How do I search inside Microsoft Word files?
QI have a large number of Word documents in a folder and need to find a single word or phrase that might be in one or more of those files. Is this possible? If so, how? And would it also work with files that were created by Libreoffice Writer? Ian Machen
AWindows search is a mix of the magnificent and the mysterious, with an occasional side order of frustrating. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t – and it’s not always clear why. Moreover, Microsoft often seems to mess around with the basic configuration so you end up seeing stuff that seems to have little relevance to your search.
We can’t fix Windows search, but we can answer your question in the broad sense, and then tell you what to do if things don’t work for you.
So first, yes, Windows can search inside Word documents (and many other file types), either for a single word or a phrase. However, the success of your searches depends both on the syntax you use, and how Windows search has been configured.
So, first, press Windows key+e to open File Explorer, then navigate to the folder you want to search. To search for a single word, simply type it into the box at the top right. To find a specific phrase, enclose it in double quotes and preceded by content:. So, to search for ‘quick brown fox’ you’d type content:“quick brown fox” (see screenshot) before pressing Enter.
That’s the basic syntax. You can use the dropdown menus in the ribbon above the search window to further narrow the results. You should also explore what file types Windows is indexing, and how – especially as you want to search Libreoffice Writer’s own ODT format in addition to DOC/DOCX files produced by Word.
To do this, in the ribbon, open the ‘Advanced options’ dropdown menu then choose ‘Change indexed locations’.
You can use the Modify button in the Indexing Options window that opens to configure which drives/folders are indexed. But to change which specific file types are indexed and how, first click the Advanced button. Next, select the File Types tab, scroll through the list to tick the relevant file types (ODT in your case) and, under ‘How should this file be indexed’, click to select ‘Index Properties and File Contents’. Now simply click OK, followed by Close.