12
5
When I type stuff in the Windows 7 search box in Explorer, it keeps updating and searching as I type which is annoying, frustrating, and pointless. Is there a way to get Windows to knock it off and let me finish constructing my query and press Enter before it starts searching?
Synetech
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 63 242
2
I'm pretty sure this is a feature and cannot be turned off. Turning it off would essentially relegate the functionality back to XP.
surfasb
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 21 453
2“Turning it off would essentially relegate the functionality back to XP.” …and make it usable again. – Synetech – 2011-04-11T19:27:22.157
1
Try turning off "find partial matches"
Choose Start > Documents. In the upper-left area, click the down-arrow next to Organize. Choose Folder and Search Options. Select the Search tab.
Fergus
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 1 541
1Nope; it still searches as I type (which makes it really hard to type). – Synetech – 2011-03-06T03:56:51.470
1
I do not have a solution for the Explorer functionality, but my workaround is to pop open Notepad and type whatever I want to search for, then copy it and paste that into Explorer. (I do this for Google searches as well now that Google behaves like Windows 7 thanks to its Instant Search function.)
My Notepad solution involves a keyboard hotkey, so you can put a shortcut to Notepad on your desktop or somethwere, right-click it, select Properties, and type a shortcut key in the appropriate field. (I use T.)
My sentiments are that keyboard > mouse, so my process ends up being:
It seems lengthy but is actually quite quick.
F108
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 11
2Interesting work-around. I use a similar approach to get around programs that retain formatting of copied text. Whenever I copy something (e.g., from a web-page) and want to paste just the text without HTML tags, I paste it into the Run dialog and copy it back to the clipboard. I use the Run dialog because it is not a separate program, so it is extremely fast to run and already has a hotkey to initiate it (Win+R). As for Google, you can disable Instant Search (which like many I think is horrible), by using the Search Preferences option. – Synetech – 2012-05-18T19:28:27.603
1
Annoying as hell, I agree, but easy to get around. Before you type anything else, type a row of X's. It'll start to throw up X-box, etc, but when you get to about five X's it'll shut its mouth in bafflement and you can type in your search in peace, like so: 'xxxxxxxwhy does google copy every damn thing I type in without letting me finish?'. You can even make typos without a single red wavy line appearing. Peace at last. Just highlight and delete the X's before hitting 'enter'. Soooo much better for your blood pressure, I find :)
Jeree P
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 11
-1
As a work around, search in uppercase. This seems to work for me.
Berni
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 11
1Really? That’s odd because I just tried it and it doesn’t work. Maybe you typed too fast; Windows delays a moment before it starts, but if you type too slow, it will start searching even if you don’t press Enter (which is the behavior I am trying to enforce). – Synetech – 2013-07-12T01:55:54.603
-1
In Windows Explorer, go to Organize → "Folder and search options". Go to the View tab, scroll down, and under "When typing into list view" select "Select the typed item in the view".
just me
Posted 2011-03-06T00:55:37.787
Reputation: 9
this doesn't answer the question – bfhd – 2015-06-26T04:30:00.430
It's off-topic, but thanks anyway, because you answered my burning question: How to prevent Explorer from jumping into the search field instead of selecting the typed item as it used to do. :-) – msp – 2015-08-04T07:46:16.297
Look away while typing? – mtone – 2011-04-18T21:17:49.847
@mtone, what‽ How does that stop the stupid thing from slowing my system to a crawl as it tries to search my drives before I’m even finished typing the query? Duh. – Synetech – 2011-04-22T21:27:53.323
@Synetech inc. Sorry, on a fast system with the most searches done in indexed locations, it is hardly noticable and typing is not delayed. Which I believe is the intent of this feature - that is quickly fetching results in the background. I can understand in some situations (older PCs or laptops, limited RAM, non-indexed folders) it may be annoying. – mtone – 2011-04-28T22:29:02.730
Yeah, well unless Microsoft intends to buy everybody new systems and force them to use them their way, then they should provide a way to turn this stupid thing off. Regardless of how fast it may work, it is a design flaw to start doing something before the user is even finished entering the data. This is NOT Google Instant (and even then, how many people actually use that?—I for one don’t want Google grabbing everything I type whether or not I submit it; that’s called a keylogger!) – Synetech – 2011-04-29T06:30:58.147
1@Synetech inc. - Just wanted to document this. You're the only person I've ever seen use an interrobang as one character, as it should be. I don't even remember the alt code to make it. – Joseph Hansen – 2011-05-24T20:17:50.130
1@josmh, I don’t thing there is an ALT code because it is one of the really high ones (8253), which as far as my testing has determined, cannot be entered with Alt. Whenever I need one, I just Google ‘interrobang’ and copy the character.
;-)(I tried adding it to my hotkey/macro program that I use to insert other accented characters, true-quotes, fractions¼, etc. but it doesn’t support true Unicode so I couldn’t.) – Synetech – 2011-05-24T20:31:58.623I also wish there was a way to do this. I'd much rather have the search wait until I hit enter, even on a very fast system. – rocketmonkeys – 2014-03-03T19:20:53.447
Google implemented this feature (“Google Instant”) and it was universally loathed by everyone, so they added the ability to disable it (…eventually, after people started coming up with their own methods to prevent it). I can’t fathom what made Microsoft think that it was a good idea to force it on users with no way to turn it off. ಠ_ಠ – Synetech – 2014-03-04T01:40:34.670
Here's what I do to not use Windows Search. It's a small hack that I use to still be able to use the Windows search bar but when I press
Enter, a third party search program called Locate is sent those search terms. Locate is much faster than Windows Search so this works well for me. However, it does not eliminate the problem of Windows looking up files while you type – Vinayak – 2014-06-09T12:27:41.800