Saving a Windows Search

Written by Barry Dysert (last updated May 1, 2017)

2

The Search feature built into Windows Explorer and File Explorer can be a good way to find files that contain a given string or files with names that contain a particular string. If you perform the same search frequently, you can save the search to improve your efficiency. For example, say that I want to locate all the XLSX (Excel) files on my system. I would display the Windows Explorer or File Explorer window, type XLSX in the search box in the upper-right corner of the window, and press Enter. Now, the Explorer window contains the file names that match my search string. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The results of a Windows search.

To save this search for subsequent reuse, click the Save Search button (circled above in red). A "Save As" dialog box appears to prompt you for the name and/or location of your saved search (usually, accepting the defaults is OK). When you're satisfied with the name and location of your saved search, click the Save button. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. Saving a search.

Note that searches are saved in a special file that uses a very long filename extension: .search-ms. When you later want to perform the same search on the files in the directory, the .search-ms file is key. All you need to do is double-click the saved search file (the .search-ms file) and Windows Explorer will launch and take you to the results of the search.

 This tip (12877) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Barry Dysert

Barry has been a computer professional for over 35 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer. He is currently a software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. When not working with Windows or writing Tips, Barry is an amateur writer. His first non-fiction book is titled "A Chronological Commentary of Revelation." ...

MORE FROM BARRY

Running a Program as Administrator

Sometimes a program you're trying to run needs to run with elevated privileges. Assuming you have the authority to do ...

Discover More

Stopping Windows from Creating Thumbs.db Files

Many times, the automatically created Thumbs.db file is more trouble than it's worth. If you want to stop Windows from ...

Discover More

Agent Ransack

If you need to search the contents of files fast, Agent Ransack is a tool worth having. It searches through multiple ...

Discover More
More WindowsTips

Using Robocopy to Copy Entire Directories

It's simple to use Robocopy to copy entire directories. Dealing with directories is what it does best! This tip shows you ...

Discover More

Adding File Types to the Search Index

You can fine-tune Indexed Searches by adding file types to the search index. This tip tells you how.

Discover More

Controlling the Size of the Windows Page File

The Windows page file is crucial to optimal system performance. This tip shows you how to control its size.

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 7?

2017-05-02 02:26:24

Barry

I don't think you can save the results. You have to run the saved search again.


2017-05-01 16:45:13

Bill F

Is there any way to save or export the search results rather than the search criteria?
Thanks.


Newest Tips