Search for PC Files or Documents the Easy Way!

Is your Windows My Documents or Documents folder getting large? Is it hard to find a required file? Here is a speedy way to search just the files in My Documents or Documents.

If you an advanced user and store files in folders you have created, you can use this technique on any data folder.

1. Open a Windows Explorer or My computer window. To access Windows Explore, right click Start and click Explore.
2. Click on the My Documents (or Documents) folder. If using Windows Explorer, click on the folder in the leftmost column.
3. Press Ctrl-F to open the "Search" window. Type either a partial file name, or a word or phrase within the document.
   
   
   • The first text box is for typing part of a file name. You can use wildcards in your file name. For example, if you know it is a Word document, you can type *.doc to narrow the search to just Word documents.
   • The second text box lets you type a word or phrase from the document. If you are looking for the document that describes the red winged black bird, type that phrase into the box.
4. Then click Search and only My Documents will be searched. Windows will display a list of files that meet your criteria.
5. Double-click on the file you want to open.
6. If you want to return to My Computer, click the little X above the left Search column to close the Search Companion. You cannot return to Windows Explorer.

Windows Explorer is so much more useful than My Computer than you should create a shortcut for it on your Quick Launch Toolbar and learn to use it.

For instructions, see our blog post How to Create a "Windows Explorer" Shortcut and Place it on the Quick Launch Toolbar.

For several super tutorials on using Windows Explorer to Managing Your PC Data, go to our main tutorial website.

►  Take a look at some of our other interesting posts, such as Cleaning Up Disk Space