Searching Your Computer
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3. Use the Date options if you want to search based on specific date-related crite-
ria. Three selection lists are associated with date-based searches:
a. Use the first selection list to set a date range for the search. Your options for
setting date ranges include Date, for searching on the creation and modifica-
tion date; Date Created, for searching on the creation date only; and Date
Modified, for searching on the last modification date only.
b. Use the second date-related list to specify how dates are used in your search.
Your options are “any,” for searching for any date; “is,” for searching for a
specific date or inclusive dates; “is before,” for searching for a date prior to a
specified date; and “is after,” for searching for a date occurring after the
specified date.
c. Click the third selection list to display a calendar view for selecting a spe-
cific date to use with your “is,” “is before,” or “is after” search criteria. With
the “is” search criteria, you can set an inclusive date range by clicking the
start date and dragging the pointer to the desired end date.
4. Use the Size options to search based on specific size criteria. If you choose an
option other than “any,” you can set specific size values for the search using
“equals,” “is less than,” and “is greater than.” Then set the file size, in kilobytes
(KB), that files returned in the search must be equal to, less than, or greater than.
5. To set the full or partial filename to match, enter the desired search text in the
Name text box.
6. To search for files containing a specific tag, enter the tag that a file must have in
order to be listed in the search results.
7. To search for files created by or modified by specific users, enter the username
with which a file must be associated in order to be listed in the search results.
8. Click Search to begin your search. As with other types of searches, the search
results are listed in the Results Pane.
Searching Your Computer: Save Search Options
Whenever you perform a search, Windows Vista updates the menu bar in Windows
Explorer to include a Save Search button. Clicking this button allows you to save
your search criteria so that you can rapidly perform an identical search in the future.
Windows Vista saves your search criteria as a search folder.
Search folders are new for Windows Vista. They have a blue icon with a magnifying
glass, as shown in Figure 6-24.
Figure 6-24. A search folder
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Chapter 6: Mastering Windows Explorer and Searching Your Computer
When you access a particular search folder, the Windows Search service either
retrieves the cached results of your previous search or performs a new search using
the search criteria. The result is a list of matching files and folders that appear to be
in the selected folder. The folder actually does not contain any files or folders, how-
ever. The folder’s only actual (physical) content is the associated search string.
Within your profile folder is a folder named Saved Searches. Saved Searches contains
the default search folders created when you installed Windows Vista as well as any
search folders you’ve created. The default search folders include:
Recent Documents
A list of documents you’ve opened or created in the past few days
Recent E-mail
A list of email messages sent or received within the past few days
Recent Music
A list of music you’ve opened or worked with in the past few days
Recent Pictures and Videos
A list of pictures and videos you’ve viewed or worked with in the past few days
Recently Changed
A list of files you’ve modified in the past few days
Shared by Me
A list of files and folders you’ve shared on your computer
Recent E-mail is one of the more interesting of the default search folders. This search
folder searches for email messages that are saved on your computer and returns a list
of recently sent or received messages. When you click a message in the Results Pane,
the message contents are shown in the Preview Pane, as shown in Figure 6-25. When
you select an email message in the Recent E-mail folder, messages are listed by:
From names
Who sent the message
Subject
The message subject
Date received
The date the message was sent or received
To names
To whom the message was sent
Size
The size of the message
Folder path
The mail profile associated with the message
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