Rebuilding the Search Index
You may occasionally find yourself wanting to rebuild the search index (e.g., if it's very large and you remove a big chunk of indexes, or if it gets corrupt). To rebuild the search index, follow these steps:
- In the Search box, type "index" (without the quotes) and press Enter. Windows displays the Indexing Options dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. The Indexing Options dialog box.
- Click the Advanced button. Windows displays the Advanced Options dialog box.
- Make sure the Index Settings tab is displayed. (See Figure 2.)
Figure 2. The Index Settings tab of the Advanced Options dialog box.
- Click the Rebuild button. Windows asks you if you are sure you want to perform the action.
- Click OK to start the rebuild.
- Close any open dialog boxes.
The work involved in rebuilding a search index is done behind the scenes and could take a while to complete. While Windows is rebuilding, you can work with other programs just fine, but you won't be able to do a search and get any meaningful results.
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." Learn more about Barry...
Toggling Delete Confirmation
When you delete a file, Windows typically asks you if you are sure you want to make the deletion. You can control this ...
Discover More
Understanding the Task Manager
The Windows Task Manager is a great utility for a variety of reasons. Understanding it will prove beneficial towards an ...
Discover More
Copying Data with Robocopy
Robocopy is a robust file copy utility built into Windows. If you have a lot of file management to do that can't easily ...
Discover More
Clearing Items from the Recently Used Documents List
You may wish to clear your Recently Used Documents list or even have them not remembered in the first place. How you ...
Discover More
Sorting a Folder
When you have a lot of files in a folder, it is helpful to be able to know how to sort through all the files. Windows 10 ...
Discover More
Renaming Multiple Files
Got a bunch of files you need renamed? Windows can help you out, but only in a limited manner. This tip shows you how.
Discover More
This tip (12936) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.
Comments