Windows 10: Why must I index Network drives in order to include them in Libraries?

Please excuse this rant, but I need to let off some steam. I have just run into the error message, "this network location can't be included because it is not indexed" while trying to add a mapped network drive to a library. My use case is quite similar to that described in Brink's (as usual) excellent tutorial, except that I have offloaded my public folders to my NAS. It is very convenient to access these folders via libraries, as described in the tutorial, but they take a lot of space and I don't need them on my laptop. Because of their size, it would likely cause problems to index them. IAC, I don't want or need them indexed. I am quite satisfied with the search speed in these volumes as it is. Why does Windows want me to index them? Is there no way to include unindexed directories in libraries?

:)

 

Map a network drive folder to my video library

Apparently I misinterpreted the "allow indexing" property as it applies to network drives.

When I went into the Control Panel Indexing Options I found that not only is my network drive not in the locations to be indexed, it also can't be added to that list. As a result, when I try to add a folder from the network drive to a library, I am told
that the folder is not indexed and can't be added to the library.

If you know of a way to index a network drive folder, please let me know. Otherwise, thanks for your efforts.

 

Map a network drive folder to my video library

 

Map a network drive folder to my video library

To Include folders using Manage Library Tools, we suggest that you perform the steps below:

• In File Explorer, select or open a library (ex: Videos) you want to include a folder or drive to.
• Click on the Library Tools Manage tab, and click on the Manage library button in the ribbon.
• Click on the Add button
• Browse to and select a folder or drive that you want to include in this library, and click on the Include folder button.
• When finished, click/tap on OK.

Keep us updated with the result.