Search Current Folder in File Explorer

uncle
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Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by uncle »

Can I set the Search default to Current Folder? It seems to me that was the default, without my doing anything (bad memory???) but for last several days, the default is Subfolders.
Adding a Quick Access Icon doesn't work for me. It still involves clicking which, if the default is set to Current, eliminates this.

Thank you

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HansV
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by HansV »

Let's say the current folder is named Excel, and it has several subfolders.
You want to search for the word Test in the Excel folder only.
Enter the following in the search box:

Test FolderName:="Excel"
Best wishes,
Hans

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stuck
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by stuck »

Expand Explorer's Ribbon, then in Win 8.1, as soon as you click into the search box a context tab, called Search Tools will open and in that tab, amongst others, there is an option to change the search from All subfolders to Current folder.

Ken

uncle
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by uncle »

Thanks Ken. That is what I am doing.

I would like the Current Folder to be the default so I don't have to click on it. I can't find a way to do that, nor do searches on the Net offer a clue. As I mentioned yesterday, it seemed this had been my default until a few days ago; now it's subfolders.

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stuck
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by stuck »

I'm away fro home at the moment and I can't find it again now but I did find something that implied the ability to default to current folder disappeared after Win 7. This laptop I'm using right now is a Win 8.1 machine but like you I can get the search to default to current folder.

I'll look again when I'm back home, which will be some time after Tues 22 Feb.

Ken

uncle
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by uncle »

Well! Thank you so much, Ken

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stuck
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by stuck »

OK, sooner than I expected, look at the screenshots in this post:
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3 ... store.html
Notice how the Win 7 one has a tick box for 'include subfolders' that is NOT in the equivalent dialog box in Win 8.

Also notice that further down the page under option 2 para. 4 the registry screenshot for 'preferances' includes a key for 'SearchSubFolders' that has a value of 1.

The Win 8.1 laptop I have does not have that key but having created it and tried setting the value to both 1 and 0 I've not been able to get Win 8.1's search feature to default to 'current folder'.

Your mileage may vary but I think this means it's not possible to get the default behaviour you want.

Ken

uncle
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by uncle »

Thank you very much for your research. This is puzzling because it is only in the last week or so that the default was Current. Don't know what I did to change that, since, as you point out, there isn't an option to do that!

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stuck
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by stuck »

uncle wrote:
22 Feb 2022, 21:15
...Don't know what I did to change that...
Perhaps a Windows update changed something??? For example if you look in the registry do you have the SearchSubFolders' key I mentioned? If so, maybe that key was 'active' but now it's being ignored???

Ken

uncle
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Re: Search Current Folder in File Explorer

Post by uncle »

Hello. Yes, I do have that key, 'SearchSubFolders: I toggled it to True and then False. In both cases, Subfolder was still the default.
Thank you for your time