Keyword search in WORD '10, '13

Keywords and search are not so difficult when things are working properly. Under the hood, though, there are lots of parts involved, and a failure of any one of them could cause the whole thing to fail.

One part in particular, a service called Windows Search, is responsible for a lot of the work involved. It will be worthwhile to check that the service is healthy.

• Click the Windows Start button and type services in the box. The icon of the Services app should appear at the top of the Start menu. If that doesn't work, you can find its icon in Control Panel > Administrative Tools.
• If your login doesn't have administrator rights, right-click the Services icon and choose "Run as administrator"; otherwise just double-click the icon.
• In the Services app, scroll down the list and click on Windows Search.

• If the Status entry for Windows Search is blank, the service isn't running, which might account for the failure of Windows Explorer to find the file. Further, the Startup Type should say Automatic (Delayed Start) as shown in the screen shot -- that tells Windows to start the service automatically at the end of the boot process, not at the beginning or middle of it.

If either of those entries is not like the screen shot, double-click the icon. In the Properties dialog, set the startup type if necessary and click the Start button. (These things will be grayed out if you didn't start the Services app as an administrator.)

• Even if the Windows Search service is properly started, it's worth right-clicking it and clicking Restart. That stops and restarts the service. Then try searching again.

Hello again, Jay. I'm afraid I'm back with the same problem: keyword searches that simply do not work. This time, checking in the Windows Explorer, in the Details of the Properties, I can see that with a particular file none of my assigned keywords appear (although they are clearly assigned in the document), but in a different (non-Microsoft) file manager that I use, in the Details of the Properties, the keywords are registered. To tell you the truth, it seems quite ridiculous to me that it is so difficult to use the keyword search capability in Windows/Word. It is very easy to become discouraged and curse Microsoft for creating software that is so non-intuitive and so difficult to handle on so simple a matter (and so vital a function!) as keyword searches.

And now, for whatever combination of mysterious reasons,  it works, even with  a year (i.e. a number) at the head of the keyword list. Who knows what was going on!? No telling. Something must've been strange with that document where things went south.  I did learn a number of things through this exchange with you, though, and for that I'm grateful. Thank you! Until next time (hopefully not soon!).

When I do this it only picks up one document, not all the documents with this keyword.

I believe you may be requiring the Office Filter Pack to make use of the Office IFilters.

From Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs

Overview

The Microsoft Filter Pack is a single point-of-distribution for Office IFilters. IFilters are components that allow search services to index content of specific file types, letting you search for content in those files. They are intended for use with Microsoft Search Services (Sharepoint, SQL, Exchange, Windows Search).

Install this product if you want to search for content in the file types listed below.

The Filter Pack includes:

Legacy Office Filter (97-2003; .doc, .ppt, .xls)

Metro Office Filter (2007; .docx, .pptx, .xlsx)

Zip Filter

OneNote filter

Visio Filter

Publisher Filter

Open Document Format Filter

If this fits your requirements, you can download then install from the locations mentioned here:

Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs

Description of Office 2010 Filter Pack SP1