Windows XP Pro search: cannot search inside Wordpad

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cantueso

I have a PC running on Windows XP Home and a laptop running on XP
Professional, and I have been trying to write on Wordpad.

that works fine on XP home, but for the Pro edition the search won't
work. it can locate a document by its title, but it cannot locate that
document if the search key is a word inside the document.

is there a way to fix that?
 
Windows® XP - Search Problems - Containing Text:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_bad_search.htm

Other options:

See "Method 2" in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

Ref: "FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions"

[Excerpt]

Method 2
To configure Windows XP to search all files no matter what the file type,
obtain the latest service pack for Windows XP and then turn on the Index
file types with unknown extensions option.

If you use this method, Windows XP searches all file types for the text that
you specify. This can affect the performance of the search functionality. To
do this: 1. Click Start, and then click Search (or point to Search, and then
click For Files or Folders).
2. Click Change preferences, and then click With Indexing Service (for
faster local searches).
3. Click Change Indexing Service Settings (Advanced). Note that you do not
have to turn on the Index service.
4. On the toolbar, click Show/Hide Console Tree.
5. In the left pane, right-click Indexing Service on Local Machine, and then
click Properties.
6. On the Generation tab, click to select the Index files with unknown
extensions check box, and then click OK.
7. Close the Indexing Service console.
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly
by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might
require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee
that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
Network administrators can configure this setting by modifying the registry.
To do this, set the FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions DWORD value to 1 in the
following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex

[/Excerpt]

©2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved

Additional Note from Torgeir Bakken:
<quote>

WinXP's search function filters out files to search in based on file
extensions (see further below).

Install the free Agent Ransack, it searches for text strings in *all*
types of files, and not just in a selection of "approved" file extensions
as the built-in search does. It's a *much* better search tool as well...

http://www.agentransack.com/default.aspx

Agent Ransack can save the search result to a file (or clipboard), as text,
comma separated text or tab separated text. E.g. Excel reads comma separated
text (csv) very well.

</quote>

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I have a PC running on Windows XP Home and a laptop running on XP
Professional, and I have been trying to write on Wordpad.

that works fine on XP home, but for the Pro edition the search won't
work. it can locate a document by its title, but it cannot locate that
document if the search key is a word inside the document.

is there a way to fix that?
 
SteveL said:
You may want to consider downloading OpenOffice, a little better then wordpad.

I normally write on OpenOffice, and it is perfect, but right now and
for a little while, as I am trying to clean up a long text, I need to
open and close documents one after another and Open Office is too
slow.

I looked up its properties and saw that WQindows XP says that WordsPad
belongs to Windows NT.

Maybe I ought to simply go back to Windows98.
 
Ramesh said:
Windows® XP - Search Problems - Containing Text:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_bad_search.htm

Other options:

See "Method 2" in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

Ref: "FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions"


Unknown extensions? but WordPad is Windows XP's own document, isn´t
it?

anyway, I do not think I would be able to do what you are telling me to
do. It would be much safer for me to copy all the relevant files on
NotePad (the simple text processor) even if that took about 4 or 5
hours. Yet of course I am saving your instructions just in case push
comes to shove.

and yet it is very strange. Isn't WordPad the text processor of Windows
XP? there seems to be only that and NotePad, and yet in its
"Properties" it is defined as Windows NT. ?????

there must be something basic that I do not understand.
 
but WordPad is Windows XP's own document, isn´t it?

Correct! However, the file type will be treated as "unknown" if it's not
associated correctly. If you're able to open that file type by
double-clicking in Explorer, then you can ignore the step.

BTW, the 1st link which I posted adds a PersistentHandler / plain text
filter for the said file type (.rtf?), automatically.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com



Ramesh said:
Windows® XP - Search Problems - Containing Text:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_bad_search.htm

Other options:

See "Method 2" in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

Ref: "FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions"


Unknown extensions? but WordPad is Windows XP's own document, isn´t
it?

anyway, I do not think I would be able to do what you are telling me to
do. It would be much safer for me to copy all the relevant files on
NotePad (the simple text processor) even if that took about 4 or 5
hours. Yet of course I am saving your instructions just in case push
comes to shove.

and yet it is very strange. Isn't WordPad the text processor of Windows
XP? there seems to be only that and NotePad, and yet in its
"Properties" it is defined as Windows NT. ?????

there must be something basic that I do not understand.
 
Ramesh said:
Correct! However, the file type will be treated as "unknown" if it's not
associated correctly. If you're able to open that file type by
double-clicking in Explorer, then you can ignore the step.

BTW, the 1st link which I posted adds a PersistentHandler / plain text
filter for the said file type (.rtf?), automatically.


Very well, I will try, if only because I am curious to see. Thank you
very much for your patience. The fact is that I should never have
changed to Windows XP. I changed, too, because I was curious to see.

And what did I see? that after all that time, the text processors and
the paint program are exactly the same! not a dot changed! and it has
taken me all this time to find out.
 
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