Does deleting a saved search delete the files and folders in

[Diana van den Berg]

Does deleting a saved search in Microsoft Office 2010 delete the files and folders in it?

If so, how does one get rid of a saved search?

Thank you for any help.

[Rudi]

Hi,

I assume you are referring to Outlook Saved Searches? (Search Folders)?

The short answer is no.
It deletes only the save definition; not the mail. However, see the quote below taken from this web page:
Delete a Search Folder

IMPORTANT: Deleting a Search folder deletes only the view, not the actual mail. However, if you open or select messages in the Search folder and delete them, you’re deleting the actual mail.

To delete a Smart Folder, Ctrl+click or right-click the Smart Folder, and then click Delete. Deleting a Smart Folder does not delete any of the items in the Smart Folder.

[Diana van den Berg]

Thank you for replying, Rudi. No I am not referring to Outlook at all. I posted this in Microsoft General. I saved a search on 474 files and folders of multiple types - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, png, jpg to name a few, and most of which are very important and I don't want to lose any of them

Also, I am not referring to 2016 and 2013, but Office 2010.

Does all of what you said apply to these as well?

I have no idea what a smart folder is - presumably it is something not available in Microsoft Office 2010.

[HansV]

Do you mean searches in Windows Explorer?

[Diana van den Berg]

I don't know what it is -probably, sorry. It is in the dialog box above the Start button and says Seach Programs and Files. I am still getting used to Windows Professional 7 after having been used to Windows XP for years.

[Rudi]

If the search was created from the start menu, I doubt that it will delete your files since everything on the start menu is based on shortcuts.

If the search was created in Windows Explorer, (see this article), you can delete the search folder, as it is only a pointer to the location of the files and not the files themselves.

[Diana van den Berg]

Thank you for your reply, Rudi. I hope what you doubt is correct because there are 474 folders andor files, including a whole lot of photos related to a project that took me close to a year to create. Thank you for the link. However, unless I am missing it in my rush for time, it doesn't say anything about deleting the search folder - just creating it. The Search I saved isn't in the Search folder where the article says it is, but that doesn't matter because I can see where the Search folder is in the left column when I open folders. However, I will never ever save a search again, because it is simply too scary and also what I saved is of no use to me whatsoever, having so many files and folders in it - I would love to remove whole bunches of the files and folders from the search, but as that is going to delete the files and folders themselves, I can't do that. I am going to delete the Search folder with baited breath, in the hopes that if it deletes the files and folders, (and I will only be able to check on a few - I can't write down the names of 474 files and check them all) they will go to the Recycle Bin and that my computer has the memory to restore all 474 files. I need the 4 main files (2 split databases - one with hoards of data) for Wednesday and if I lose them I will be devastated.

[HansV]

I am moving this thread to the Windows General forum, since it is not specific to Office.

[Diana van den Berg]

I was going to ask you to, but I didn't want to be a nuisance. Thank you, Hans.

[kdock]

Diana, why don't you test what will happen junk folders and files? Create two new folders for which you can easily create a saved search, then copy a couple of files into each. Create the saved search to make sure it finds the two folders, then delete the search. Do the folders go away or just the search?

It seems to me that if deleting a search (which is really just a saved set of criteria) actually deleted the objects found, there would be hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands, of flaming posts all over the internet, stretching back years.

But better safe than sorry; test on junk first.

Kim

[Argus]

Saved searches, search-ms (Index Search Data files), are by default saved in the user profile folder in Windows 7 (but can be saved just about anywhere).

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A search via the Start menu and "show more result" or via Windows Explorer is all the same; there will be a button in Windows 7 to save the search result. And when saved they will appear as shortcuts in the left hand pane in Windows Explorer.

A click on that shortcut and the search result, file or files, will appear to the right. Anything done in the right hand pane to the file(s) will affect said files (such as delete, i.e. they will be moved to the Recycle bin).

However, if you right-click on the shortcut to the saved search result in the left hand pane you will see that it is a search-ms file, saved somewhere (default is "C:\Users\<Username>\Searches\). Deleting the index file will not remove the files it has indexed.

Of course, you can try all this by creating a test file, search for that test file, save the search, and then remove the the saved search.

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