Windows Search: Walkthrough

Applies To: Windows 7

 

 

Note

For a complete view of Windows 7 resources, articles, demos, and guidance, please visit the Springboard Series for Windows 7 on the Windows Client TechCenter.
For a downloadable version of this document, see the Windows Search: Walkthrough in the Microsoft Download Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=161935).

The step-by-step instructions in this walkthrough provide a brief tour of new search features in Windows® 7. These instructions assume that the sample pictures and music that come with Windows 7 are still on the computer.

To experience Windows Search from the Start menu

  1. Click Start, and then type corbis. The search results display files, programs, and Control Panel tasks that contain the text “corbis.” Windows Search looks in files’ metadata, too: These search results include the sample pictures that come with Windows 7 and contain the text “corbis” in their metadata.

  2. Experiment with different keywords, and click See more results to display more search results in Windows Explorer.

  3. Click Start, and then type display. The search results include matching Control Panel items, documents, and files, as Figure 1 shows. If your computer has Microsoft Office Outlook® installed, it might also show matching Office Outlook items.

     

    Figure 1. Search results on the Start menu

  4. As shown in Figure 1, the Start menu displays a limited number of search results, and each group header displays the total number of matching items in parenthesis. Click the Control Panel group header to display more matching items in the Control Panel. Click other group headers to show matching items in Windows Explorer.

To experience Windows Search in Windows Explorer

  1. In Windows Explorer, click the Documents Library. The Documents Library is under Libraries in the Navigation pane.

  2. In the Search box, type a keyword that you know is in one or more documents. Windows Explorer displays the search results as shown in Figure 2. Notice how the search results display an excerpt of each document and highlights hits.

     

    Figure 2. Search results in Windows Explorer

  3. Clear the Search box by clicking the X in the right side of the box.

  4. Open the Music library in Windows Explorer. If your Music library does not contain the music files that came with Windows 7, you can adjust these instructions to suit your music collection.

  5. Click the Search box, and then click Length in the list of filters (see Figure 3). In the list of dynamic values, click Short. Windows Explorer displays songs that are from one to five minutes long in the search results.

     

    Figure 3. Choosing a search filter

  6. Without clearing the Search box, click Genre in the list of filters, as shown in Figure 4, and then click Jazz from the list of dynamic values. Windows Explorer adds Genre to the existing Length filter, allowing you to refine your search further.

     

    Figure 4. Searching with dynamic filters