Have you ever lost a file on your computer and just couldn’t track it down? Using the search tips in this article, you can find specific files in Windows Explorer even if you don’t remember the exact name or location.
The more information you know about the file you are looking for, the better. You will be able to use search options such as file size, creation date, file type, and more by following the tips below.
For reference, before we start, all of the tips listed in this article will use the search function in the upper right corner of Windows Explorer.
Hopefully, by the time you read all the tips in this article, you have found a solution to track your files.
Also check out my other post on Windows search using third party tools or from the command line. In addition, for all of the searches listed below to run faster, search indexing must be enabled on Windows.
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Determine the location of the images using the parameters
First, let’s take a look at the tracking options available to you for specific images. Below are a number of tips that are exclusively for images on your PC.
If you know the dimensions of the image, you can enter width: x, height: x. Just replace “x” with the exact dimensions.
If you don’t know the exact dimensions, but you know that they are within a certain limit, you can use the following search options instead:
- Width: x for files over a certain width
- Width: <x for files with a specific height
- Height: x for files with a specific height
- Height: <x for files with a specific height
Just replace “x” with the resolution you are looking for. You can combine any of the height and width parameters together.
If you know the file type, you can also filter your search by file extension. For example, you can enter “type: .png” in the search bar to display only .png images.
So, with that in mind, if you know you have created an image that is over 1000 high and over 800 wide, and you know it is a .png file, you can search like in the image shown below.
General file search tips for finding files in Windows 10
We’ll then go over a number of general file search tips that you can use to find files in Windows 10. These tips will be useful for all files, including images, so you can even use them in conjunction with a specific image. tips listed above.
To find a file of a specific type, simply use the “type:” command followed by the file extension. For example, you can find .docx files by searching for “type: .docx”.
You can also use the following commands to search for specific file types, regardless of their extension:
- Use ‘type: photos’ for all photo files
- Use ‘type: video’ for all video files
- Use ‘type: documents’ for Word documents, Excel sheets, etc.
- Use ‘type: music’ for audio files.
- Use type: text for text documents.
- Use type: favorites to find your favorites.
If you know part of the filename, you can use the “name:” command followed by any phrase, letter, or word. For example, you can use “name: resume” to return all files that have “resume” in the filename.
For an exclusive video command, you can use the search command ‘length:’ followed by one of the following words to find a video of a specific length:
- Very short – less than 1 minute
- Short – 1 to 5 minutes
- Medium – 5 to 30 minutes
- Long – 30 to 60 minutes
- Very long – over 60 minutes
To find files by date, start by typing ‘date:’ in the search bar, then enter the date in the format day / month / year or month / day / year, depending on your time and date settings.
When you first start typing a date, you will have the option to use the calendar to find a specific date, or you can use a quick search for today, yesterday, this week, last week, this month, last month, this year, and last year
You can also use “” to search for files created before or after certain dates, respectively. An example is shown below.
If you know the approximate file size, you can use the “size:” command to filter the results. For specific sizes, you can use the following quick commands:
These commands are great for smaller files, but a search range should be used for files larger than 128MB. For example, if you know that the file size is between 200 and 300 MB, you can use the command: ‘size: 500MB – 800MB’. This will only show files that are in this range.
Thanks for reading our advanced tips for finding files in Windows Explorer. Remember, you can combine any combination of these search filters in one search.
If, for example, you are looking for a .png file that is over 1000px wide and you know it was created before Feb 20, 2018, you can use this command: ‘type: .png, width: 1000, date: <20/02 / 2018 '
There is no limit to the number of search parameters you can use in a single search, so combining multiple parameters will save you a lot of time trying to find a file. You can also exclude certain words from your search.
For example, if you are looking for a recipe document that you saved and you know it contains the word “recipe†but you don’t want a chicken recipe, you can use the recipe NOT chicken command.
This will return all files with the word recipe in the name, but exclude all files with the word chicken in the name. For your specific search, simply replace words on either side of the logical NOT.
Did you find the tips in this article helpful? We hope so. If you need help with these search tips, let me know and I’ll be happy to offer help. Enjoy!
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