This is what I do:
- In explorer, browse to C:/Username
- Start a search there containing a folder name I know is in C:/Username/Appdata/Local
- The folder does not appear in search
Hidden files and folders are marked to be visible everywhere.
It seems like recursive search doesn't descend into hidden files/folders, because when I browse to Appdata and search there, I find it.
Any way to change this behaviorr?
In File Explorer, click on the File tab, then in the Search box then Advanced Options and select Change Indexed Locations.
Click On Modify then add the folders you want included in the search.
Click OK then click on Rebuild to rebuild the Search Index.
This will take awhile so be patient.
Or ....
Install Everything search and use it instead. Works faster, finds all files all the time. After you install it, let it run to build it's index, which only takes 10-15 seconds, tops. It runs at boot and sits in the System Tray using effectively no resources until you need it. Double click on it, type all or part of what you are looking for and all instances of that file will be shown. Also supports syntax like ext:iso or ext:mp3, ...
Edit: Here is Brink's tutorial on modifyng search locations: Better than my few words above:
How to Add or Remove Locations for Search Index in Windows 10
The first things I noticed was AppData was excluded from Search, that's why you are not finding what you looked for.
But then my system will always be building indexes over Appdata, which I don't want. I want the equivalent of find, recursively, without constantly building an index over the rapidly changing directory.
Turn off Indexing then. All searches will be slower but should still work.
How to Enable or Disable Search Indexing in Windows
Give Everything Search a try. You will be amazed at how good it is and how little impact it has on performance. I never use search in File Explorer unless I need to search for data inside a file, then there are better program for that as well.
Last edited by Ztruker; 12 Jan 2019 at 20:32.
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