Desktop Search Questions

Summary: General questions about Windows Desktop Search

This is the place to ask general questions about Windows Desktop Search
* If you want to ask for a new feature, try DesktopSearchFeatureRequests
* If you want to report a bug, try DesktopSearchBugReports
* Or go back to WindowsDesktopSearchFeedback

Finding documents based on custom properties

Windows XP and WDS 3.01: I right clicked on a Word document went to Properties, selected custom tab and added a property foo=>bar via that interface. Why can't I use desktop search to find that file based on that property? Searching for foo:bar and just 'foo' or 'bar' doesn't return the file. I would like to use my file system as a database by querying for Word content through custom attributes.

Searching S/MIME digitally signed emails

Is WDS supposed to be able to search emails that have been digitally signed with an S/MIME certificate? I can search for the title of the email, but none of the body is indexed. Now days, about 30% of my email is received signed. I have been able to with one of the other desktop search tools, so it doesn't seem to be a technical limitation.

How can DTS be made to index Alternate Data Streams associated with 'visible' files? ...

Adding metadata to normal 'visible' files, especially those which form a dataset along with other files, is very neatly handled by using an ADS (Alternate Data Stream) for each of the 'visible' files.
In addition to both structured (XML) and unstructured ADS streams added to such files, we have used custom property sheets that can be accessed in the usual way (and, via a button and some custom code, can read the ADS streams associated with the parent file).
But it would be very nice to be able to use Windows DTS to maintain an index of the 'hidden' streams.

Is that currently possible? If not, how can we do it? Or, should we go back to using a custom-created set of indexes using the Indexing Service?

Help needed...

Our company has been developing a product over the past year and we are relying heavily on the IFilter standard. I have done quite a bit of research on IFilters and have discovered that the default Office IFilter shipped with Windows 2000 and Windows XP is incapable of filtering all Office documents. It successfully filters about 90-95% of docs but fails to load on some. The interesting discovery is that the documents that fail to load with the default IFilters shipped with Windows 2000 and XP are filtered successfully with MSN Desktop Search.

Therefore, I assume that MSN Desktop Search is shipped with an updated Office IFilter that can only be obtained through downloading MSN Desktop Search? Even updating Office 2003 to SP2 and installing all updates does not solve this problem. Doesn't Microsoft have a responsibility to make these IFilters (MSN DS updated) publicly available for download? I can post many links talking about this problem, but as far as I know the solution is in Microsoft's hands. Can anyone shed some light on this or point me in the right direction?

Answer: Windows Desktop Search doesn't include Office IFilters. Instead, it uses those that are provided by Office itself (they don't come with Windows). -- BrandonPaddock

How do I...

...add other extensions to use the txt ifilter?

I have been adding 'pas' entries (identical to the txt entries) to the following registry keys
HKEYCURRENTUSER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RSSearch\ContentIndexCommon\Filters
HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RSSearch\ContentIndexCommon\Filters
in a simple minded attempt to get desktop search to index my pascal files (like cpp etc), however no success yet - at the moment still just the filename is indexed. Are there other registry entries I need to change or is this a dead duck.

Answer: Use the latest build, go into Desktop Search > Advanced Options, and add ".pas" to the list of "Index file types as text" -- JonathanHardwick

...change the startup delay?

The registry DWORD value in
HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\MSN Apps\DS\Index\StartupDelaySeconds
is the number of seconds that desktop search will pause when you first log in, to allow other startup applications to settle down. You can also change this using the /startup command-line flag - the default value is 180 seconds.

Update: I believe this has changed in the latest build. I'll try to get more information. -- JonathanHardwick

...drag and drop?

You can drag and drop from the address bar to anywhere that will take a .LNK file (desktop, quicklink bar, etc). And you can drag and drop files from the results window.

...exclude some file extensions from being indexed?

There is a list of extensions_thread/thread/a2dad3c86dcf8548/b8a1e41b6b2cb1d3#b8a1e41b6b2cb1d3 that MSN Desktop Search doesn't index. You can see all the excluded extensions in the following registry sub key:
HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\RSSearch\Gather\RSApp\MyIndex\Extensions\ExtensionList

Update: Use the latest build, go into Desktop Search > Advanced Options, and add your filetypes to the list of "Do not index these file types" -- JonathanHardwick

...find inflected forms of a word?

Indexing Service used IStemmer and IWordBreaker interfaces to generate inflected forms of a word. How to make Windows Desktop Search to use these interfaces or is there a different way how to tell Windows Desktop Search to find inflected forms.
Test case: with search word 'mouse', would like to find also plural form 'mice'

...float the deskbar?

1. Floating Deskbar - Unlock your taskbar (right-click on it, uncheck Lock the Taskbar), and drag the little gripper to the left of the taskbar (the line of dots) on to an open part of you desktop. Now it's not sitting on your taskbar, and you can still get to it with your hotkey, even if you're in another application.
2. Floating Docked Deskbar - once you make the deskbar float as above, you can dock it to any side of the screen. Then, if you right-click on the docked deskbar, you can set it to auto-hide, which makes it vanish when you're not using it, and/or make it always on top of other windows. Mouse to the edge where you docked the deskbar, or use the hotkey, and it reappears.

...get rid of the butterfly branding?

I've used the reg hack to remove my buttons from the deskbar. In the first version of desktop search I used, that hack also removed the MSN branding from the deskbar; but now with a new beta update, the branding keeps reappearing after I complete a search. Is it possible to kill all the butterflies?

Answer: Using a resource hacking tool, removing or changing the graphics are simple._tips896.html -- Carotids

...get rid of the toolbar buttons

Add a registry DWORD value called
HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\MSN Apps\DB\Buttons
and set its value to 1 to get rid of both buttons, or to 2 to leave just the MSN button. Then right-click on your taskbar, select Toolbars, and uncheck the MSN Deskbar to delete it from your taskbar. Repeat the process but check the MSN Deskbar entry to display it again, without buttons.

Update: Use the latest build, go into Deskbar options, and uncheck "Display Go button" -- JonathanHardwick

...index CHM files?

Desktop Search doesn't index .chm (Windows help) files by default - you need an IFilter for .chm files, such as the one from Citeknet . Alternatively, you can decompile your .chm files with the HTML Help Workshop . It produces HTML files that can be indexed by Desktop Search.

...index EXE files?

Desktop Search doesn't index .exe files to avoid lots of duplicate results.#301356

...index PDF files?

You need to download the PDF from Adobe (you can also get it from the top right corner of the installation success_suite.aspx page).

...index <x> files?

You need to find and install one of the DesktopSearchIFilters for file type <x>.

...index my Outlook mailbox?

Here's the official help pageTROUCANTFINDANYEMAIL.htm on this topic. Your mailbox will only be indexed while Outlook is running. If you've got Outlook set as your default mail client, but you still can't select it for indexing, then you've probably got a registry key left over from MSN Explorer, so try the following:#282283

1. On the Start menu, click Run.
2. Type the following: reg delete HKCU\Software\Clients\Mail and click OK.
3. In the command prompt window, type Y and then press ENTER.

Or use the less-scary version:

1. Right click on the Start button.
2. Click Properties.
3. On Start Menu tab, click Customize.
4. On "Show on Start menu" check E-mail box and select "Microsoft Office Outlook" as default.

...index my other Outlook profile?

Desktop Search will only index your default Outlook profile - and if you keep switching your default profile, Desktop Search will keep rebuilding its indices!

...index my public folders?

This isn't pretty. Add whatever folders you want indexed to your Favorites public folder. Right click on Public folders, choose Properties, then click Advanced. On the Advanced tab, check both "Used Cached Exchange Mode" and "Download Public Folder Favorites".

...index my web cache/history?

MSN Desktop Search won't index your web cache or history by design - there are a lot of privacy and security issues associated with this, which some of the DesktopSearchCompetitors have already run into.

Update: Sean McLeod has written an article for codeproject.com showing how to do this

...index network shares?

You can add any UNC path you want to the list of locations to be indexed, including anonymously accessible network shares.

...learn about indexing security?

MSN Desktop Search won't index files that you're not allowed to see - it respects all file and directory permissions. And yes, this means that there's a separate index for each user of a machine.

...learn about beta update plans

I've used the first beta and like it, but it has some bugs (problems with public folders, not finding items, lack of fine grained control, ...) that I find make the product less than usable (especially compared to what I already own). I think this product has the makings of a winner and I'd love to see an update, but haven't seen any information (and I read the wiki and the newsgroup). Can someone describe the likely update schedule / plans / priorities?

We'd love to hear from you exactly what you feel you need in a refresh. We've heard loud and clear that people need more fine grained control as far as what gets indexed in Outlook but I'm not sure what problems you're referring to as far as not finding items and problems with public folders other than the fact we don't index them. Note that not indexing public folders in large part is due to what it would do to Exchange servers in corporations.

I understand the issue of indexing Public Folders and the impact on Exchange, but in my company this is the main driver for many users buying X1! First, only index if there is a local cached copy. Indexing the local copy can't cause a hit on the server, can it? You could also make the default that it isn't done and make users select individual folders (don't just check top level and get all), but find a way to allow this. What I mean is that there are items that X1 found that MSN Desktop search didn't find. And, yes, the items were there. It was not very useful to have a search tool that didn't find everything.

It is impossible to tell from the download site if there has been a new update. There is no "last updated" or release notes on the site. Has anything been happening? This wiki and the newsgroups have been very quiet. Can you provide any update on status, plans, etc?

I'm using an internal update that adds some of the top requested features from this wiki and the newsgroup. It's not yet feature-complete, so there'll probably be at least one more round of dogfooding before the Desktop Search team release it publically. -- JonathanHardwick

Update: The latest build now matches our dogfood bits! -- JonathanHardwick

...move the index files?

This is unsupported, but you can use NTFS Junction Points to move your index files to a different drive._thread/thread/f91897379eba1a4b

Update: Use the latest build, go into Desktop Search > Advanced options, and you can see and change the Index Location -- JonathanHardwick

...save my searches?

You can save searches to your Internet Explorer Favorites.

...see email search results in Outlook?

This is not currently possible with the Outlook APIs.

...see results in a single-line format?

To display search results as single line items#323235, select "Small Results" from the "View" menu of Explorer.

...see where it put the index?

The index lives under
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\MSN Toolbar Suite\
(This is typically C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\MSN Toolbar Suite\)

Update: Use the latest build, go into Desktop Search > Advanced options, and you can see and change the Index Location -- JonathanHardwick

...see where it puts the shortcuts?

The shortcuts are stored in the following file (note that the folder is hidden by default#301356 )
%appdata%\MsnDeskbarShortcuts.ini
(This is typically C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERNAME\Application Data\MsnDeskbarShortcuts.ini)

...start indexing!

There are a couple of possible causes of status staying stuck at 'Indexing is starting, Please wait... ' forever. Make sure that you haven't removed or disabled the indexing service. Then it's the old standby of uninstall, reboot, and reinstall. If this doesn't fix it, report back!

Answer: Please try the latest version. Also, contrary to the above, WDS does not rely in any way on the "Indexing Service" that is included on Windows 2000/XP. -- BrandonPaddock

...stop it swapping names with the Google toolbar?

There's a problem in Internet Explorer which can cause it swap the names of toolbars (e.g. MSN's and Google's). You can fix it by deleting the following three registry keys and restarting IE:
HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\Explorer\ITBarlayout
HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\ShellBrowser\ITBarlayout
HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser\ITBarlayout

...stop triggering my virus checker when it indexes my spam folder?

This is fixed in the latest builds (1203+) from http://toolbar.msn.com

...stop resetting my default mail account to MSN?

This is a known problem with the Outlook Connector (OLC) that's used to synchronize Outlook with your MSN Premium account. If you're not actively using the OLC you can uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs.

...use a Windows Key shortcut?

If you set the shortcut to "Shift+S" you can use "Windows Key + S" to open the deskbar. Same for any other letter.

...use it on non-English versions of Windows?

The initial beta is only available in EN-US English. International support will come in later releases.#301320

Update: It's now available in versions for Japan, UK, Canada (English & French versions), Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, and the US - see details

...use it on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP x64?

The Desktop Search beta isn't supported on W2k3 - this means that it hasn't been fully tested, and you won't receive auto-update notifications. If you can live with this, there's an undocumented way to install it.

...use it with my screen reader?

My screen-reader does not read the results properly. It reads out a random number for each result in the listbox.#316800

The standard list view control is only able to expose the value of its first column to screen readers via the accessibility interfaces. The standard shell views work around this issue by popping an "Info Tip" for the current focused item in the list. The screen reader then reads back the value of the 1st column in the list (the file name) and then the contents of the "Info Tip" (the remaining columns). Desktop search has an issue with screen readers because a) our 1st column is the item's rank (useless for accessibility) and b) we don't currently support "Info Tips". We are aware of the issue and are actively working on a solution.#323754

...use it with other browsers?

Desktop Search integrates with the Windows shell in order to expose rich functionality for manipulating results, including drag and drop, multi-select, column sorting, and right-clicking to get context menus. The results aren't shown in a simple web page, which is why e.g. Mozilla can't display MSN desktop results. However, you can still use the Outlook toolbar, Explorer toolbar, and Windows taskbar search no matter what browser you use.

...use it with Outlook 2000 set to 'Internet Only' mode?

Internet-only mode doesn't support the extended MAPI features that MSN Desktop Search uses to index email (see also DesktopSearchFeatureRequests)

...use the Indexing service?

Between the Indexing Service, MSN Indexing, and Google Desktop Search, my computer's spending 3x the effort to create indices!

Answer: You'll see a definite performance hit from running both the Indexing Service and MSN Desktop Search at the same time. Any particular reason why you're running three?

... use the default browser for results

I have a browser built on MSHTML as my default. I use it becuase I love the tabs it has. If I click on a link in OL or other programs, they use this browser. How do I get Desktop search to use this browser when a shortcut is a URL?

... index the Application Data and Local Settings\Application Data in my user profile?

Answer: WDS will ignore directories and files that are marked as "hidden." If you remove the "hidden" attribute, you should be able to index them by selecting them in the "Custom Folder and Email Locations" folder-picker, in Desktop Search Options. -- BrandonPaddock

Desktop Search Beta 3 and 2.6.5

When one runs Outlook 2007 Beta we're told to install the Desktop Search Beta 3. The instrucitons on the download page are incomplete. Should we uninstal 2.6.5? 2.6.5 routinely crashes if 3.0 is installed. There also seem to be 2 sets of indexers running. WHat is that about?

SeeAlso: MSNSearch