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Windows Search Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

A quick reference for the Advanced Query Syntax that is used in Microsoft Windows Explorer and desktop search.

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Search basics and examples

Core syntax & operators

contains a word, quote phrases
word1 "­exact phrase­"
exact value: :=
:=this­nam­eonly
keyword before a colon
datemo­dif­ied­:ye­sterday
implicit AND
word1 word2
explicit OR
word1 OR word2
explicit NOT
word1 NOT word2
group with ( )
word1 (word2 OR word3)
Compar­ison, range: > < ..
size:<50MB date:2­024..2025
kind, extension
kind:f­older ext:rtf
boolean
isflag­ged­:true hasatt­ach­men­t:false
includes: , ends "."
*.png
OR and NOT must be uppercase and cannot be used together. Some properties are specific to particular kinds of files. keywords are disabled inside quotes.

All file kind:k­eywords

everyt­hing, commun­ica­tions, contacts, email, im, meetings, tasks, notes, docs, text, spread­sheets, presen­tat­ions, music, pics, videos, folders, favorites, programs

Relative dates

date:t­oday, date:t­omo­rrow, date:y­est­erday
date:this week, date:last week, date:next month, date:past month, date:c­oming year

Calendar

isrecu­rring, recurring, by, organizer, location
 

Select keywords per type

General / All files (kind:­eve­ryt­hing)

title, status, date, datemo­dified, modified, import­ance, priority, size, deleted, isdeleted, isatta­chment, to, toname, cc, ccname, company, category, keywords, album, file, filename, genre, author, by, under, path, folder, fileext, ext, keyword, tag, type

Documents

comments, lastsa­vedby, docume­ntm­anager, revisi­onn­umber, datela­stp­rinted, slides

Boolean helpers

isatta­chment, isonline, iscomp­leted, isdeleted, isflagged, isrecu­rring, hasatt­ach­ment, hasflag

Contacts

jobtitle, imaddress, assist­ant­sphone, assist­ant­name, profes­sion, nickname, spouse, busine­sscity, busine­ssp­ost­alcode, busine­ssh­ome­page, callba­ckn­umber, carphone, children, firstname, lastname, homefax, manager, pager, busine­ssp­hone, homephone, mobile­phone, office­loc­ation, annive­rsary, birthday

Pictures

camera­make, camera­model, dimens­ions, orient­ation, taken, datetaken, width, height, flashmode

Videos / Recorded TV

name, subject, ext, filext
Recorded TV broadc­ast­date, channel, closed­cap­tio­ning, datere­leased, episod­ename