Search Your Files Faster with Windows 7

Windows 7 uses Windows Desktop Search 4.0 that is built to find your files. The Windows Search applying Advanced Query Search AQS can narrow your searches using a variety of keywords, or search parameters, which can restrict your query to specific locations, specific file types or properties within those types, or specific “file kinds.” File kinds are displayed at the top of the Windows Search Explorer, accessible by pressing the Windows Logo key + F.
Here is a  overview of syntax that can be used with Windows Search 4.0, Windows Vista, or Windows Desktop Search 3.01 for Windows XP, including the properties that can be added to your search terms to narrow and refine your results.

Wildcards

You can use the familiar ? and * wildcard characters in queries.

Wildcard	Example	Description
?	M?crosoft	Matches one arbitrary character.
*	M*soft, Micro*	Matches any number of characters.

Search syntax

	Property	Example	Function
	author:name	author:patrick	Finds items with patrick in the author property.
	author:(name)	author:(patrick hines)	Finds items with patrick in the Author property.
	author:(name OR name)	author:(patrick OR bob)	Finds items with patrick or bob in the Author property.
	author:name name	author:patrick bob	Finds items with patrick in the Author property and bob anywhere in the document.
	from:name	from:patrick	Finds items with patrick in either fromName OR fromAddress, since “from” is a property name for both fromName and fromAddress.
	before:date	before:10/9/2007	Finds items whose PrimaryDate field contains a date before 10/9/2007.
	after:date	after:10/9/2007	Finds items whose PrimaryDate field contains a date after 10/9/2007.
	has:attachment	report has:attachment	Finds items containing the word report that have attachments. Same as hasattachment:true
	is:attachment	report is:attachment	Finds items that have attachments containing the word report. Same as isattachment:true

Numbers and ranges
To 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

Size and date ranges

	Syntax	Results
	size:>50KB <70KB	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
	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

Note: on Windows Vista and higher, search syntax supports dates in the user’s current calendar. A query can use any of the formats defined in their Regional Options.
Common file properties
The terms listed in the preceding table can be used with any of the following file properties. For example, to find e-mail from “patrick” that was sent in 2008, your query would look like this: kind:email author:patrick after:12/31/2007.

	To restrict by file type	Use	Example
	Communications	communications	kind:communications
	Contacts	contacts person	kind:person 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
	Music	music song	kind:music kind:song
	Pictures	pics pictures	kind:pics kind:pictures
	Videos	videos	kind:videos
	Folders	folders	kind:folders
	Folder name	foldername	foldername:mydocs
	Programs	programs	kind:programs
	Recorded TV	tv	kind:tv
	Link	link	kind:link
	Journal entry	journal	kind:journal

Properties for file type: All

	Property	Use	Example
	Title	title, subject, about	title:manager
	Status	status	status:active
	Date	date	date:lastweek
	Date modified	datemodified, modified	modified:lastweek
	Importance	importance, priority	importance:high
	Size	size	size:>50MB
	Deleted	deleted,isdeleted	isdeleted:true
	Is attachment	isattachment	isattachment:false
	To	to, toname	to:johnsmith
	Cc	cc, ccname	cc:david
	Company	company	company:adventure-works
	Category	category	category:business
	Keywords	keywords	keywords:sports
	Album	album	album:greatest
	File name	filename, file	filename:2006hits
	Genre	genre	genre:jazz
	Author	author, by	author:david
	Folder	folder, under, path	folder:adminstration
	Ext	ext, fileext	ext:.rtf
	Tags	tag, keyword	tag:personal
	Type	type	type:image

Comments

comments

comments:excellent

Last saved by

lastsavedby

lastsavedby:josh

Document manager

documentmanager

documentmanager:jonas

Revision number

revisionnumber

revisionnumber:4a

Date last printed

datelastprinted

datelastprinted:yesterday

Slide count

slides

slides:>20

Properties for file type: Music

	Property	Use	Example
	Bit rate	bitrate	bitrate:>150kbps
	Artist	artist, by	artist:U2
	Year	year	year:1977..1987
	Album	album	album:”greatest hits”
	Genre	genre	genre:rock
	Lyrics	lyrics	lyrics:”happy birthday to you”
	Track	#, track	track:12
	Year	year	year:>1980<1990

Properties for file type: Picture

	Property	Use	Example
	Camera make	cameramake	cameramake:nikon
	Camera model	cameramodel	cameramodel:eclipse
	Dimensions	dimensions	dimensions:8×10
	Orientation	orientation	orientation:landscape
	Date taken	taken datetaken	taken:last datetaken:6/12/2006
	Width	width	width:33
	Height	height	height:66
	Flash mode	flashmode	flashmode:no flash

Properties for file type: Recorded TV

	Property	Use	Example
	Broadcast date	broadcastdate	broadcastdate:2005
	Channel number	channel	channel:7
	Closed captioning	closedcaptioning	closedcaptioning:true
	Date released	datereleased	datereleased:2007
	Episode name	episodename	episodename:zeppo

Properties for file type: Video

	Property	Use	Example
	Name	name subject	name:vacation subject:hawaii
	Ext	Ext filext	ext:wma filext:wma

Download it for Windows Vista and Windows XP

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/windowssearch4.mspx?tab=Install%20It

Additional Resources

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266512(VS.85).aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx

Thanks to Muhammad Abdullah from : http://www.technize.com