Forum Discussion
Windows 11 - File Explorer - Search Contents fails
Yesterday I updated my 3 day old laptop to Windows 11. Today I moved some files into the My Documents folder, then I went to the upper right corner of File Explorer and entered the word I wanted to find in the files. The search options included file contents, The search returned no results.
The same search on my old laptop, which uses Windows 10, found numerous matches.
- Also experiencing the same issue, can search file names but not by contents, suspect it was tied to the index. I tried the following;
- Rebuild the Index
- Remove and re-add the folder to indexing via Indexing Options
As a work around; If I edit the folder search settings and enable the option: Don't use the index when searching in the file folders for system files (searches may take longer) and search it works, but its much slower as expected. - I have exactly the same problem. Windows 10 finds the file but Windows 11 does not.
- Hi, same problem here. Isn't it a solution yet?
DBP-User I'm so glad to read that others are experiencing the same issues. I have Office 365, using .docx and .xlsx files, and no results when searching for contents. I can only get successful searches for a file name. WE NEED THIS FIXED!
- Honestly, this is outreageous - not the problem itself, that of course is an issue, but the lack of any information or reply from Microsoft, I have exposed this in the official Feedback Hub app a couple of times. I am afraid I will have to reinnstall Windows 10 and all my pprograms this weekend - I thought about restoring Windows 11 but I am afraid the problem will persist
- After trying to figure out some pattern as to why Win11 would find a small number of docx by content, but not others, I came up with the ultimate "Whuh?" I have a document where I searches on ten different words in it. It found the document by four of them, but not six others. The SAME dang document.
I've brought the computer to two specialist shops (where multiple people worked on it) and had one man work remotely. No one could solve this. They also tried running it from an external hard drive off Win10 and the same problem occurred. That was a surprise because I felt sure it was all about 11. That made me think going back wouldn't help.
In the end, at least for now, I'm giving up and going to use an open source product called DocFetcher. It was free. I downloaded it onto 11, let it do its indexing on a large sample of data and it found everything successfully, at least in the testing that I did.
Very frustrating and disappointing, but I'd lose weeks of customizing to go back to 10 with no guarantee that the problem will go away. Just hoping that Microsoft is aware and works on it and suddenly, sometime, in some update, it starts working.
One person had a theory that it might work better on computers that upgrade to 11 than ones that start on 11...that some little file might be in 10 and stay there but be missing in new installations of straight 11. No idea if that has merit.
Going back to 10 doesn't appeal to me for another reason: Who wants a new computer with an operating system that Microsoft has promised to end support for in only 2.5 years? And although upgrading could work later, I wouldn't know when that would be and we've all heard upgrade nightmare stories. I should be able to use 11 now if it's supposedly ready-for-prime-time. I curse at the TV every time I see a Win11 commercial. Wish we'd never left 7! It was all I ever wanted, other than it no longer being supported!
- Same issue here. I have some PDF in my Documents folder. If I search for one of these file by name, no result is returned.
I noted a strange behavior: if I make a copy of one of these file and search for that copy name, then windows explorer find it! The file are identical also security and other attributes. I already rebuilt search index. Any idea? DBP-User am facing the same issue after updating to Windows 11. Somehow PDF files is being searched and being indexed but I have seen Excel and Word files missing from any and all indexed searches. It used to work like a breeze in Windows 10.
Kindly let us know if a solution is found.
I have the same problem with Windows 11. It won't search contents of XLS, DOC or PDF files. It will search in DOCX and XLSX files. I've done all the suggested fixes including rebuilding the Index twice.
Anyone know if Microsoft has acknowledged this bug and committed to a fix?
Thanks.
Same issue here. In my case, it does not find content in docx either.
- This problem is about the same as mine. Have done the indexing, checked all the needed settings, and I can't search content of any PDF files, but it does search content of at least some docx files. I think Windows 11 was searching fine earlier, but perhaps it was a recent update that caused the issue (not sure).
Same issue, I upgraded to Windows 11 on 2 home computers which I use often to search for content in a WORD file, looking for a city name or job name. Had no issues for years. After upgrading both computers to Windows 11 the search no longer works in File Explorer or in WORD. I have repeatedly confirmed "search content" is checked, I have rebooted, I have checked for and installed Windows updates, I have rebuilt my index on both systems, I have checked for errors on Search, etc. Nothing works. I am ready to downgrade back to Windows 10 if I can't figure this out this week. Does anyone have any useful info, my google searches turn up a bunch of non-starters.
- I have the same issue for all files.
In my case I have problem with doc files only but docx searching content works.
- Hi, same problem here. Isn't it a solution yet?
