Windows Search

In Windows 7, you can find more things in more places—documents, email messages, songs—and do it faster.

Start typing in the Start menu search box, and you'll instantly see a list of relevant files on your PC. You can search by typing the name of the file, or based on its tags, file type, and even contents. To see even more matches, click a category in the results, like Documents or Pictures, or click See more results. Your search terms are highlighted to make it easier to scan the list.

Documents library after typing "invoice" in the search box.

Few people store all their files in one place these days. So Windows 7 is also designed to search external hard drives, networked PCs, and libraries. Overwhelmed by your search results? You can instantly narrow them by date, file type, and other useful categories.