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I have several large folders on internal hard drives that aren't my C:\ drive that I regularly have to search. On Windows 7, I could simply press start, type the file name I wanted, and so long as the folder was indexed in Windows the file came up and I could just press enter to open it.
In Windows 10, this doesn't work. Though those folders are all indexed (and I have troubleshot search issues, rebuilt the index, and moved the folders around several times), the Start menu never sees the files right away. I have to do several more clicks and search for "my stuff" to find things that might be what I'm looking for. That, or open the folder and manually find what I'm looking for. Both are much, much slower than the process of press start > type name > press enter to open the file.
I've determined through trial and error that the Start menu search bar only looks for files/folders inside C:\Users\[my username]. So I can find C:\Users\[me]\Pictures, for instance, or C:\Users\[me]\gazorpazorp.jpg, but never ever D:\MyImportantFolder\gazorpazorp.jpg, no matter whether D:\MyImportantFolder is indexed or not. I've tried using symlinks to make it look like MyImportantFolder is inside C:\Users\[me], but that doesn't work.
I really want to be able to continue the efficient search behavior I had before. It's very irritating to have require several clicks and looking about in folders to do something that used to be almost instantaneous.
Does anyone know of a way to get this behavior back - either by installing an alternate search with good integration, or by forcing the Start menu to search other directories?
An update for those who might come across this question: Windows 10 Anniversary Update has fixed this issue partially. Search from the start menu now finds everything indexed by Windows Search. However, those items are hidden in one or more of the many "search categories" that come up while searching the way I describe. It's still inconvenient - but less so.
ivraatiems
Posted 2016-07-27T03:08:55.343
Reputation: 21