, and that content indexing is allowed for that file (Properties) and that folder.



Please monitor the number of items indexed, then add a doc file to the folder in question. Confirm the number of items indexed increments.

That Powershell command is totally irrelevant.

To reset search indexing see
Rebuild Search Index in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials
Option 3- The downloadable .bat file below contains these commands that will reset your indexed locations to default and rebuild the search index.

Example of doc file found by content:

Thanks.

Thank you for your response! I'm not sure that I understand what screenshots you mention. Dalchina. In my original post, I showed that the Users folder is contained in my indexing options. The Documents folder is in the path: C:\Users\Phil\Documents & there's a subfolder called Bridge.
If I right click Bridge & choose Properties/Advanced, I get this image:
If I search for the word "attitude", this is an image of the results:
The word "attitude" is present in several of the .doc files that are in this subfolder. If I misunderstood what screenshots you're talking about or you want to see additional ones, please let me know. I have rebuilt my index several times, but with the same results.

Wait, I just added a new .doc file with the word "attitude" in it, to my Bridge subfolder. That file now shows up in search results. However, all my other files in that subfolder do not show up. And I just checked another file & it doesn't have the "Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file". This means that all my hundreds (thousands?) of files do not have this attribute set, even though the folder does.

How can I set this attribute for all the files in the Users folder without doing each one individually? [These files all were copied from my old Windows XP machine.]

dalchina said:

Ok, you've now almost certainly got the explanation for the problem you're experiencing .... and you can hopefully see the logic that led to that.
You need to select all the files whose attribute you wish to change, then rt click 1 of them, then change the indexing attribute.

That should change it for all of them (just tried it).

I don't know if you'd need to rebuild the index, or whether search indexing will respond (after a short while) and update the index. Try it..

Thank you so much!! I changed 2 attributes: hidden & index contents. It now seems to be working. I don't know why all (or most) of my files in my Documents folder were hidden or if that had anything to do with it. I just checked my Windows XP machine & I never used the Indexing system there, so ALL copied files didn't have the option set.

For some reason, I had to close my Explorer window & reopen it, in order to the search index to work, but it is working now.

Only strange thing is that when I right click the Documents folder or a subfolder in Documents, it shows the "Read-only" attribute set...however, the files themselves are not read-only.