How To Tame Windows 7 and Outlook Search Syntax–Knowing The Syntax Makes All The Difference

Search Simply Will Not Do What I Want It To Do!!!!

Almost ashamed to say I was looking for some file on my laptop but could not find the exact query set I needed to work with.  I was looking for all of my Camtasia recording and project files.  It was pretty easy to get all of any one of the types of files.  All I had to do for that is search on the extension.  In the case of Project files it was .camproj and in the case of recording files it was .camrec.   If I entered either of these in the search from Windows-F or the top of Explorer it gave me all the files of that type.  I really wanted to look at both the project files and the recording files in the same window so I could sort, compare dates, etc.  Well, one would think this is a pretty easy task.  I tried:

1. .camrec                     => displayed all .camrec files

1. .camproj                   => displayed all .camproj files

1. .camrec, .camproj      => no results

1. .camrec or .camproj  => no results

1. “.camrec” “.camproj” => no results

1. I think you get the picture… I tried many more things to get both files and none came up.

Now I really needed this list so I turned to Bing to find the answer.  Yes, as expected, it was there.  However it was buried beneath a few drill downs before I found what I was looking for.  In an attempt for me to have easy access to the proper syntax of the Windows Search for Windows 7 and to provide you with the solution without having to do a bunch of digging, I decided to do a detailed blog post on Windows 7 Search Syntax.

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It appears that Outlook 2010 syntax is the same as Windows 7 Search

Windows 7 Syntax – Everything You Need To Know About Searching in Windows 7 Explorer or Windows 7 Search

For Starters Let me share the solution to my problem.  I found the solution in an MSDN post on Advanced Query Syntax.aspx). I needed to use an “OR” between the two search phases.  In my case I had to search on  [ .camrec OR .camproj ] and YES the OR IS CASE SENSITIVE!  Notice above I did try “or” but I had it lower case so it did not work.  I guess it was looking for all three phrases which did not appear.

Now with that problem solved let’s look at the Windows 7 Syntax in Detail…

Desktop Search Syntax

A search query can include one or more keywords, with Boolean operators and optional criteria. These optional criteria can narrow a search based on the following:

- Scope or data store in which files reside

- Kinds of files

- Managed properties of files

The optional criteria, described in greater detail following, use the following syntax:

- <scope name>:<value>

- <file kind>:<value>

- <property name>:<value>

Suppose a user wants to search for a document containing the phase “last quarter,” created by John or Joanne, and that the user saved to the folder mydocuments. The query may look like this:

"last quarter" author:(john OR joanne) foldername:mydocuments

Scope: Locations and Data Stores

Restrict Search by Data Store Use Example Syntax

Desktop desktop store:desktop

Files files store:files

Outlook outlook store:outlook

Outlook Express oe store:oe

Specific Folder foldername or in foldername:MyDocuments or in:MyDocuments

Common File Kinds

Users can also limit their searches to specific types of files, called file kinds. The following table lists the file kinds and offers examples of the syntax used to search for these kinds of files.

To Restrict by File Type: Use Example Syntax

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 or in foldername:mydocs or in:mydocs

Favorites favorites kind:favorites

Programs programs kind:programs

Properties by File Kind

Users can search on specific properties of different file kinds. Some properties (like file size) are common to all files, while others are limited to a specific kind. Slide count, for example, is specific to presentations. The following tables list these properties by file kind.

File Kind: Everything

These are properties common to all file kinds. To include all types of files in a query, the syntax is:

kind:everything <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Title title, subject or about title:”Quarterly Financial”

Status status status:complete

Date date date:last week

Date modified datemodified or modified modified:last week

Importance importance or priority importance:high

Size size size:> 50

Deleted deleted or isdeleted isdeleted:true

Is attachment isattachment isattachment:true

To to or toname to:bob

Cc cc or ccname cc:john

Company company company:Microsoft

Location location location:”Conference Room 102″

Category category category:Business

Keywords keywords keywords:”sales projections”

Album album album:”Fly by Night”

File name filename or file filename:MyResume

Genre genre genre:rock

Author author or by author:”Stephen King”

People people or with with:(sonja or david)

Folder folder, under or path folder:downloads

File extension ext or fileext ext:.txt

Boolean Operators

Search keywords and file properties can be combined to broaden or narrow a search with operators. The following table explains common operators used in a search query.

LOOK => This is the one that solved my problem

Note

The operators AND, NOT and OR must be in uppercase and cannot be combined in one query (e.g., social OR security NOT retirement).

Keyword/Symbol Examples Syntax Function

NOT social NOT security Finds items that contain social, but not security.

– social –security Finds items that contain social, but not security.

OR social OR security Finds items that contain social or security.

AND social AND security Finds items with social AND security

Quotation marks “social security” Finds items that contain the exact phrase social security.

Parentheses (social security) Finds items that contain social and security in any order.

> date:>11/05/04

size:>500 Finds items with a date after 11/05/04.

Finds items with a size greater than 500 bytes.

< date:<11/05/04

size:<500 Finds items with a date before 11/05/04.

Finds items with a size less than 500 bytes.

.. date:11/05/04..11/10/04 Finds items with a date beginning on 11/05/04 and ending on 11/10/04.

Dates

In addition to searching on specific dates and date ranges using the operators described earlier, AQS allows relative date values (like today, tomorrow, or next week) and day (like Tuesday or Monday..Wednesday) and month (February) values.

Date Ranges

specify a date range, type the property followed by two dates. For example, type from:david sent:11/05/06..11/05/07. Windows Search recognizes all Windows date formats and also recognizes the following values:

- Relative dates: Today, tomorrow, yesterday

- Multi-word relative dates: week, next month, last week, past month, or coming year. The values can also be entered contracted, as follows: thisweek, nextmonth, lastweek, pastmonth, comingyear.

- Days: Sunday, Monday … Saturday

- Months: January, February … December

-

Relative to: Syntax Example Result

Day date:today

date:tomorrow

date:yesterday Finds items with today’s date.

Finds items with tomorrow’s date.

Finds items with yesterday’s date.

Week/Month/year date:this week

date:last week

date:next month

date:past month

date:coming year Finds items with a date falling within the current week.

Finds items with a date falling within the previous week.

Finds items with a date falling within the upcoming week.

Finds items with a date falling within the previous month.

Finds items with a date falling within the upcoming year.

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, excluding the end dates.

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, including the end dates.

date:2/7/05 .. 2/10/05 Same as date:>=2/7/05<=2/10/05

Size

Use Example Syntax

Searches for files with a value in the Size between50 KB and 70 KB, excluding the end values. size:>50KB <70KB

Searches for files with a value in the Size property between 50 KB and 70 KB, including the end values. size:>=50KB <=70KB

Same as size:>=50KB <=70KB size:50KB..70KB

Attachment

These are properties common to attachments. To limit the search to attachments only, the syntax is:

kind:attachment <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

People people or with people:john or with:john

Contacts

These are properties common to contacts. To limit the search to contacts only, the syntax is:

kind:contacts <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Note

Phone numbers are indexed as entered. For example, if a user did not include a country or area code when entering the phone number, users will not be able to locate a contact if searching with country or area code in the phone number.

Property Use Example Syntax

Job title jobtitle jobtitle:CFO

IM address imaddress imaddress:john_doe@msn.com

Assistant’s phone assistantsphone assistantsphone:555-3323

Assistant name assistantname assistantname:Paul

Profession profession profession:plumber

Nickname nickname nickname:Tex

Spouse spouse spouse:Debbie

Business city businesscity businesscity:Seattle

Business postal code businesspostalcode businesspostalcode:98006

Business home page businesshomepage businesshomepage:www.microsoft.com

Callback phone number callbackphonenumber callbackphonenumber:555-555-2121

Car phone carphone carphone:555-555-2121

Children children children:Timmy

First name firstname firstname:John

Last name lastname lastname:Doe

Home fax homefax homefax:555-555-2121

Manager’s name managersname managersname:John

Pager pager pager:555-555-2121

Business phone businessphone businessphone:555-555-2121

Home phone homephone homephone:555-555-2121

Mobile phone mobilephone mobilephone:555-555-2121

Office office office:sample

Anniversary anniversary anniversary:1/1/06

Birthday birthday birthday:1/1/06

Web page webpage webpage:www.microsoft.com

Communications

These are properties common to communications. To limit the search to communications only, the syntax is:

kind:communications <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

From from or organizer from:john

Received received or sent sent:yesterday

Subject subject or title subject:”Quarterly Financial”

Has attachment hasattachments, hasattachment hasattachment:true

Attachments attachments or attachment attachment:presentation.ppt

Bcc bcc, bccname or bccaddress bcc:dave

Cc address ccaddress or cc ccaddress:john_doe@hotmail.com

Follow-up flag followupflag followupflag:2

Due date duedate or due due:last week

Read read or isread is:read

Is completed iscompleted is:completed

Incomplete incomplete or isincomplete is:incomplete

Has flag hasflag or isflagged has:flag

Duration duration duration:> 50

Calendar

These are properties common to calendars. To limit the search to calendars only, the syntax is:

kind:calendar <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Recurring recurring or isrecurring is:recurring

Organizer organizer, by or from organizer:debbie

Documents

These are properties common to documents. To limit the search to documents only, the syntax is:

kind:documents <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Comments comments comments:”needs final review”

Last saved by lastsavedby lastsavedby:john

Document manager documentmanager documentmanager:john

Revision number revisionnumber revisionnumber:1.0.3

Document format documentformat documentformat:MIMETYPE

Date last printed datelastprinted datelastprinted:last week

Presentation

These are properties common to presentations. To limit the search to presentations only, the syntax is:

kind:presentation <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Slide count slidecount slidecount:>20

Music

These are properties common to music files. To limit the search to music only, the syntax is:

kind:music <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Bit rate bitrate, rate bitrate:192

Artist artist, by or from artist:John Singer

Duration duration duration:3

Album album album:”greatest hits”

Genre genre genre:rock

Track track track:12

Year year year:> 1980 < 1990

Picture

These are properties common to pictures. To limit the search to pictures only, the syntax is:

kind:picture <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Camera make cameramake cameramake:sample

Camera model cameramodel cameramodel:sample

Dimensions dimensions dimensions:8X10

Orientation orientation orientation:landscape

Date taken datetaken datetaken:yesterday

Width width width:1600

Height height height:1200

Video

These are properties common to videos. To limit the search to videos only, the syntax is:

kind:video <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Property Use Example Syntax

Name name, subject name:”Family Vacation to the Beach 05″

Ext ext, fileext ext:.avi