5 Tips For Making Windows 11 File Search Faster

Shortcuts speed up work on the PC enormously. That's why it's good to know as many shortcuts as possible!

Did you know that there is also a shortcut to call up the Windows search directly?

Simply press the Windows key + S and the Windows search will open.

Now you can start typing immediately without having to click on the search bar again.

Windows 11 comes with a new search mask in the Start menu that works in a similar way to Windows 10.

In the left column you will find search results and on the right you will see further information about the search result and possible operators.

However, if your search leads to many results, the list of results becomes long and confusing.

The reason for this is that Windows not only searches for files and folders, but also displays apps, menu settings or the results of a web search, for example.

To get a better overview again, you can filter the results by groups such as documents or apps. Results that belong in a different group are simply ignored - so you can find what you're looking for much faster!

It's also worth browsing a little. Click on the arrow to the right to find many more groups such as folders, emails, videos or settings.

Still can't find what you're looking for despite grouped results? No problem! Try using result filters.

In Windows 11, you can continue to search for files using the search barin Windows Explorer as in Windows 10. Additional search options are also available here to help you filter the results.

This is how it works: Enter your search term in the search bar and then filter your search in the "Search options" drop-down menu. You can filter by the last modification date, by file type or by file size.

Windows 11 provides a number of predefined options from which you can choose. It is also possible to combine search options.

Here is an example: You are looking for an Excel document in which you record the meter readings of your electricity meter on a monthly basis. To find this document, enter part of the file name in the search bar and then select "Document" for Type and "Last month" for Date modified.

The search is then somewhat faster because files that do not meet these criteria are directly ignored. Try it out for yourself!

Our fourth tip now delves a little deeper into the technology. If you want to make your Windows 11 search faster, you should try out the search index.

On Windows, you can activate search indexing for certain folders. The operating system saves information about files located in a specific directory in an index, i.e. a register.

And this has a major advantage: if you activate search indexing, Windows no longer searches individual folders but the index - which is much faster.

To manage search indexing, open the indexing options via the system settings. Here you will find a list of all folders that are part of the indexing. 

By clicking on "Advanced", you can define new folders in a window that should also be indexed in future. 

Note: If you use the index service, your hard disk is constantly updated to add new data to the index. For older or less powerful systems, the other tips are better suited to avoid performance losses.