How to search for a file on my laptop

BillW
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How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by BillW »

I should have some past-years calendars that I created on my laptop. I need to do a search for those files so I can modify one to make a file for this year. How do I do that - I have forgotten everything I ever knew about this subject!

Thanks,
Bill

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HansV
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by HansV »

If you know roughly where the calendars should be - for example in a subfolder or subsubfolder of your Documents folder, select that top folder in Windows Explorer/File Explorer
Otherwise, just select the hard disk where they should be found.
Click in the search box near the upper right corner of the Windows Explorer/File Explorer window, or press Ctrl+F.
Type a search phrase, for example calendar, or the name of a month (assuming that the calendar contains month names), then press Enter, and wait for the search results. This might take some time.
Best wishes,
Hans

BillW
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by BillW »

Thanks, Hans, for answering my question. After a long delay for another problem, I am back to this, and I want to pursue this further. Unfortunately, because of my dementia I am not able to remember all the stuff I used to know about navigating with the cmd line commands. I cannot locate that search box that you mentioned! I think I have to get out of Windows to do that. I am hoping you can give me more specific instructions for this.

Thanks,
Bill

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HansV
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by HansV »

Here is a screenshot of Windows Explorer. My Documents folder is selected. The search box is in the upper right corner of the window.

S1081.png
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Best wishes,
Hans

BillW
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by BillW »

Thanks for your info. How do I get out of windows so I can execute command line commands?

BillW

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BillW wrote:
08 Jan 2022, 15:15
I should have some past-years calendars that I created on my laptop.
Hello Bill.
I use two general-purpose search tools for this, as I find that Windows search is neither fast nor powerful.

Everything
Free download at voidtools (Everything 1.4.1.1015)
There is a user forum (same format as Eileen's Lounge) at https://www.voidtools.com/forum/search. ... d=newposts
I use Everything to search across several drives at once, when I know all or part of the file's name.


FileSearchy
Free download at Lo4D.com
I use FileSearchy when all I can remember is a word within a document.
For example" "I know that I wrote a letter to Harold, but where is it?"
FileSearchy let's me search all *.DOC files, optionally within a date range, looking for the string "Harold" within the document.

Cheers
Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

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HansV
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by HansV »

BillW wrote:
27 Jan 2022, 02:55
Thanks for your info. How do I get out of windows so I can execute command line commands?
Click the Windows button.
Type command
The first search result should be Command Prompt.
Click on this to open the Command Prompt window.
Best wishes,
Hans

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DaveA
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by DaveA »

Chris,
You can use "Everything" to do this searching within a "Document".
Have a look at the listing under the Search on the menu!
I am so far behind, I think I am First :evilgrin:
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: How to search for a file on my laptop

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DaveA wrote:
27 Jan 2022, 16:42
You can use "Everything" to do this searching within a "Document".
Have a look at the listing under the Search on the menu!
Thank you, Dave.

This topic is on my list of "Exciting things to look into"

Code: Select all

folder: !<child:*.mp3|child:*.flac|child:*.ape|child:*.m4a>
Who Knew? :grin:
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace