Metadata and Power Searches : Setting Properties When You Save & Personalizing Searches

1. Setting Properties When You Save

Search indexes are nothing new. Database administrators have been using them for decades. Every time you do an Internet search, you're actually searching an index of Web sites somewhere. Windows XP and other operating systems allow for some limited indexed searching through add-on programs. But Windows Vista was the first Windows version to have indexed searching — its own built-in search engine — built in from the ground up. Windows 7 expands on and improves the search capabilities introduced in Vista. Other software developers understand the value of that. As the years roll by, new versions of old programs will include the ability to tag files and set properties at the moment you first save the program.

When you save a new file, be sure to look around for any options in the Save As dialog box that allow you to add tags or properties. Figure 1 shows an example where I'm in the Save As dialog box for a Microsoft Word 2007 document. As you can see, the dialog box allows me to add tags and authors right on the spot.

Figure 1. Save As dialog box for Word 2007.

When you're faced with such options, think about words you might want to type into a Search box to find the file in the future. Ask yourself, "If I need this thing six months from now and forget its file name, what word might I use to search for it?" or "How should I categorize this file in relation to other similar kinds of documents?" As your collection of files grows, and your searching skills grow, the few moments you spend thinking up keywords for tags and properties will pay off in spades.

2. Personalizing Searches

Getting the most from Windows 7's searches includes knowing how to tweak its settings to work in ways that support the kinds of things you do. You can tweak some aspects of indexed searches through the Folder and Search Options dialog box. To get to the search options, do any of the following:

• If you're in a folder, click the Organize button and click Folders and Search Options.

• Press or click the Start button, type fol, and then click Folder Options.

Figure 2. Search options.

The Folder Options dialog box opens. Click the Search tab to see the options shown in Figure 2.

The first set of options under What to search dictates how searches are performed:

• In indexed locations, search file names and contents. In non-indexed locations, search file names only: This is the default setting and gives the best performance for searching documents, messages, and such.

  If some files aren't showing up in your searches because they're not in your user account folders, these options really won't help. Better to extend the index to include those files. I talk about how you do that in the next section.

  
  

• Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes): This option forces searches to look at the contents of non-indexed files, which can really slow things down. Better to index the non-indexed document files to get the speedier index searches.

The How to search options affect different aspects of Windows 7 searching. The Include subfolders in search results when searching in file folders causes Windows to search not only in the current folder, but also in any subfolders of the current folder when searching for files.

The Find partial matches option, when selected, lets you type a few characters into the Search box and still get a match. For example, let's say you have numerous files with the name Sarah in the filename, Artist name, or other property. When you type sar into the Search box, you see those items that contain Sarah. But if you clear the Find partial matches checkbox, it won't work that way. You wouldn't see items that contain Sarah until you typed all five characters, sarah.

The Use natural language search is an interesting option related to typing search criteria directly into the Search box.Here's the gist of it: If you don't choose that option, you have to type queries following strict syntax. For example, typing the following into the Search box on the Start menu displays all Windows Live Mail messages from George that contain the word "lunch":

from:george about:lunch

The following example would work, but only if Use natural language search is selected in the Search options:

from alan about lunch

The advantage is that the natural language option relaxes the rules, so that if you forget the colons the search still works. But sometimes that works against you because when you don't follow stricter syntax rules you can't always be sure exactly how Windows 7 is interpreting the query. How you see the query, and how Windows 7 sees it, might be two different ways. So the results from the search might not be what you were expecting.

The Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files (searches might take longer) option applies when you search non-indexed locations. When you select that option, searches outside the index work like non-indexed searches from older Windows versions. The search looks at every file in every folder and doesn't even look at the search option. When you leave that option unselected, the search still uses the index for files in indexed locations. So that part of the search goes quickly. Then it falls back to the old non-indexed method, but only for files that aren't indexed.

The last two options apply only when you're searching non-indexed locations. Choose Include system directories if you want non-indexed searches to include Windows and other program files that are essential to proper functioning of your PC. These are not files you normally open or modify yourself. So it would only make sense to choose this option if you're a power user or administrator who needs frequent access to files in those locations. Otherwise you're just slowing down your searches for no good reason.

Choosing the Include compressed files (ZIP, CAB...) option extends the search into compressed Zip folders and the like. Typically, people only use those for archived files that they don't use often, because the compression and decompression add some time overhead to opening and closing the files. Including their contents in searches can also slow down searches. But if you want to include those files' contents in your non-indexed searches, just select the check box.

As always, clicking Restore Defaults sets all options back to their original defaults. Those are the options that provide the best performance for indexed searches, and cover the things most people would typically want included in their searches.