Hello My Fellow Windows 7 Wanderers,
Make searching for documents, on your Windows 7 computer, a little easier by turning on the Natural Language Search Feature.Â
What is Natural Language Search?Â
Simply stated, the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Natural Language Search feature enables you to conduct searches on your computer using a more naturally sounding sentence structure. That is, “Natural Language” means that instead of using cryptic commands, you can write natural sentences and Windows 7 will attempt to interpret them in order to locate files.
Don’t panic, these searches do not need to be grammatically correct but only need to include relevant information essential to the search.
For example, a Natural Language Search string may look like, “all files before 12/1/2008″, which will search for and display all file types created or modified before 12/1/2008.Â
It is important to note that Natural Language Search includes any data created with any Natural Language compatible application such as Office 2007. So, if you want to quickly locate emails received from your good old buddy, Mark, (which you have already viewed at least once in) Outlook 2007, rather than launching Outlook, from the Windows 7 Start Menu Search Field, you would enter, “emails from Mark Taylor”.
NOTE 1:
At the time of this post, the Windows 7 Natural Language Search Feature is, by default, disabled.Â
NOTE 2:
Enabling the Natural Language Feature may significantly increase the time between when you enter the search criteria to when the search results are displayed.
To enable the Windows 7 Natural Language Search Feature, do the following:
1.
Open the Windows 7 Start Menu.
2.
In the Search Field, begin entering “folder optionsâ€. As you type, the Folder Options List Item will appear.Â
3.
Select Folder Options. The Folder Options Dialog Box will appear.
4.
Select the Search Tab.
5.
Place a Checkmark next to the Use Natural Language Search item.
6.
Click the “OK†button to save your changes.
Go ahead and give it a try!
Enjoy,
Mark
