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Microsoft has included an Enhanced Search Mode in Windows 10 v1903. Compared to the Classic Mode, Enhanced search mode indexes everything on your Windows 10 PC. In this post, we will share how you can enable Enhanced Search mode in Windows 10, and also try to understand how it is different from the Classic search.
Windows 10 Start Search has changed. Press the Start button, and when you type, the results appear categorized into Apps, Documents, Email, Web, Folders, Music, People, Photos, Settings, Videos, and more. It is the primary reason why Enhanced mode came into the picture. Unless everything is indexed, this would not have been useful.
What is Classic Windows Search
Windows 10 calls the old search technique as a classic search in this version. The Classic search mode is restricted to Libraries and Desktop. The end users can choose to customize search location by manually adding them to the indexer. In simple words, it would index files and folders which user wanted to get indexed. If the search term were not in the index, it would initiate the regular search which takes longer time.
What is Enhanced Windows Search
Enhanced Search indexes everything. It is its default nature, precisely the opposite of the Classic search. Users can exclude folders where the Search will not look, and index anything which could be personal to the user.
It also means that it can impact life on the battery for laptops. The initial crawl of your data will only take place when connected to power. During that period, both the CPU usage and battery will take a bit of a hit.
Enable Enhanced Search Mode in Windows 10
Now that the concept is clear; here is how you can enable Enhanced Mode in Windows 10 Search :
- Go to Settings > Search > Searching Windows
- Choose the radio button for Enhanced.
- Next, choose folders which Windows Indexer should exclude from the Enhanced Seach mode.
That's it! The next time you search, Windows is looking at all the places, and since they are in the index, the results will be faster.
Apart from these, there are two more settings which you should look at.
1] Advanced Search Indexer Settings
Advanced Search Indexing Options allow you to fine tune how or where Windows will search or which files types Windows will search. It will open the same setting available under Classic search.
2] Run the Indexing Troubleshooter
When you click on it, Windows will start the troubleshooter to fix any Search & indexing issue on Windows 10.
Overall, Enhanced Search mode makes more sense, especially with the availability of option to exclude folders. I can make sure my privacy is in place, and I can still find what is on my computer.
