Where is *user* documentation for the search syntax?

 Take a look at this link.  It seems to have a lot of info.

What it has is the same links I explored before I started this thread --and  the best of those prominently labeled as being out of date.

The bottomline here seems to be that there is an opportunity here for the Windows Team to generate some better content on this topic.

 Athena

Take a look at this link.  It seems to have a lot of info.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/can-you-search-by-multiple-parameters-in-windows-7/acf24e98-f410-4d41-9094-1e3d283a796d

 Good luck.

You might look at Google and Bing which are more advanced search engines.  When my friends and I teach Internet classes at local senior centers, we usually focus on Google and the need to put things in quotes for more precise searches.  Going beyond that for these folks seems to just go over their heads.

 The built in Windows search is nowhere near the ultimate in search engines, as you seem to be aware.  :-)   I find it useful for finding files or folders with specific names, but any attempt to get beyond the simple minded things isn't the most productive thing one could do.

 Good luck.

Ummm...that was one of the topics that I already reviewed and IMHO, it is not nearly as helpful/usable as the outdated "Tip" page for Vista I linked to in my original message.  Which was why I asked if th.  

Boolean operators were/are the least of my concern; anyone who has minimal experience with structured searching can figure that out.   What I would like to find,  is a concise user oriented explanation of the various property values.  The help content for Windows 7 was obviously not written for end users: Who ever enters "System.[property]" in a search box?  And, as I previously asked, what are the valid options for things like "KIND"?  The outdated content for Vista and Windows Desktop Search seems to be more useful but I was hoping for some usable update somewhere.

And..., "is there a difference between using "tag" or "keyword"?  If so, where is that documented?

There's a lot of info about Search accelerators in the Windows 7 help text.  You might find that helpful..  I imagine you're looking for a writeup about boolean operators; I found the info below by typing in Boolean in the Windows 7 help search box.

 I hope this helps.  Good luck.

**Advanced tips for searching in Windows**

In this article

- Adding operators
- Adding search filters
- Using keywords to refine a search
- Using natural language search

Searching in Windows 7 can be as simple as typing a few letters in the search box, but there are also advanced searching techniques that you can use. You don't have to know these techniques to search for your files, but they can be helpful depending
 on where you're searching and what you're searching for. 

Tip

- If you know which file type it is, you can just enter the file extension ("JPG" for example) in the search box. To learn more about basic searches in
Windows, see Find a file or folder.

Adding operators

One way to refine a search is to use the operators AND, OR, and NOT. When you use these operators, you need to type them in all capital letters.

| AND | tropical AND island | Find files that contain both of the words "tropical" and "island" (even if those words are in different places in the file). In the case of a simple text search, this gives the same results as typing "tropical island." |
| --- | --- | --- |
| NOT | tropical NOT island | Find files that contain the word "tropical," but not "island." |
| OR | tropical OR island | Find files that contain either of the words "tropical" or "island." |

Adding search filters

Search filters are a new feature in Windows 7 that make searching for files by their properties (such as by author or by file size) much easier.

To add a search filter to your search
1. Open the folder, library, or drive that you want to search.
2. Click in the search box, and then click a search filter (for example, Date taken: in the Pictures library).
3. Click one of the available options. (For example, if you clicked Date taken:, choose a date or a date range.)

![](http://content.windows.microsoft.com/BetterWhenConnectedHelpWS/GetContent.aspx?assetID=5877754d-48c2-47dd-8387-d53e419c622d&documentSet=en-US&Prod=WIN700&Market=US)The "Date taken" search filter

You can add multiple search filters to a search, or even mix search filters with regular search terms to further refine your search.

![](http://content.windows.microsoft.com/BetterWhenConnectedHelpWS/GetContent.aspx?assetID=a62c6373-8fa1-4ced-af06-00726d7eaa0d&documentSet=en-US&Prod=WIN700&Market=US)You can use two search filters to search for a picture tagged with "family"
 that was taken a long time ago.

Depending on where you're searching, only certain search filters are available. For example, if you're searching the Documents library, you'll see different search filters than you would in the Pictures library. You can't specify which search filters you'll
 see, but you can change the type of file that a library is optimized for. This will, in turn, change which search filters are available when searching that library. To learn how to do this, see Customize a library.

Using keywords to refine a search

If you want to filter on a property that doesn't appear when you click in the search box, you can use special keywords. This typically involves typing a property name followed by a colon, sometimes an operator, and then a value. The keywords aren't case
 sensitive. 

| System.FileName:~<"notes" | Files whose names begin with "notes." The ~< means "begins with." |
| --- | --- |
| System.FileName:="quarterly report" | Files named "quarterly report." The = means "matches exactly." |
| System.FileName:~="pro" | Files whose names contain the word "pro" or the characters pro as part of another word (such as "process" or "procedure"). The ~= means "contains." |
| System.Kind:<>picture | Files that aren't pictures. The <> means "is not." |
| System.DateModified:05/25/2010 | Files that were modified on that date. You can also type "System.DateModified:2010" to find files changed at any time during that year.<br> |
| System.Author:~!"herb" | Files whose authors don't have "herb" in their name. The ~! means "doesn't contain."<br> |
| System.Keywords:"sunset" | Files that are tagged with the word sunset. |
| System.Size:&lt;1mb | Files that are less than 1 MB in size. |
| System.Size:&gt;1mb | Files that are more than 1 MB in size. |

Note

- You can use a question mark (?) as a wildcard for a single character and an asterisk (\*) as a wildcard for any number of characters.

You can also use the operators AND, OR, and NOT to combine search keywords. (Note how the use of parentheses can change the effect of a search term.)

| System.Author:Charlie AND Herb | Files that are authored by Charlie as well as any files that include Herb in the file name or in any file property.<br> |
| --- | --- |
| System.Author:Charlie AND System.DateModified:&gt;2009 | Find only files that are authored by Charlie after 2009. |
| System.Author:(Charl\* AND Herb) | Files that have either Charles and Herb or Charlie and Herb listed as authors. |
| System.Author:"Charlie Herb" | Files that are authored by someone with exactly this name. |

Using natural language search

You can turn on Natural language search to perform searches in a simpler way, without using colons and without the need to enter AND and OR in capital letters. For example, compare these two searches:

| System.Music.Artist:(Beethoven OR Mozart) | music Beethoven or Mozart |
| --- | --- |
| System.Kind:document System.Author:(Charlie AND Herb)<br> | documents Charlie and Herb |

To turn on natural language search
1. Click to open Folder Options.
2. Click the Search tab.
3. Select the Use natural language search check box.

Even with natural language search turned on, you can continue to use the search box in exactly the same way. If you want to use operators or search keywords, you can. The difference is that you can also enter searches using a less formal method. Here are
 some examples: 

- e‑mail today
- documents 2011
- author Susan
- pictures vacation

Note

- When you turn on natural language search, some searches might give more results than you expect. For example, if you search for "e‑mail today" you will see all messages sent today as well as any messages with the word "today" in the contents.

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