Windows 10: where do items in the "Search programs and files" box come from?

Question

NB this question Windows 7 Start Menu: "Search programs and files" is only asking about the order of these items.

First point: I am a mouse-hater. I am not interested either in bringing up the "Start menu"... by far the most efficient way (IMHO) of starting up an app or a document of some kind is to type the first few letters and then select from the filter menu (if applicable).

This works for lots of programs and documents... mostly, though, I have had to add shortcuts to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.

What I'd like is to be able to add a particular directory (e.g. I have a directory called "sysadmin"), so that by default this "Search programs and files" box goes looking for stuff there as well as anywhere else.

I'm aware M$ couldn't give a flying flick about what people may or may not like (NB I use Linux whenever humanly possible), but does anyone know whether this is possible to accomplish?

Answer 1

I found a sort of answer/workaround to this which will perhaps suit people who are annoyed as I am at not having the option of just pressing start, entering a couple of letters and launching a document. Others may find it too much of a rigmarole.

The key here is the "Start Menu" directory. On my sys this is at "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu".

If you put a shortcut to an app here, e.g. named Gremlin.exe - Shortcut, you'll find that you can then run it with the initial letters:

<Start button>gre....  

However, putting a shortcut for a file does not work, not on my system anyway.

What I've done is this

1) first you have to get hold of a freeware utility app called hstart64.exe, and put it somewhere on your PATH (I put it, and all the things below, in a directory I've made called "SysAdmin"). Google for an hstart32.exe for 32-bit machines, I think there is one.

2) then make a shortcut of the file you want to open, and put it in SysAdmin. Let's say the name of this shortcut is Myfile.docx - Shortcut.

3) then make a .bat file in SysAdmin, e.g. myfile.bat, containing just the following line (don't forget the quotes):

"Myfile.docx - Shortcut"

4) then make a shortcut of this .bat file, and move it to the "Start Menu" directory.

5) then edit this shortcut as follows (don't omit quotes):

Target: "D:\My Documents\[...]\sysadmin\hstart64.exe" /NOCONSOLE "myfile.bat"

Start in: "D:\My Documents\[...]\sysadmin"

6) then rename this shortcut to sthg like edit myfile (or you could just rename it myfile - up to you).

you should then be able to launch this by going

<Start button>edit my...

No doubt there are other possibilities for entering the filename as, for example, a parameter passed to the .bat file. But for me this is all about opening half a dozen files which I'm constantly opening... with minimal keystrokes.

Answer 2

What I'd like is to be able to add a particular directory

1. Start "Control Panel" > Indexing Options"

   

2. Click "Modify"

   

3. Browse to the directory sysadmin and enable the check box.

   

4. Click "OK".

Notes:

• If you don't see all locations on your computer in the list, click "Show all locations". (If all locations are listed, "Show all locations" won't be available.)

• If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

• If you want to include a folder but not all of its subfolders, click the folder, and then clear the check box next to any subfolder that you don't want to index. These folders will appear in the "Exclude" column of the Summary of selected locations list.

Source: Click "How does indexing affect searches" on the first dialog.

Answer 3

One source is the PATH system variable.

I just create a folder containing all the shortcuts to my favourite tools and add this folder to system variable PATH. Then I can access those tools by inputing the shortcut names in Start Menu.