How to tag applications

Question

There is much advice on how to tag files in Windows 7, 8 and 10. For example, this Google search has loads https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=how+to+tag+files+windows+search

Also, tagging files is covered here: How to add tags to files in Windows 7 so that they appear in search results

Tagging means if I were to tag an image or pdf with "My Tag", I could search my computer for "My Tag" and the file will show.

How can I do this with applications (so it's a different question to the above link)? For example, I use Visual Studio Code but I call it vs code and as such, I'd like to search for vs code and it to be found. Following the same approach as the link above doesn't work as there is no "tag" field in the properties of the .exe.

Answer 1

Windows doesn't have an option to let you "tag" applications for searching. However, here's a workaround that you can use:

Go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, Find the shortcut to the program that you want, make a duplicate, and rename it to whatever you would like to search it by.

Edit: Use C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs If you want the shortcut to only work for a particular user.

Answer 2

One option is, assuming when you find the ".exe" in Windows Search it's actually a shortcut is to rename the shortcut.

This isn't ideal because it means you can no longer search for the original name.

Another option is to create a batch file with the desired name which simply executes the application.

This is additional work though and if the application location were to change or file name change then this batch file also has to be updated.