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Find lost files – using Search Assistant

Kai Chandler shows you how to track down files on your PC

Have you ever downloaded a file and promptly lost it, unsure where it’s been placed? Or tried to find a document you worked on some months ago but don’t recall the name of the file?

If so, then you should take a look at the Search Assistant which is part of Windows. Use it to locate files by file name or content - it’s dead easy to use.

Note that examples in this Beginners’ Guide have been created using Windows ME. All recent versions of Windows have a similar search facility although they may be called Find rather than Search and may have a simpler layout. 

To search for one of more files by filename:

To start the Search Assistant, select Search from the Start icon at bottom left of your screen. You should see the Search Results screen.

Select For Files or Folders.

In the box called Search for files or folders named box, type all or part of the file or folder name you want to find.

If you have more than one hard disk or wish to search on a CD-ROM then select the appropriate drive, folder, or network on the Look In: box.

Select Search Now or press the Enter key

Any files that meet your search criteria are displayed on the right. You can double click a file, eg. a Word document, to open it in the appropriate application.

To search for one for more files by content:

Start the Search Assistant as above, then type the text you want to find in the Containing text box. The example shows how to look for any Word documents that contain the word ‘google’ (our favourite search engine) Note that use of *.doc in the ‘Search for Files or Folders named’ field. This speeds the search by narrowing the range of files to be searched.

Select a drive, folder, or network from the Look in list.

Select Search Now or press the Enter key

Note that in tests, searching for content worked from Word and text (.txt) files but will not work with many other file types eg. Excel spreadsheets.

You can narrow the search by using Search Options to specify additional criteria such as Date, Type or Size. This can be useful if your search finds too many files to be useful.

To use Search Options,

Select the Date check box to look for files that were created or modified on specific dates.

Select the Type check box to look for files of a specific type, such as a text document.

Select the Size check box to look for files of a specific size.

Select the Advanced Options check box to select whether to search folders or for the search to be case sensitive. 

If you want to find out more, then select Help from the top level menu.