{"id":9506,"date":"2019-05-24T11:11:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T05:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=9506"},"modified":"2025-04-11T08:45:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T03:15:55","slug":"what-is-enhanced-search-in-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/what-is-enhanced-search-in-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Enhanced Search (Indexing Options) in Windows 10?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Windows 10 1903 (codenamed “19H1”) introduces a new search option named Enhanced<\/strong> under the Find My Files<\/strong> section on the Settings page. Many users may be wondering what the “Enhanced” setting is all about and the difference between Classic and Enhanced search modes.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

What is “Enhanced” Search in Windows 10?<\/h2>\n

Windows 10 by default indexes the user profile folders and the Start menu folder with the exception of AppData<\/code> and sub-folders.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

The Indexing Options applet in the Control Panel also allows you to add more folder locations Search indexing.<\/p>\n

This has been the way the Windows Search worked in Windows Vista through Windows 10.<\/p>\n

Whereas the Enhanced<\/strong> search option introduced in Windows 10 version 1903 indexes your computer’s entire contents, all hard drives, and partitions by default.<\/p>\n

To enable Enhanced search, open Settings<\/strong> \u2192 Search<\/strong> \u2192 Search<\/strong> \u2192 Searching Windows \u2192 Find My Files \u2192 Enhanced<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is how Microsoft describes the setting:<\/p>\n

Search your entire PC, including your libraries and desktop. Customize excluded search locations below. Choosing this option may reduce your battery life and increase CPU consumption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After you change the setting to Enhanced, the search indexer begins indexing the additional files. The indexing status is updated on the Settings page.<\/p>\n

Your AppData<\/code>, Program Files<\/code>, Program Files (x86)<\/code>, ProgramData<\/code>, Windows<\/code> and other temporary folders are excluded by default.<\/p>\n

You can add more locations to the exclusions list via Settings<\/strong> \u2192 Search<\/strong> \u2192 Search<\/strong> \u2192 Searching Windows.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

Classic vs. Enhanced search<\/h3>\n

Essentially, when doing a file or folder search, Windows Search finds all your matching items regardless of the Classic<\/strong> or Enhanced<\/strong> setting. But, searches are slow when querying for items in non-indexed locations. Since the Enhanced<\/strong> option adds the entire contents in the PC to the search index, the search results appear much faster, and searching by file metadata ought to fetch results quickly.<\/p>\n

That’s the key difference between Classic and Enhanced search modes.<\/p>\n

So, Classic vs. Enhanced is like the Opt-in vs. Opt-out model.<\/p>\n