Rules for advanced searches

Microsoft Windows Desktop Search

The following tables describe the syntax to use with Microsoft Windows Desktop Search, as well as the properties that can be queried for each category of file displayed in the Windows Desktop Search results window.

You can restrict your query to specific locations, specific file types or properties within those types, or specific "file kinds." File kinds refer to the categories displayed at the top of the Windows Desktop Search results window.

Desktop Search syntax

Keyword/symbol	Example	Function
NOT	social NOT security	Finds items containing social, but not security
-	social -security	Finds items containing social, but not security
OR	social OR security	Finds items containing social or security
Quotation marks	"social security"	Finds items containing the exact phrase social security
Parentheses	(social security)	Finds items containing the social and security in any order
>	date:>11/05/04 size:>5	Finds items with a date after 11/05/04 Finds items with a size greater than 5
<	date:<11/05/04 size:<5	Finds items with a date before 11/05/04 Finds items with a size less than 5

Notes

Boolean operators must be in all uppercase letters.
You cannot use two keywords (for example, NOT and OR) in the same query.

Boolean properties

Property	Example	Function
has:attachment	report has:attachment	Finds items containing report that have attachments. Same as hasattachment:true
is:attachment	report is:attachment	Finds items that have attachments that contain report. Same as isattachment:true
before:	before:10/9/2004	Finds items whose PrimaryDate field contains a date before 10/9/2004.
after:	after:10/9/2004	Finds items whose PrimaryDate field contains a date after 10/9/2004.
author:	author:jake	Finds items with jake in the author property.
author:"name"	author:"jake zukowski"	Finds items with jake zukowski, in that order, in the author property.
author:(name)	author:(jake zukowski)	Finds items with jake and zukowski in the author property.
author:(name OR name)	author:(jake OR bob)	Finds items with jake or bob in the author property.
author:name name	author:jake bob	Finds items with jake in the author property and bob anywhere in the document.
from:name	from:jake	Finds items with jake in either fromName OR fromAddress, since "from" is a property name for both fromName and fromAddress.

Dates and date ranges

To specify a date range, type the property followed by two dates. Closed date ranges are indicated by typing .. For example, type from:david sent:11/05/04..11/05/05. Windows Desktop Search recognizes all Windows date formats, and also recognizes the following values:

Relative dates: For example, today, tomorrow, yesterday
Multi-word relative dates: For example, this week, next month, last week, past month, coming year.
Days: Sunday, Monday ... Saturday
Months: January, February ... December

Numbers and ranges

Syntax	Results
size:>50 < 70	Searches for files with a value in the Size property between 50 and 70.
date:>2/7/05 < 2/10/05	Searches for a date in the Date property between the values 2/7/05 and 2/10/05.

Common file properties

The syntax listed above can be used with any of the following file properties. For example, to find e-mail from "jake" that was sent in 2005, your query would look like this: kind:email author:jake after:12/31/2004.

To restrict by file type:	Use	Example
All file types	everything	kind:everything
Communications	communications	kind:communications
Contacts	contacts	kind:contacts
E-mail	email	kind:email
Instant Messenger conversations	im	kind:im
Meetings	meetings	kind:meetings
Tasks	tasks	kind:tasks
Notes	notes	kind:notes
Documents	docs	kind:docs
Text documents	text	kind:text
Spreadsheets	spreadsheets	kind:spreadsheets
Presentations	presentations	kind:presentations
Music	music	kind:music
Pictures	pics	kind:pics
Videos	videos	kind:videos
Folders	folders	kind:folders
Folder name	foldername, in	foldername:mydocs
Favorites	favorites	kind:favorites
Programs	programs	kind:programs

If you use several e-mail accounts and you want to limit a query to either Microsoft Office Outlook or Outlook Express, you can use the store: indicator.

To restrict by file store:	Use	Example
Files	files	store:files
Outlook	outlook	store:MAPI
Outlook Express	oe	store:oe

Properties for file type: All

Property	Use	Example
Title	title, subject, about	title:sample
Status	status	status:sample
Date	date	date:last week
Date modified	datemodified, modified	modified:last week
Importance	importance, priority	importance:high
Size	size	size:> 50
Deleted	deleted,isdeleted	is:deleted
Is attachment	isattachment	is:attachment
To	to, toname	to:sample
Cc	cc, ccname	cc:sample
Company	company	company:sample
Location	location	location:sample
Category	category	category:sample
Keywords	keywords	keywords:sample
Album	album	album:sample
File name	filename, file	filename:sample
Genre	genre	genre:sample
Author	author, by	author:sample
People	people, with	with (sonja mo david)
Folder	folder, under, path	folder:sample
Ext	ext, fileext	ext:sample
File name	filename, file	filename:sample

Common properties for file type: Attachment

Property	Use	Example
People	people, with	people:sample

Properties for file type: Contact

Property	Use	Example
Assistant's phone	assistantsphone	assistantsphone:555-3323
Profession	profession	profession:sample
Nickname	nickname	nickname:sample
Spouse	spouse	spouse:sample
Business city	businesscity	businesscity:sample
Business postal code	businesspostalcode	businesspostalcode:sample
Callback phone number	callbackphonenumber	callbackphonenumber:sample
Car phone	carphone	carphone:sample
Children	children	children:sample
First name	firstname	firstname:sample
Last name	lastname	lastname:sample
Home fax	homefax	homefax:sample
Pager	pager	pager:sample
Business phone	businessphone	businessphone:sample
Home phone	homephone	homephone:sample
Mobile phone	mobilephone	mobilephone:sample
Office	office	office:sample
Anniversary	anniversary	anniversary:yesterday
Birthday	birthday	birthday:tomorrow
Web page	webpage	webpage:www.microsoft.com

Properties for file type: Communications (e-mail, appointments)

Property	Use	Example
From	from, organizer	from:sample
Received	received, sent	sent: yesterday
Subject	subject, title	subject:sample
Has attachment	hasattachment, hasattachments	has:attachment
Attachments	attachments, attachment	attachment:presentation.ppt
Bcc	bcc, bccname	bcc:sample
Bcc address	bccaddress, bcc	bccaddress:sample
Cc address	ccaddress, cc	ccaddress:sample
Follow-up flag	followupflag	followupflag:2
To address	toaddress, to	toaddress:sample
Due date	duedate, due	due:last week
Has flag	hasflag, isflagged	hasflag:true

Properties for file type: Calendar

Property	Use	Example
Recurring	recurring, isrecurring	is:recurring
Organizer	organizer, by, from	organizer:sample

Properties for file type: Documents

Property	Use	Example
Comments	comments	comments:sample
Last saved by	lastsavedby	lastsavedby:Josh
Document manager	documentmanager	documentmanager:sample
Revision number	revisionnumber	revisionnumber:sample
Document format	documentformat	documentformat:sample
Date last printed	datelastprinted	datelastprinted:last week

Properties for file type: Music

Property	Use	Example
Lyrics	lyrics	lyrics:sample
Bit rate	bitrate, rate	bitrate:2
Artist	artist, by, from	artist:sample
Year	year	year:sample
Duration	duration	duration:sample
Album	album	album:"greatest hits"
Genre	genre	genre:rock
Lyrics	lyrics	lyrics:"happy birthday to you"
Track	track	track:12
Year	year	year:> 1980 < 1990

Properties for file type: Picture

Property	Use	Example
Camera make	cameramake	cameramake:sample
Camera model	cameramodel	cameramodel:sample
Dimensions	dimensions	dimensions:sample
Orientation	orientation	orientation:sample
Date taken	datetaken	datetaken:last week
Width	width	width:sample
Height	height	height:sample

Properties for file type: Video

Property	Use	Example
Name	name, subject	name:sample
Ext	ext, fileext	ext:sample

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