Unable to find excel content in explorer search bar

Question

Unable to find excel content in explorer search bar

DeepakCONVERGYSCORPORATION-2792 10

Environment - Windows Server 2022. Office - M365 - as per the MCO.
The excel files doesn't show up when the cx tries to search the contents of the excel file in the search bar of the file explorer.
The issue only occurs with excel files and not with any other files such as .txt,.docx.
The excel files extensions are checked.
We went thru that list and performed the steps .. we knew them well we’ve checked all that stuff over a dozen times.. Unfortunately, everything was set as you recommended. Nothing has changed .. Search is working fine! It’s only that EXCEL FILES don’t show up in the search when we are looking for specific file contents inside the xls or xls files. That has been the problem from the beginning. We can search the contents of all sorts of files without a problem. Except Excel files. We’ve got lots of them. If we search for File names or Meta information they come up in the search results.. but if we search for something that we know is in the fields of the spreadsheet, it is not listed in the results. If we search for something we know is inside of many types of files, all the Files show up for PDF, DOCX, CSV , etc... But the XLSX OR XLS files containing that data, is not reflected in search results

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Answer 1

Anonymous

Hi Deepak,

Thanks for your post. Please try the following method and see if it takes effect.

Open file explorer. Then click on the search window.
It will open a search tool menu from the tool bar.
From the search tool menu, you can see advanced options.
Click on Advanced options, then ensure all options are selected (file contents, zipped folders, system files etc.).

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

DeepakCONVERGYSCORPORATION-2792 10 Reputation points

2024-12-26T14:18:50.3366667+00:00

Hello Ian,

I already did that, and I am able to find everything in file explorer except the .xlx file
Anonymous

2024-12-31T01:51:55.7733333+00:00
Hi Deepak,

Thanks for your reply. I tried in my test environment and can search the .xlx file. Can you please also check the following options:

Allow Files to Have Contents Indexed

Sometimes, there might be no search results because the involved drive doesn’t allow indexing file contents. If this is applicable to your case, you can try changing the setting to fix the issue.

Just navigate to This PC in your File Explorer. Then, right-click the involved drive under Devices and drives section and choose Properties. When you get the following interface, make sure the option Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties is check, and click Apply and OK to save the change.

If you have no idea about which drive the target files are stored on, you’d better repeat the same operation to all your drives. Once it’s done, reboot your device and the File Explorer search should work without any problems.

Rebuild Search Index

According to the reports of some users, they have fixed File Explorer search not working by rebuilding search index. So, you can have a try.

Step 1: Open Control Panel and choose to view by Small icons.

Step 2: Find and click the Indexing Options item.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, click Advanced button.

Step 4: Switch to File Types tab in the Advanced Options window and check Index Properties and File Contents, and then click OK.

Step 5: Open Advanced Options window again. Under Index Settings tab, click Rebuild button in Troubleshooting section, and then click OK in the confirmation window. Once it’s done, your File Explorer search should work properly again.

If the issue still persists, try creating a new user profile and check if the issue will get fixed.
DeepakCONVERGYSCORPORATION-2792 10 Reputation points

2024-12-31T13:51:14.34+00:00

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the suggestion but indexing is all good. there is no error in indexing, .xls file is already indexed. Not able to search excel file content in explorer I am able to search file name but not able to search content and this is only happening with excel. Rest of the file is working fine.
DeepakCONVERGYSCORPORATION-2792 10 Reputation points

2024-12-31T13:54:36.83+00:00

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the suggestion but indexing is working fine. Only issue is facing with .xls file. Excel file is already indexed in indexing. All the other fine is working fine. I am able to search fine name in explorer but when I tried with excel content file does not come up.

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Unable to find excel content in explorer search bar

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