searchwindows 7windows-search
I'm trying to search for all files that contain the word "box". I get results for files that start with box, such as "box01", "boxcar" etc. But I do not get files that end with or contain the search word, such as "thebox", "thisboxfile".
How can I search for part of a file's name in Windows 7?
You do it from windows explorer view
Just select a file that can have tags added to it and adjust those in the bottom pane. Doesn't matter which view you're using. The link I provided in my comment should help as well. You need to identify that the file type will allow tags as some will not or require third party tools - this link provides a solution for .pdf files, for instance
My suggestion to use asterisks around the term, like *160.99*, worked for the poster,
and below is my reasoning.
The blog Character based versus word based search, or Searching with wildcards on Windows Vista says:
On Windows XP search is character based. That is, if you search for a string 'test', it will find files named 'my test data.doc', 'additional testing.xls' as well as 'latest junk.txt' or (if you tell it to search also contents of files) files containing words such as 'test', 'tester' and 'fattest'.
On Windows Vista, and on Windows XP with WDS installed, search is normally word based. Searching for the string 'test' will only find documents with the word 'test' in them, or words beginning with 'test'. So it will find the files named 'my test data.doc' and 'additional testing.xls' but it will not find 'latest junk.txt'. Moreover, it will find documents containing 'test' or 'tester' but it will not find documents containing 'fattest'.
The main reason for the change is that by making search word based one can use an index to make searches much faster.
My reasoning was that because of the point in the filename, the Windows algorithm for extracting words has failed. The asterisks were added as an attempt to force a search that is more character-based, which did work.
That said, I do counsel against using Windows Search, by reason of its simply being too flaky and just too weird. Disabling it is one of the first changes that I do with a new computer.
Here are two products that are much better at searching filenames:
Everything Search Engine: Uses an index and is lightning-fast.
FileLocator Lite: Does not use an index, so starts faster but searches slower.
I consider the Everything Search Engine as one of my most useful utilities, and set it up to start with Windows so it will always be up to date.
Best Answer
I assume you are using windows explorer. Navigate to the closest portion of the directory tree where you think the file is. Then in the top right search box, use the wildcard syntax, and type "*box". The asterisk in front of or after, means match anything.