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Natural Language Search in Windows Vista

I just stumbled upon something in Windows Vista that totally made my day (considering I'm writing this at 6:00am on a flight down to San Jose, at least I suspect it will make my day... until my head hits the pillow again!)

A few years ago, I was hooked on a Microsoft-internal desktop search tool called FindMyStuff.  It was a research project that ended up spawning the first version of MSN Desktop Search... which eventually became Windows Desktop Search.  The beauty of this application, and what (for some reason) was removed when it was productized, was the ability to use natural language to search for anything on your machine.  It was crazy cool.

And I thought it disappeared.  But it turns out Windows Vista has something similar.  I don't know why I didn't know about this until three minutes ago when I found it in Search Options.  I was messing around with some of the settings when I found an (unchecked!) checkbox for "Use natural language search" in Folder and Search Options:

After selecting this, my desktop searches became much easier to construct.  I no longer have to remember the syntax for constructing advanced searches - and it works with all aspects of the search interface, even from the Start Menu itself (which is where I normally kickoff a search from).

Compare the difference when I search for "pictures taken last week" from the Start menu.  Without natural language search turned on:

With natural language search turned on:

The same kind of thing happens with queries about email or other files.  Examples:

  • Email to Jay Fluegel about Sony Vaio
  • Email from Bill Gates sent yesterday
  • Music by Eminem rated *****

When I get back to Seattle tonight after this day-trip to the Valley, I'm going to dig around and see if I can find a complete reference for using natural language search.  The Help files, at least while not connected to the web, aren't exhaustive.  I just want to see what's possible here.  While not quite as cool as the FindMyStuff project, this is a much easier way to find stuff on your desktop than using boolean filters and file properties like "kind: document author: (Charlie OR Herb)".  Ugh.

And of course, once the search has been performed, you can save it as a Search Folder for future reference:

...and even add Searches to your Favorite Links in Explorer for easy reference:

The option for using natural language search should definitely be turned on by default; I don't know why it isn't.  Even still, Windows Vista makes me smile almost everyday now.  24 days and counting down to launch!

1/5/2007 9:18 AM | Add a comment | Read comments (83) | Send a message | View trackbacks (1)
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