[HOW TO] search for file content w/o indexing...
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:53 am
Today I needed to improve the search capabilities of my Windows 7 64bit client in order to find some files on my Asustor NAS shares:
...with the small restriction that we have to wait for the results longer.
I also looked at the NAS Activity Monitor while performing searches: CPU activity stays below 10% - so this is not an issue. Waiting time is primarily due to HDD activity. Kindly remember: This is for non-indexed searches - so you need to narrow down on specific folders! This is not for messy people who want to find a file somewhere on the NAS desireing to trigger this kind of search on all NAS shares at once.
- First I was delighted to see that Windows Explorer search already displays all the files that contain the search criteria within the file names.
- Then I also wanted Windows Explorer to also display all my Office documents containing the search criteria: I switched the default setting from "in indexed locations,..." to "Always search file names..." within Organize >> Folder and Search options >> Folder Options >> Search >> What to search - knowing that the default will not allow network shares to be added to indexed locations. I was thrilled to see the results matching my expectations.
- But the story is not over here, because I missed the .PDF files containing the given search criteria: I downloaded and installed the PDFlib TET PDF iFilter and was all the more thrilled that it worked immediately.
...with the small restriction that we have to wait for the results longer.
I also looked at the NAS Activity Monitor while performing searches: CPU activity stays below 10% - so this is not an issue. Waiting time is primarily due to HDD activity. Kindly remember: This is for non-indexed searches - so you need to narrow down on specific folders! This is not for messy people who want to find a file somewhere on the NAS desireing to trigger this kind of search on all NAS shares at once.