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
2. .camproj                   => displayed all .camproj files
3. .camrec, .camproj      => no results
4. .camrec or .camproj  => no results
5. “.camrec” “.camproj” => no results
6. 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. 

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. 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…

	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
	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
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
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. 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
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.
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. 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
	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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

There is a Windows Search Overview page at: Windows Search Overview

More information available for using Advance Query Syntax Programmatically at Using Advanced Query Syntax Programmatically

Comments

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2011
  Absolutely wonderful. got my search to work thanks to this. Needed to search a set of folders in outlook in a set date bracket and not display the attachments. Thanks!

• Anonymous
  January 09, 2012
  I have seen a lot about complicated searches but nothing explaining my problem.  I have a lot of files with names containing the string 2.6 but Windows Search will not find any of them.  What is the problem. Thanks! -- Dan Hi Bruce,  Thanks for the feedback.  Try enclosing your string in quotes "2.6" this should work

• Anonymous
  November 09, 2012
  GREAT blog.  I consider myself "gifted in the art of windows search" but even I learned a few valuable tips from what you listed here. My main issue now is -- how do I recall previous searches from history to modify?  I'm used to unix/cygwin or DOS where up-arrow will recall previous commands so you can edit them, tweak, modify, improve, etc.  I find in searching that I'll craft some lengthly search syntax, find an item and then upon realizing it's not what I was looking for, I had to re-type in the search phrase. I know I can just press [enter] and bring up the windows-explorer-based version of search, where it keeps the search string in the upper right hand corner so I can modify, but I'd really like a history key to bring up previous search phrases. If you know it, let me know!

• Anonymous
  February 14, 2013
  In Outlook 2010 I need to search mail items for #02.  So I enter "#02" in the Instant Search.  What are my results?!  Any mail item containg "02" or could be "<any number>02".  Everywhere I look sites say throw a phrase in quotes to find exact match, but that obviously is not true, and I haven't seen any site saying the pound key ('#') has any special significance. Anyone have any idea how to search for "#02" in Outlook? Please help! Thanks

• Anonymous
  October 20, 2013
   "social security"     Finds items that contain the exact phrase social security. NOPE.  Quotes make no difference, whatsoever.

• Anonymous
  December 03, 2015
  The comment has been removed