Description: When you have a lot of files and folders on your computer, searching for a file, application, or software takes a long time. The built-in indexing feature of Windows enhances the search functionality and allows you to find specific files and applications quickly and easily.

Windows users have eagerly awaited the Windows 11 update. Although similar to Windows 10, it has some differences as well. One of the features is Search Indexing, and Search on Windows 11 has not changed significantly compared to Windows 10. That means users can run into similar search index-related issues like Windows 10 users. For example, you may get the wrong file result while you search.

In this article, we will guide you in detail on how you can manage indexing in Windows 11. You will learn about how you can enable or disable Search Indexing, change indexing options in Windows 11, disable file Content Indexing for a particular and rebuild Search Index to fix issues in Windows 11. Therefore, you should read this tutorial thoroughly.

How To Configure Search Indexing In Windows 11?

The Search Indexing feature is enabled by default, and the Search Indexer regularly indexes new and changed files. The search indexing records all the actions of adding, modifying, and removing files; scans all indexed folders by windows and updates the index accordingly. This index returns files according to their names, contents, and other parameters.

However, you can specify if it searches only a particular file or searches the whole computer. It can be customized to meet your needs. Follow the given steps to configure search indexing in your Windows 11.

1. Open the Settings app from the Start Menu or by pressing Windows + I.
2. Click on Privacy & Security from the left sidebar, then from the right side, scroll down and click on Searching Windows under the Windows Permissions section.
3. Then click on Find my files. Choose Enhanced if you want to search your entire computer, or choose Classic if you need to search only pictures, music, documents, and desktop folders.
   

   Windows 11 indexing option

4. Otherwise, you can customize the location by clicking Customize Search Locations.

How Do I Manage Indexing Options And Settings In Windows 11?

Following are the options and settings available that you can use to manage indexing in Windows 11.

1. Enable or disable search indexing in Windows 11
2. Change indexing options in Windows 11
3. Disable indexing for a drive in Windows 11
4. Rebuild Search Index in Windows 11
5. Completely disable Windows Search Indexing in Windows 11

Below, we will discuss these in more detail.

1.   Enable or disable search indexing in Windows 11

The search indexing is enabled on the computers by default, but if it is not, you can disable or enable it from services or the command prompt by following these steps.

●     Enable Or Disable Search Indexing From Services

• Press Windows + R to open the Run dialogue box.
• Type msc and press OK.
• A services window will open. Find Windows Search, and double click on it to open its properties.
• Now, you can either press Start (enable) or Stop (disable) this service according to your requirements.

●     Enable Or Disable Search Indexing From The Command Prompt

Launch Command Prompt as an administrator and execute the following commands in the command prompt window:

• To start search indexing in Windows 11: sc stop “wsearch” && sc config “wsearch” start=disabled
• To disable search indexing: sc config “wsearch” start=delayed-auto && sc start “wsearch”

2.   Change Indexing Options in Windows 11

If you want to add or remove files or folders from Search Indexing, you can change file content indexing in Windows 11 by following these steps.

• Search the Indexing Options by clicking on the Search button on the Taskbar.
• Select Indexing Options from the search results.
• Now click on the Modify
• Then in the Indexed Location window, you can check or uncheck drives or folders according to your requirements. If any folders or drivers do not appear, you can click on the Show all locations You can view drive folders by expanding the drives listing. If you add more locations, it may result in longer indexing runs, but if you add fewer locations, it will speed your search indexing.
• Once done, click the OK

3.   Disable Content Indexing For A Drive In Windows 11

When searching, Windows uses the index to provide the fastest possible results. The search index contains only the locations you have selected. You can filter these locations according to file type extensions, file properties, and file contents that you want to index. If you would like to exclude a drive from content indexing, you can follow the given steps.

• Open File Explorer.
• Then right-click on the drive for which you want to disable the file content indexing and select properties.
• In the General tab, uncheck the option Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties.

• 

  windows 11 disk index

• Press Apply and then OK.

4.   Rebuild Search Index in Windows 11

If Search Indexing is not responding well or you want to rebuild it, you can follow the given steps.

• Search the Indexing Options by clicking on the Search button on the Taskbar.
• Select an Indexing Option from the search results.
• Now click on the Advanced
• Then in the Advanced Options window, click on the Rebuild Click OK on the Rebuild Index to confirm your action.
  

  windows advance index option

  Now, wait for a few minutes, and Windows 11 will rebuild the Search Indexing.

5.   Disable Windows Search Indexing in Windows 11

Users can do File Content Search with AnyTXT Searcher instead of search indexing, and therefore they can disable search indexing entirely in Windows 11.

• Press Windows + R to open the Run dialogue box.
• Type msc and press OK.
• A services window will open. Find Windows Search, and double click on it to open its properties.
• Now, you can disable search indexing entirely by selecting Stop.

Finally, Windows 11 will not use file content indexing to search, but you can do File Content Search with Anytxt.

Conclusion

To conclude, one can say that the search indexing in Windows 11 is similar to Windows 10. They just moved it from Windows 10 to Windows 11. However, you can follow the above-discussed steps according to your requirements if you encounter any issues or generally want to manage indexing options and services in Windows 11.