Excluding files from Windows search can be useful for two important reasons: for privacy reasons, so that other computer users cannot find them by chance or even wanting, and for PC performance reasons, to make the indexing process less heavy of Windows files.
These reasons are even stronger in Windows 10 where searching for files and folders is much easier to do than previous versions.
There are in fact a bar with a search button on the taskbar, Cortana the voice assistant and then also the possibility to search from the Start menu, simply by typing on the keyboard.
By default, Windows Search includes user profile files and folders, that is, those included in C: \ Users \ [username] which are, among others, Desktop, documents, images and downloads.
If you have private files saved in these folders and also to make searches faster, it is worth taking 3 minutes and excluding some secret folders and private files from Windows search, removing them from indexing .
READ ALSO: Hide files and folders in Windows
To deindex a folder so that it does not appear in the search results in Windows Explorer or in the Cortana box or in the Search box of the taskbar, the indexing options must be opened, those already seen in the guide to optimize the search in Windows 10
These options can be found from the Control Panel or by opening the Start menu and typing the word " indexing ".
Indexing options are a list of locations that Windows uses to find files depending on what we write in the available search fields.
To exclude some special folder that contains private files from the search, click on Edit .
To locate the folder to be de-indexed and hide from the search, you have to press the arrow next to the local disk (C :) or next to another disk drive.
From the folder tree of the main disk, you can press the arrow next to Users to locate any indexed folder to which you can remove the check to configure it as excluded from the search.
In this configuration it is not possible to hide and exclude a single file, but you have to select the folder that contains it.
So if you want to hide specific files, they can be included in the same de-indexed folder.
Then press OK to confirm the index change.
Specific types of files can also be excluded from the search, for example all JPG images or DOCX documents.
To do this, go to Advanced (you must be an administrator) from the main Indexing Options window and then in the file types tab exclude the file extensions that you do not want to be included in the searches.
At this point you can immediately rebuild the index, if you want the changes made to be immediate.
This operation, which lasts a while, can be done by pressing the Advanced button (and you must have an administrator account), by pressing the New index button.
From now on, each search is limited to the selected folder paths, with the exclusion of the de-indexed ones.
READ ALSO: Save file searches in Windows as folders
These reasons are even stronger in Windows 10 where searching for files and folders is much easier to do than previous versions.
There are in fact a bar with a search button on the taskbar, Cortana the voice assistant and then also the possibility to search from the Start menu, simply by typing on the keyboard.
By default, Windows Search includes user profile files and folders, that is, those included in C: \ Users \ [username] which are, among others, Desktop, documents, images and downloads.
If you have private files saved in these folders and also to make searches faster, it is worth taking 3 minutes and excluding some secret folders and private files from Windows search, removing them from indexing .
READ ALSO: Hide files and folders in Windows
To deindex a folder so that it does not appear in the search results in Windows Explorer or in the Cortana box or in the Search box of the taskbar, the indexing options must be opened, those already seen in the guide to optimize the search in Windows 10
These options can be found from the Control Panel or by opening the Start menu and typing the word " indexing ".
Indexing options are a list of locations that Windows uses to find files depending on what we write in the available search fields.
To exclude some special folder that contains private files from the search, click on Edit .
To locate the folder to be de-indexed and hide from the search, you have to press the arrow next to the local disk (C :) or next to another disk drive.
From the folder tree of the main disk, you can press the arrow next to Users to locate any indexed folder to which you can remove the check to configure it as excluded from the search.
In this configuration it is not possible to hide and exclude a single file, but you have to select the folder that contains it.
So if you want to hide specific files, they can be included in the same de-indexed folder.
Then press OK to confirm the index change.
Specific types of files can also be excluded from the search, for example all JPG images or DOCX documents.
To do this, go to Advanced (you must be an administrator) from the main Indexing Options window and then in the file types tab exclude the file extensions that you do not want to be included in the searches.
At this point you can immediately rebuild the index, if you want the changes made to be immediate.
This operation, which lasts a while, can be done by pressing the Advanced button (and you must have an administrator account), by pressing the New index button.
From now on, each search is limited to the selected folder paths, with the exclusion of the de-indexed ones.
READ ALSO: Save file searches in Windows as folders
