Windows 10: Newly made Word docs don't show up in Explorer searches

Hi everyone! So here's what happened.

I searched for the word "coffee" in the Explorer search bar, and it didn't turn up a Word document which definitely has this word in it. I opened it to check -- yes, "coffee" is there.

I thought, "Maybe there's something wrong with the Explorer search feature?" But when I searched for other words, several Word docs show up in the results.

After experimenting, I figured out that it's only recently made Word documents that are invisible to the searches. For example, a Word doc I made March 6th and another I made March 14th both have the word "music" in it. But when I search for "music", only the Word doc made on March 6th shows up.

I made a new Word doc, put just one word in it, and searched Explorer for that word. Nothing.

I already re-indexed all my files, so that's not the problem.

Any help you can give in fixing this will be much appreciated!

:)

 

can't convert files to pdf

Not work

I went to word pad and did exactly what you told me to do. It make one word pad doc into a doc but not the rest. t made the same file a doc file.

Also all are in a old window area?

I took a screen shot but don't know how to send it to you.

There is quite a mess here. There was a resume folder that went crazy and copied and copied files.

The word pad documents are not in PDF form still in word pad.

Is there a way of making work pad documents into a pdf or doc?

I have no idea how to clean up this mess now.

 

Problem transferring Word doc

Before I purchased Microsoft Word 2016 for my new PC (with Windows 10 Home) I got on the chat line and asked if the Word 2016 program would open and allow me to edit doc's from my old PC (with Windows 10 upgrade) and was told that yes, the Word 2016 was
backwards compatible. I purchased the Word 2016 and installed it on my new computer. I transferred a document from my old PC to a USB and opened it in the Word 2016 program. I made edits to the doc and saved it. Now every time I try to open the doc in Word
2016, it shows up on the documents but when I try to open it I get a message saying"The Directory Name isn't valid (L:\***.doc)".

I have to insert the USB with the old document to open the one on Word 2016. It then opens the doc with the updated edits and will let me edit it again. I save it but have to go through the above to open it again even though it is showing up on Word 2016.
How can I save this doc in Word 2016 without re-inserting the USB every time? Can I change the Directory somehow or save it to Word 2016 with out re-inserting the USB every time?

 

Hi, you probably know this, but forgive me for stating the obvious first:
1. the document has to be in a folder which is designated to be indexed.
2. document content indexing must be enabled.
3. indexing of that file type and content indexing must be enabled (which presumably it is in your case).
4. you need the appropriate ifilter for a range of file types for their content to be indexed ((which you have for doc as some are indexed)

Now:
1. Indexing only occurs when your PC is not busy. Thus indexing of new documents may not necessarily be instant.
You can watch this happen if you try creating a new document which should be indexed, whilst Indexing Options is open, as see the number of indexed documents increment.

However, it would seem unlikely that that would explain the timescale you mention.

2. For Explorer to be able to find your document, it must be open at a point in the file structure higher than (and thus including) your document.

3. Possibly more interesting.
I've just found that doc and rtf files, whose content was previously indexed, are not now indexed, whilst docx are.
I've reinstalled Office ifilters (2010) and rtf file content is now indexed. But doc files are not.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down....aspx?id=17062
(Note- only rated to Win 7!)
SP1,SP2 here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down....aspx?id=26604
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ilter-pack-sp2

I don't yet know why.

 

The file should either be in your One Drive folder or My Documents. Really do not need to search for it, since Office only saves to one or the other location, depending if you went into the options for word and changed them.

 

Well, files can be stored/moved/archived (almost) anywhere...

The important point here is whether doc file content indexing seems not to be working.. it was for me and now not - as per ultraviolet's post.

However, I have got mine working again- not sure how. This is what I did.
1. Reinstalled the Office 2010 ifilters and updated to SP2.
2. Removed the test folder from indexed locations, reinstated it to have re-indexed.
-> rtf doct now indexed again - but not doc.
3. Tried re-writing the doc file with a different editor. No change.
4. Tried moving the target text from the start to the end of the very short file and re-indexed as above. No change.
5. Found different text in the same file was being found.
6. Changed the particular test string in the file and re-indexed as above. To my surprise the text was found.
7. Put the test string back at the start of the file, and changed it back to what it had been originally. I re-indexed as above. To my surprise the text was found.

I have no idea what finally allowed me to find the initial test string which hadn't been found previously.


Ultraviolet: can you post a screenshot like this please?

 

Hello! I really appreciate the help so far, even though the mystery remains unsolved. Below is the screen-shot.
I notice that beside docx (which is the file type I'm using) it says, "Registered IFilter is not found." Do you think this is the cause of the problem?

I also noticed that near the bottom it says: "How should this file be indexed?"
And the option checked is: "Index Properties Only"
while the option "Index Properties and File Contents" is unchecked.

I have changed it to "Index Properties and File Contents" and am now re-indexing my files. I will report back afterwards to tell you if this fixes it. Here's hoping!

If it doesn't, I will experiment with the steps you listed in your post, and/or look into the "Registered IFilter is not found" issue... although I have no idea how I would solve that. (But I'll only worry about that if this other thing doesn't work.)

 

Hi, First solve the missing ifilter issue before reindexing. The info I already posted gave you a solution for that.
(Read on).

1. your original post referred to doc files. You do have a registered ifilter for those. But then, so had I, and I did have content indexing enabled, and my test .doc file - which had been indexed when I first did the test some months ago - couldn't be found- so I did what I described.

2. I can't see which one is selected in your screenshot- if any.

3. Yes, for a given file type, Index Properties and File contents must be enabled (which may not be possible if you don't have a registered ifilter.

4. If no ifilter is registered, that file type's content cannot be indexed.

5. The filter pack I listed should give support for the open format xml office types (e.g. docx etc).
Microsoft iFilter pack | Windows Secrets Lounge
Download Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs from Official Microsoft Download Center
The Filter Pack includes:

Legacy Office Filter (97-2003; .doc, .ppt, .xls)
Metro Office Filter (2007; .docx, .pptx, .xlsx)
Zip Filter
OneNote filter
Visio Filter
Publisher Filter
Open Document Format Filter

so you need to install it. (Updates are provided via Windows update - received one even with SP2 applied)

 

You need to put keywords in the file properties if you want to search them for that term. Otherwise Indexing only keeps track of filenames and file types.

There are only two places that documents can be kept as I stated before and you can verify that in the Properties for the Office Program that you are using. No need to search for them if you open up word, etc, since it keeps recently opened documents in the list for that program.

 

Nope. Windows search indexing includes content indexing of file types containing text. For that to occur, content indexing has to be enabled per file type and per folder, and the appropriate iFilter has to be present. E.g. If you install Office, the iFilters for types it supports are included.

 

dalchina it also increases your index folder size on the drive, along with slows down the system when it has to always rebuild keywords. Unless you are working with thousands of documents on storage, there is no need. If a person does have to search thousands of files, that is where a Document Management System Database comes in real handy for managing that content and storing the files on a server.

The best thing that someone can do is create sub folders under My Documents for each Office program and then make sure to use a unique filename for the document. It has worked out really great for everyone that has to look for something on a shared folder, along with having the date in the filename.

 

I see- your argument is not to use content indexing at all.

However, the argument that search indexing 'slows the system' is I believe a historic one-XP days where everyone tended to turn it off.

Indexing
a. Backs off (pauses) when the PC is slightly busy so doesn't have an adverse effect
b. Once done it's done, and only needs to update as items designated to be indexed are created or changed.

It comes down to personal choice and what is suitable for a particular person's need.

But we still have a responsibility to try to address issues raised where a user is experiencing a problem with a valid feature.

 

Hey, I have good news. It worked! I did what you (Dalchina) suggested, and in fact didn't even have to follow as many steps as you. Thank you so much for helping! *Smile

Thanks also to Bro67 for taking the time to respond.

Here's what I did, for any future people with this problem:

1. Downloaded the Microsoft Office filter pack: Download Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs from Official Microsoft Download Center
2. Re-indexed my files.

Here's what to do for step 2:

a) Go to Indexing Options. It's in the Control Panel or you can just click on the Windows icon in the bottom left and type it into a search.
b) Make sure the files you want to index are visible. If not, click on Modify and select them.
c) Click on Advanced
d) Click on the File Types tab, make sure that "Index Properties and File Contents" is selected
e) Click on the Index Settings tab, then click Rebuild.

You can use your computer while it's re-indexing, but it will be faster if you don't.

 

Good, that's what I'd expect would be needed. (I have no idea what was happening that stopped my particular document being found which had previously been indexed).