Search content automatically without "content:" modifier?

[guacamole]

Hello,

Is there any way to set Everything to automatically search content without having to add the "content:" modifier to the search query?

Thanks in advance!

[void]

Please try creating a Filename or Content filter:

• In Everything, from the Search menu, click Add to filters....
• Set the Name to:
  Filename or Content
• Change the Search to:
  #replaceterms:#(:search:#):,#(:<#term:|content:#term:>#):
• Change the Macro to:
  filenameorcontent<search>
• Click OK.

Filters can be activated from the Search menu, Filter bar (View -> Filters), right clicking the status bar, filter macro or filter keyboard shortcut.
Active the Filename or Content filter to search for filenames or content.

For the best performance, consider indexing content from Tools -> Options -> Content.

[guacamole]

Thank you, that seems to be working!

I also moved this new search filter to the top of the list in Manage Filters, will this make it the "default" filter?

Thanks again!

[raccoon]

The 'default filter' is whatever you have specified under Tools -> Options -> General -> Home -> Filter:

[void]

Note: you can customize your Everything filter:

• In Everything, from the Search menu, click Organize filters....
• Select Everything and click Edit....
• Change the Search to:
  #replaceterms:#(:search:#):,#(:<#term:|content:#term:>#):
• Change the Macro to:
  filenameorcontent<search>
• Click OK.
• Click OK.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

[I came here from this discussion: viewtopic.php?p=64817#p64817]

Please try creating a Filename or Content filter:

• In Everything, from the Search menu, click Add to filters....
• Set the Name to:
  Filename or Content
• Change the Search to:
  #replaceterms:#(:search:#):,#(:<#term:|content:#term:>#):
• Change the Macro to:
  filenameorcontent<search>
• Click OK.

[...]

This works - but it also shows on list with results all items that happen to have in their names whatever I will put in the box of Search Edit


So how can I find all files that have written within them e.g.

Code: Select all

my-name

and not files named like

Code: Select all

this is my-name
my-name and last name

by the means of choosing a Filter and then writing in Search Edit

Code: Select all

my-name

?

[meteorquake]

A side suggestion here, when you right-click in the preview box you could have a "Search for content" menu item analogous to when you click a column heading, which would place a

Code: Select all

content:

phrase in the search edit box.

David

[void]

So how can I find all files that have written in them e.g.

To create a filter to search file content only:

• In Everything, from the Search menu, click Add to filters....
• Set the Name to:
  Content
• Change the Search to:
  content:$param:
• Click OK.

I have on my TODO list to add my own text preview handler with search functionality.
Thank you for the suggestion.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

[...]
So how can I find all files that have written within them e.g.

Code: Select all

my-name

and not
[...]

To create a filter to search file content only:
[...]
#replaceterms:#(:search:#):,#(:<#term:|content:#term:>#):
[...]

I have finally tested this - and it seems to work A-OK, as it is not being fooled by similar phrases and it also looks in apparently all file formats [because I was stunned to find out in just how many of them that test-text of mine my-name has appeared for various reasons]

It took me that long because with over 2 000 000 files reported in my Everything the whole search process had to take around 22 hours [which was disrupting my daily workflow] - and now I have two question regarding this horrendous amount of time needed for such task:

A] What does the search process of this Filter looks for if the box of Search Edit remain empty? Does Everything attempts to cache all content of all files? And if it finishes such content-search-without-actually-specified-content-looked-for then will I be able to find instantly any phrase? [Or will that be virtually impossible, unless I have on the volume with Everything as much free space as those 2 000 000 files take on my other volumes plus I also / or have terabytes of RAM?]

B] If my above positive assumption is true [i.e. it is doable and without extra terabytes of storage and / or memory], then can the expression of this Filter be indexed - so that Everything will be always able to find instantly any phrase [i.e. without me waiting a whole day for just one search to finish]?

[When I writing this post I changed that Filter to the default Everything one and removed my test phrase that I had looked for - but then switched back to it and put in Search Edit that same my-name test phrase: and my Everything started apparently once more to perform the whole searching process from start]

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

Well?

[meteorquake]

My own view...
Not indexing for an arbitrary search is what sets Everything apart and makes it small. There are big programs consuming lots of space for indexing all content.
Flagging files of some criterion which includes content might be doable
e.g. ext:ini content:my= >>> flagas:f1
so that you can then search for a subset such of those flags as
flagged:f1 content:my=name
might be doable.
I'm not convinced its helpful at least with that example since ext:ini content:my=name is already going to be fairly fast, at least if you have an SSD.
Perhaps you could give an actual example of what you are searching for, as sometimes a real world example can really help.
It may be a computer content indexing program would be the way to go? I don't think Everything should be indexing content large scale, as the whole virtue of it is that it doesn't

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

My logic is as follows: if I do not know what it is I might be looking for at some point in the future and while being in a hurry - then if it is possible to pre-scan them just in case then I should index as much as possible

Maybe you are right: that Everything stands out as being lite / neat piece of software - and indulging in above logic would kind of break its intended design / usage

But in order for anyone to be able to evaluate which approach might be more beneficial, to what kind of user this might be beneficial and / or what types of modus operandi this could provide for, we would need to know answers to my A and B questions

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

[...]
to be able to evaluate which approach might be more beneficial
[...]
we would need to know answers to my A and B questions

Void - can you answer those two questions, please:

[...]
A] What does the search process of this Filter looks for if the box of Search Edit remain empty? Does Everything attempts to cache all content of all files? And if it finishes such content-search-without-actually-specified-content-looked-for then will I be able to find instantly any phrase? [Or will that be virtually impossible, unless I have on the volume with Everything as much free space as those 2 000 000 files take on my other volumes plus I also / or have terabytes of RAM?]

B] If my above positive assumption is true [i.e. it is doable and without extra terabytes of storage and / or memory], then can the expression of this Filter be indexed - so that Everything will be always able to find instantly any phrase [i.e. without me waiting a whole day for just one search to finish]?
[...]

[void]

A] What does the search process of this Filter looks for if the box of Search Edit remain empty?

The filter does nothing if the search is empty.

#replaceterms:#(:search:#):,#(:<#term:|content:#term:>#):

=>

(where search: is empty )



If you search for

""

#replaceterms:#(:""#):,#(:<#term:|content:#term:>#):

=>

""|content:""

""

will match all filenames, so the

content:""

search is never executed.

Does Everything attempts to cache all content of all files?

Everything will search as you type. The content search is cached, so as you type more, Everything will reuse the cache instead of going back to disk.

Please only use this filter if you are indexing content.

And if it finishes such content-search-without-actually-specified-content-looked-for then will I be able to find instantly any phrase?

Depends.
The system caches the file content, not Everything.
This cache can get thrown out quickly.

[Or will that be virtually impossible, unless I have on the volume with Everything as much free space as those 2 000 000 files take on my other volumes plus I also / or have terabytes of RAM?]

Impossible for 2million files.
Windows might only keep the file content cached for a few thousand files.
Windows is only going to cache a few GB.
Windows will throw out this cache to make room for any programs that need to allocate memory.

B] If my above positive assumption is true [i.e. it is doable and without extra terabytes of storage and / or memory], then can the expression of this Filter be indexed - so that Everything will be always able to find instantly any phrase [i.e. without me waiting a whole day for just one search to finish]?

No.
In an ideal world where you have infinite memory and Windows cache stayed in RAM, then yes, you could do a

content:a

on all files, which would take days, then change your search to

content:b

which would show results instantly*, because the content is cached.
(*it won't be instant, but it would be very fast as Everything/OS will not go to disk)

Instead of content searching your entire index, limit the results first, for example:

%USERPROFILE%\documents\ content:abc

This may take a few minutes to gather the content.
Windows will cache most of this content (provided it is only a couple GB)
Change the search to:

%USERPROFILE%\documents\ content:123

This search should be instant.
However, it will depend on what's still in cache and iFilter overhead.