How do I view the full path in search results?

I really hate the way Search Results works in Windows 7.

You get something like this:

Enter image description here

...and, wanting to see the full path (why doesn't it show you that automatically, either by making that column wide enough by default or by showing a tooltip of the path when you hover?), I click where I estimate the invisible vertical line is (which worked in previous versions of Windows - why did they fix something that wasn't broken?!?), and that causes the file to open (opening a new instance of Visual Studio, which I definitely did not want). Change for change's sake is a "female dog" (no offense, Lassie)!

Even if you right-click the item and select Properties → tab General → Location only shows a truncated version of a long file path.

What were they thinking?!?

</rant over>

So how can I view the full path in these search results?

B. Clay Shannon

Posted 2013-07-05T18:25:49.597

Reputation: 592

1I agree you, I dont know why MS ignored that essential thing. – T.Todua – 2017-08-05T19:19:28.837

Answers

The sort of view you're using just seems like a waste of space to me. Why not switch to Details view instead? That's what I use and I just add a path column when required.

To add a path column:

Right click the column header, select More...
Scroll down and check path.

Karan

Posted 2013-07-05T18:25:49.597

Reputation: 51 857

This "Folder" the way it works, it should not even exist! How drunk someone would be to have an idea so dumb like this one? And BTW, what is the difference between "Folder Path" and "Folder"? – sergiol – 2016-02-17T19:01:29.413

A pity this doesn't allow you to quickly click the main explorer directory field and copy the path you're interested in. – user74094 – 2020-01-17T09:49:05.280

14Oh, yeah, that's another thing - why isn't Details view the default? I always want windows full-size, I always want the folders in details view by defalt, and ... enough for now. – B. Clay Shannon – 2013-07-05T20:17:56.027

Yes, I was fooled by the goofy presentation; once I changed to Design view, it works fine. – B. Clay Shannon – 2013-07-05T20:32:36.247

1Another thing I hate - how Word doesn't have an easy/obvious "Select All" context menu option any more - that's the thing I use the most. At home, it's not a problem, because I use Open Office, but at work I only have Word, so...frustrating! – B. Clay Shannon – 2013-07-05T23:27:39.343

1Is that a big problem? Why not just use Ctrl+A? – Karan – 2013-07-05T23:29:24.813

Now that I've been reminded Ctrl+A is the shortcut, it's not a problem, but since I always right-click and select Select All...and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Taking the menu items away that have been there since the days of the Sabre-tooth Tiger doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. – B. Clay Shannon – 2013-07-05T23:58:12.600

There are ways to make Select All easier to access in Word, and even to add it back to the context menu. The comments section is inadequate for this, so if you post a new question I can give you the answer there. – Karan – 2013-07-06T02:52:29.230

Yes, I marked your answer as the answer; I've just grown used to using context menus rather than shortcut keys. – B. Clay Shannon – 2013-07-10T05:01:08.657

1I wasn't talking about this answer! I was saying that if you want to access Select All in Word in the old way you were used to (i.e. via the context menu), I can help you fix what Microsoft broke. The answer won't fit in a comment though, so you'll have to post a new question for it. I hope that's clear enough. – Karan – 2013-07-11T01:11:04.090

I finally figured out that there are "Folder", "Folder path" and "Path" fields available.

Right-mouse-click over the "Folder" column heading to change columns that are displayed in the results and click "More..." at the menu bottom.

Scroll through available fields and check "Path" to activate it. Then uncheck the original "Folder" column.

DO NOT check the "Folder Path" column, because it will tell you the Path of the containing folder, in a similar way to the "Folder" column!

HateWindowsMetro

Posted 2013-07-05T18:25:49.597

Reputation: 151

2How can one make this default? I read it once when it first came out in a previous version of Windows (7? Vista? 8?), but now that I'm on Windows 10 and need to set it as default again, I can't remember how, nor find it on the web. – Travis Bemrose – 2015-08-24T02:28:22.587

2This "Folder" the way it works, it should not even exist! How drunk someone would be to have an idea so dumb like this one? And BTW, what is the difference between "Folder Path" and "Folder"? – sergiol – 2016-02-17T19:00:00.540

Such nice options they made available and such dumb defaults. – killjoy – 2019-04-24T19:08:52.653

If it is just a single file, you can right click the file and open path location. Then, in the new location, click the explorer bar once and it will show the full path. However, that may become tedious if there are several files you want to check from the search results.

EDIT: Also, whenever I hover over the shortened path, it does display a tool tip of the full location. It only worked for me whenever my cursor was over the actual path text, ie C:\...\foo\...\bar. It did not work when I just hovered over the file in general.

Josh

Posted 2013-07-05T18:25:49.597

Reputation: 242

I get no tooltip when hovering over the path, but switching to the Details view works. – B. Clay Shannon – 2013-07-05T20:33:02.310

You can pull out the complete folder path for the entire list in "search results" by dragging the column for folder path to the right. Drag the heading "Folder path".

Roy Wiklander

Posted 2013-07-05T18:25:49.597

Reputation: 11