Find files by contents (Windows 11)

Question

I'm trying to search through 15 years of bank statements (PDF) for a specific payment amount, $42.69. I used Windows explorer file search (bar in upper right corner of file explorer) in the folder containing the statement files, and searched content:42.69. The search returned no results.

I am not convinced that that amount does not exist, so I tested the search function with a known amount 202.93 taken from a file in the folder I was searching. When I view the file in my PDF reader and use the reader's such function, it finds the 202.93 text string.

In Windows explorer file search, when I searched content:202.93 in the same folder, I get no results.

In Windows explorer file search, when I searched content:202 in the same folder, it found three other statements but not the one I was expecting. The statements it found all did contain the string "202", but not finding the one I was looking for is clearly a problem; I can't trust a result that no file is found as being proof that the string does not exist in any files.

I've reviewed the indexing options for PDFs in Control Panel -> Indexing Options -> Advanced Options -> File Types. I ensured that they are set to the proper setting for PDFs: using "Reader Search Handler" and "Index Properties and File Contents".

That said, the files may not be getting indexed at all. I have them saved in my OneDrive folder so I have cloud access. When I go into Control Panel -> Indexing Options -> Modify, my OneDrive folder isn't listed and it's not showing up in its spot under the C: drive (C:\Users). From searches on that issue, it appears to be expected behavior so I guess Windows doesn't index the OneDrive folder for searching. That's not ideal, but using the content: tag should, I believe, force it to search contents and find the file I'm looking for. But again as described above that's not working for me.

Any suggestions on how to resolve? I am not married to a solution of Windows built-in search. I just need some way on my Windows 11 machine that will properly search through all files (including PDFs) in a folder and return all files with a text string, even if that string is a number with decimal point.

Thanks!

Answer 1

It took me ages to find the solution. It seems to be a problem with the Windows or the Adobe PDF plugin. Use regedit.exe to make sure that for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\PersistentHandler the (Default) value points to the Windows PDF Persistent Handler {1AA9BF05-9A97-48c1-BA28-D9DCE795E93C}.

Then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\PluginResourceData\{6C337B26-3E38-4F98-813B-FBA18BAB64F5} and make sure that PenaltyBox is set to 0.

If it is set to 3, PDF search is switched off. Go to "services.msc", switch off "Windows Search", set Penalty Box to 0, then restart the "Windows Search" service. Make sure that Penalty Box remains 0 (press F5 in regedit.exe).

It might help creating a new DWORD ShutoffThreshold under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\PluginResourceData and set it to hex ffffffff if the problem occurs again. This was not necessary on all computers.