Among the many features of Windows 11 there are those that optimize the search for files and information you need; a very efficient system which, with some small attention, can be further improved.
Windows SearchIn short, it can be completely managed by the user and with this short tutorial, searching on Windows 11 can become even more effective.
Before introducing the topic, however, a small premise must be made: the quick search on Windows 11 it can be of great help to users and, above all, it represents a quick and easy solution to find what you need.
The procedures we will see later, how activating advanced search o to reconstruction of the search indexthey are certainly much more efficient but may take much longer than normal, so in case of pressing needs or quick searches, it is advisable to always continue to use the quick features.
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1. Optimize your search on Windows 11 by searching by category
When you need it more organized results it is possible to use the categories set by default to filter irrelevant results and therefore display only what you really need.
Among the categories available there are App, Documents, Web, Settings, Folder e Photo but, when you type something Windows Search will first display results from all categories.
To filter the results using these categories, just click on the one you want and wait for the operating system to do the rest.
Alternatively you can type the desired category followed by a colon and therefore the search term.
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2. Improve search functionality using the Web
When it’s connected to the Internet your computer with Windows you can use web search to look for information of any kind.
To do this just write in menu Start what you need and click on the relevant result in the section dedicated to Internet search.
To get more complete answers, you can also select Open results in browser and view even more extensive results.
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3. Enable Cloud Search for your Microsoft account
Another trick to improve search functionality on Windows 11 consists in activating the cloud searchwhich will allow the computer to include results from services such as Bing, OneDrive, Outlook e SharePoint.
Clearly, to use the function you will need to use your Microsoft account. To enable this setting you need to go to the folder Windows Search (just press Win + S), then click on the three dots icon at the top right and finally select Turn on Cloud Search for your Microsoft account.
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4. Try advanced search
By default the search for Windows 11 will show a limited amount of information, mainly coming from your computer.
To expand the search mode including the entire PCincluding the various subfolders, you can enable the Advanced SearchΒΈ significantly expanding the volume of results obtained.
Clearly, in the case of very “indexed” computers and with many directories, this method could take some time and significantly lengthen scanning times of the system.
To enable advanced search you need to press Win + igoing up Privacy and safety and then select the setting Search in Windows.
Here you need to click on the section Find my files and select the advanced search button to enable the new setting.
In this way the user will also be able to select excluded folders and further refine the scan of the entire system.
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5. Use indexing options
Through the indexing options you can choose which folders and libraries to index for personalized and even more efficient searches.
To do this, just click Search in the taskbar and type the term Index in the text box by selecting Indexing options.
Here the appropriate window will open which allows the user to customize the search methods by choosing, for example, the type of file to search for o the elements to exclude from the results.
The options are truly many and allow you to better manage the scanning of the system contents for a targeted and efficient search.
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6. Rebuild the search index
As you use your computer and various items are moved or deleted, the search index may become obsolete or generate incorrect results.
To improve the search you can try to reconstruct it: to do so just click on Fence and type Index. Here you have to select again Options of indexing and go up Advance.
In the new tab dedicated to more specific search settings, click on Troubleshooting the Settings tab and finally up Rebuild.
At this point all that remains is to wait for Windows to complete the reconstruction operations and, what should not be underestimated, remember that it may take a long time, especially in the case of many changes in the system.
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