W/o program, how to Windows 10 Search Fast (minutes not hours)

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  1. Posts : 43,020
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #11

    2.3.1.1. list up-to-date parameters ? Microsoft website on AQS isn’t up-to-date
    Thank you for your reply.

    MS has never, as far as I know, completely documented Windows search parameters. It has successfully created animosity towards and dislike for Windows search by making it complicated and badly configured 'out of the box'.

    Until build 1903 correct search syntax was helpfully highlighted in blue. Then MS decided to change things- for the worse.
    Windows 10 search, even after indexing (option set by company) is:
    2.1. Much slower
    With Windows 10, I found search file name is much much faster than file content.
    I have commented on the speed above. I will repeat one detail: on this PC, with file explorer open at C: I can get instant content search results. See my previous post #4.

    Microsoft seems to discourage scripting and prefer menu-type search definition.
    I regard it thus: the menu options provide some support in constructing a search. However they do not offer all the features available using search syntax.

    Example: “AND” is allowed but not “AND OR”
    Unsure what you're trying to achieve. For example
    contents:Leicester OR contents:Athens AND type:rtf
    is valid as is
    (contents:cycling OR contents:Leicester) AND (type:rtf OR typedf)

    (the last is type: pdf - no space)


    Sorry, I'm not even going to attempt to address most of those others.
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  2. Posts : 16,963
    Windows 10 Home x64 Version 22H2 Build 19045.4170
       #12

    PowerShell-based searching


    1 I urge you to report your slow searching problem to your company IT dept and tell them to help you resolve it.


    2 You could, if you are allowed, study enough PowerShell to write a script using its Get-ChildItem [GCI] command to run a search and save its results straight into a csv file. I have no idea how long this would take to run in your case.
    Here is a link to some useful PowerShell study papers
    Useful study materials for batch file and PowerShell scripting - post #8 - TenForums


    3 This is a sample only.
    - You'll need to substitute paths of you own
    - It outputs a list of results, filenames only

    PS-SearchExample1.ps1
    Code:
    $SearchPath='H:\Some\Folder\Path'
    $SearchPattern="*.*"
    $OutputFile='C:\An\Output\Folder\Path\SearchResults.csv'
    gci -r $SearchPath -i $SearchPattern | select FullName | Export-CSV -NoTypeInformation -Path $OutputFile
    pause


    4 If you want to see the full range of file properties that this method can provide [the first example only uses FullName] then run this variation
    - You'll need to substitute paths of you own
    - It outputs a list of results with a separate column for each available file property & with the correct name for that file property given as the column header.
    - This method cannot provide any other file properties.

    PS-SearchExample2.ps1
    Code:
    $SearchPath='H:\Some\Folder\Path'
    $SearchPattern="*.*"
    $OutputFile='C:\An\Output\Folder\Path\SearchResults-Full.csv'
    gci -r $SearchPath -i $SearchPattern | Export-CSV -NoTypeInformation -Path $OutputFile
    pause


    5 This method can be used for searching network folders. The $SearchPath line would need to be in the form
    Code:
    $SearchPath='\\ANetworkComputerName\ASharedFolder\ASubFolderOfTheSharedFolder'
    - For example, $SearchPath='\\TheNewHP\DataDrive\Desktop'


    6 There are some ideas for further experimental variations you might try in
    Is there a wildcard for the year within a date search? - TenForums


    Best of luck,
    Denis
    Last edited by Try3; 08 Aug 2021 at 03:00.
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  3. Posts : 1,203
    11 Home
       #13

    sunny123 said:
    However, company restrict programming.
    There exists a portable version of Everything. Downloads - voidtools
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 19
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #14

    How to search Excel Files w/o Admin Right


    I hope this helps someone and if there is suggestion to improve, that's great!
    1. I also found Power BI unlikely as solution. Re: How to Find Excel files for named formulas inc... - Microsoft Power BI Community
    2. Powershell (considered more Script than programming) seems best shot. Here is the script to read formulas from Excel File w/o opening Excel, then Name Manager etc.
    If there's simpler method, thanks ahead for the info.
    Code:
    PS T:\> $Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
    PS T:\> $Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($filetosearch)
    PS T:\> $workbook.Names.Count
    416
    PS T:\> $workbook.Names[1]
    Application            : Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.ApplicationClass
    Creator                : 1480803660
    Parent                 : System.__ComObject
    _Default               : =INDEX(COLUMN(),1)
    Index                  : 1
    Category               : 
    CategoryLocal          : 
    MacroType              : -4142
    Name                   : \c
    RefersTo               : =INDEX(COLUMN(),1)
    ShortcutKey            : 
    Value                  : =INDEX(COLUMN(),1)
    Visible                : True
    NameLocal              : \c
    RefersToLocal          : =INDEX(COLUMN(),1)
    RefersToR1C1           : =INDEX(COLUMN(),1)
    RefersToR1C1Local      : =INDEX(COLUMN(),1)
    RefersToRange          : 
    Comment                : 
    WorkbookParameter      : False
    ValidWorkbookParameter : False
    - - - Updated - - -

    How to search Excel Files w/o Admin Right when ⒈ Windows 10 Index-Option-Set-NOT-search-File-content ⒉w/o programming ⒊Add-In

    I might have found my own answer to question 2 because my AQS has been problematic:
    1. kind:spreadsheets is obsolete (I wish there is announcement)
    2. kind:document works
    However, I still face following hurdle:
    1. How to quick view Excel files that match content-criteria. Opening each search result is slow when there are many found. Only
    way I know is saving Excel as htm which is quick to open. However:
    1. How to search Htm file-content ? File Explorer shows them (by using ext:htm) but not when queried using following
    contents: "old_text" ext:htm
    2. Unicode is not searchable e.g. contents: "BÓT📧Search﹙OWA_Field_Values﹐﹛Holiday﹜﹐Roster﹚Z⎔📆19369.xlsm[3]". I have been
    using Unicode to make formulas ez to view (benefits i/c short length)

    Searching programmatically
    1. isn't code-intensive
    2. much more powerful
    1. Unicode capable
    2. Combination of Search Criteria is easy
    3. Details of result such as
    1. Sheet
    2. Cell address
    4. Results much more user friendly than File Explorer; example
    1. Details saved to a file. This become important when I am forced to come back another day when File-Explorer-Search is slow
    3. Example: a off-the-shelf function #Find Data in Excel Using PowerShell -- Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online
    4. Example: following simple PS script (unrefined) finds htm files (which I plan to save Excel so to view w/o opening Excel)

    Code:
    1.	$List_htm = Get-ChildItem -recurse -Filter *.htm
    Pause
    # Loop:
    foreach ($htm in $List_htm)
    {
        # Locate recipient email address to send to:
        # Regex pattern to match:
        # $pattern = '(^\W*.*@.*\.{1,}\w*$)'
        $pattern = 'BÓT'
        $sel = select-string -list $htm -pattern $pattern | Select-Object Line
        If ($Sel -eq $null)
    {
        write-host "FAILS - $htm does NOT contain $pattern"
    }
    Else 
    {
        write-host "WORKS! $pattern `n$sel"
    } 
    Write-host "end"
        $EmailAddressee = $PDFFolder + "EmailAddressee.txt"
        $sel | Out-File $EmailAddressee
    }
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  5. Posts : 19
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #15

    One faster File Search method ( 2 minutes vs. an hour plus for Windows 10 File Explorer) is Powershell console using following
    Code:
    FORFILES /P t:\ /S /M "BÓT*.*" /C "cmd /c echo @Path"^
    Problem is Powershell Console will search Unicode but only show some Unicode characters. (as detail in)
    How to show Unicode in Windows 10 PowerShell Console same as FE
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  6. Posts : 16,963
    Windows 10 Home x64 Version 22H2 Build 19045.4170
       #16

    sunny123 said:
    One faster File Search method ( 2 minutes vs. an hour plus for Windows 10 File Explorer) ...
    I have never seen a File explorer search taking more than a minute.

    How big a space are you searching [in GB, number of folders, number of files]?

    Denis
      My Computer


 

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