By default, Windows uses classic indexing to index search results and return the search results. The classic indexing option will index content found in the user profile folders, including Documents, Pictures, Music and the Desktop.
Users can add additional locations using the Classic indexing option to include additional content.
The comprehensive indexing option indexes the entire contents of your computer, all hard drives and partitions, including your libraries and desktop by default. If you choose the extended indexing options, it could extend the life of your laptop battery shorten and increase CPU consumption. Therefore, the laptop or PC must be connected to the power socket for the first indexing.
After you change the setting to Advanced, the indexing process will start indexing the additional files. The indexing status is automatically updated on the Settings page.
Enable or customize enhanced indexing in Windows 11
To adjust the default indexing, right-click on the start button. Click on Settings in the menu. Click Privacy & Security on the left and then click Search Windows.
Change the indexing from “Classic” to “Extended” to enable extended indexing.
At the very top you will see the status “Indexed” and “pending”. If you want to save battery power, you can enable the option “Respect power settings when indexing”.
At the bottom you will find an option to exclude certain folders from indexing. By default there are already a number of folders here, by clicking on the “Add an excluded folder” button you can add additional folders that should not be indexed.
If you experience problems with the indexer in Windows 11, you can perform the “Troubleshooting for indexer”.
You can then identify and solve the following problems with the indexing function.
- Cannot start or display a search.
- Files, folders, apps, or settings won't appear in the results.
- Searching Outlook returns no results.
- Searching or indexing works slowly.
- I have a problem that is not listed above.
Lees meer:
- 8 tips to make Windows 11 faster.
- Clean Windows 11 registry? This is how!
- Install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC.
- Change PIN code or password in Windows 11.
- 14 tips for Windows Explorer in Windows 11.
- Customize taskbar in Windows 11.
I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!
Hello. I'm having a problem opening a folder in Documents. Sometimes it works without a problem, but when I want to open a second one it gets stuck and the search bar fills in green and doesn't go any further or goes very slowly. I have to restart my laptop every time. Indexing also does not work when you indicate 'The search or indexing' works slowly. I'm a bit at my wits end. This is actually a fairly new laptop with Windows 2 on it. I hope you can help me further with this, otherwise I will have to go back to where I bought the laptop. Yours sincerely,
Hello, I don't have an immediate solution for this. This could have many causes, which I cannot judge. If it gets too complicated, I would backup important files and reinstall Windows 11:
https://www.pc-tips.info/tips/windows-tips/windows-11-resetten/
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