Searching through documents and attachments

[GalvestonDuck]

I can't believe I still haven't managed to figure this out, but I've tried.

Does anyone know how to search through document files (Word, Excel, etc) without opening each and every one? Is there a way? I know, for example, if I open one file and hit Ctrl + F, a search box comes up in which I can type "Smith" and then enter and the computer will scan through that document and find that word.

And I know that if I know the NAME of the file, I can go to Start and then Search and find that particular file.

Furthermore, in Outlook, I can go to the toolbar at the top, hit "Find," and enter a search option and then Enter, and then every EMAIL with that particular word will be selected and placed in a list so I can see which ones include that particular word. But it only searched the text of the email and not the attachment, if there is one. So, I might have an email from 2002 where I've addressed a certain issue in a word document that was sent as an attachment, but I can't find it by searching through the emails alone. I have to open each and every one attachment in just about each and every email.

Or do I?

Anybody know if either of these options is possible -- to search through the TEXT of all files without opening each one? If there isn't a way, there sure as heck should be because it would make computers a heck of a lot more efficient! I find it hard to believe that it isn't already possible.

Thanks!

[BocaGirl]

Duck,

Have you tried using the Search function in Windows? This will work for saved files, not attachments to e-mails. In Windows 2000, go to Start, Search, For Files and Folders, and enter the text you're looking for in the Containing Text box. Put the text in quotes.

You don't need to know the name of the file. Windows will figure that out for you!

You can narrow the search to a a drive or a folder or even to file type, like Word or Excel files, or let it run through all files.

I don't think there is a way to search through attachments to e-mails. The attachments are just objects until they're saved.

Hope this helps. If you need more specific info, PM me.

BocaGirl

[GalvestonDuck]

Aha! Look there it is! If it was a snake, it woulda bitten me!

Doh! Don't know how I missed that, but thank you so much, Barbara! Just made my job 20 times more efficient.

Guess I was just so used to the old way of searching, I never noticed that they added that option. Tunnelvision is probably to blame. I was so used to seeing only that primary search box and I never looked beyond it.

Thanks bunches!

[BocaGirl]

Aha! Look there it is! :) :Thanks bunches! :)

You're very welcome! One more thing though! Keep an eye on the size of your mail file. Outlook has a limit of 2 gb. When a mail file hits 2 gb, Outlook just can't open it anymore. If you're carrying a lot af attachments (especially with graphics) in your mail file, it can swell mighty quick.

Best practice is to keep your mail pared down as small as you can make it. Too many people think of their e-mail as permanent storage for messages and attachments they want to keep forever, and end up losing important information.

If you are using Outlook your mail file has a .PST extension.

Barbara

[GalvestonDuck]

Luckily, we have our personal folders already set up so we can move emails out of the inbox and into a file that's saved either on our hard drive or on the server.

We get updated computers every two years or so. The first time they updated mine, they moved my personal folders file from my hard drive onto the server and told me it should stay there because it was a safer place for it (if my hard drive crashed, I'd lose it all). So then a couple of years ago, when I got the second upgrade, somehow the file that was on the server didn't not get routed to my login and was lost. They tried and tried to find it, but never did. Mostly it was a lot of saved personal emails (9/11 stuff and so forth) and emails to and from my boss.

I was like, "Uh-huh...which one's safer??"

I do need to go through and purge more stuff and clean out my email soon. Luckily, I can log in at home also and work on some of it while I'm comfy and watching the storms.

[coriolis]

Our administrator limits our email file to 15 MB, so we constantly have to keep cleaning it out. I'm in the habit of saving important stuff to the appropriate job folder on our server.

Older versions of windows had a quickview feature that let you look at documents without actually opening them. I miss that.