Why can't I search for Excel files knowing a word somewhere inside it?

[M Skabialka]

Knowing that I had a spreadsheet with a sort macro in it somewhere that I
created about a year ago, I used the search feature of File Explorer in
WinXPPro to search for all files named *.xls, containing the word "sort" in
a folder with subfolders I knew it should exist in, in a range of dates.

The search did not find it, but after looking through my old emails I found
the name of the file, found it in one of my folders, and it was named *.xls,
it did contain the word "sort" as both a worksheet name and in the macro,
and it was in one of the folders I searched in, and was in the date range I
specified.

I then searched again using several words I found in the file, the macro, or
the headers, knowing that the search should find at least something, but it
seems completely unable to search files based on content, only by file names
or dates.

How do I make search function of File Explorer work to find files based on
text inside them, or numbers for that matter?

Mich

 

[Ian]

Try opening the file with Wordpad and search for the word there. If it can
be found, then Search should find it. Excel does not save the VBA code in
pure text format within the xls file.

 

[M Skabialka]

I was using search to find a file, not remembering what the name of it was,
only remembering that the macro had the word "sort" in it. There are
several hundred spreadsheets so it would take too long to open each one in
Wordpad to see if that was the one with the macro I needed. Previous
versions of Windows would let you search for any text in any file.

How do I do that in WinXPPro and Excel files?

There is the word "sort" on a button, in the macro, and in the instructions
on the worksheet which has the button. Why didn't the search find it in at
least one of these places?

In the past I have had problems searching wordpad files for specific text
and there was a very obscure registry fix. Is this the problem?

Thanks

 

[M Skabialka]

In this instance the word "sort" is not only in VBA, it is also a button
name, and there are plain text instructions, containing the word "sort", on
how to use the macro written in cells on one of the sheets.

I am still unable to search through my Excel workbooks looking for some text
located inside the file.
Any other ideas?

 

[Ian]

In Windows XP. Start>Search>All files and folders. *.xls in the filename
box. sort in the word or phrase box. If this doesn't find the file, I'd ask
in a Windows XP newsgroup.

 

[Bill Sharpe]

In this instance the word "sort" is not only in VBA, it is also a button
name, and there are plain text instructions, containing the word "sort", on
how to use the macro written in cells on one of the sheets.

I am still unable to search through my Excel workbooks looking for some text
located inside the file.
Any other ideas?

Have you tried using a separate search program such as "Agent Ransack"?
I find this program to be much faster than the Windows search routine,
more configurable and better able to find embedded text. It used to be
and may still be freeware.

Bill

 

[M Skabialka]

This exactly what I have been trying! And this is a Windows XP newsgroup!

I have now found a DOS command which will find the file
findstr /s "sort" *.txt

But this does not address the issue of why Windows XP won't find it! I
shouldn't have to resort to DOS, and the results are difficult to search
through.

Note to Microsoft: this is very frustrating!

 

[Ian]

This exactly what I have been trying! And this is a Windows XP newsgroup!

Correction. You are cross-posting, but I am replying from
microsoft.public.excel. I suggest you drop the Excel group from your posting
and concentrate on Windows group(s). Cross-posting is generally frowned on,
so I suggest you try one group at a time. If you have no luck, move on.