The Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) is used by Windows Search to help users and programmers better define and narrow their searches. Using AQS is an easy way to narrow searches and deliver better result sets. Searches can be narrowed by the following parameters:

• File kinds: folders, documents, presentations, pictures and so on
• Data stores: specific databases and locations
• Properties: size, date, title and so on
• Contents: text like "project deliverables" or "blue suede shoes"

Furthermore, search parameters can be combined using search operators. The remainder of this section explains the query syntax, the parameters and operators, and how they can be combined to offer targeted search results. The tables describe the syntax to use with Windows Search, as well as the properties that can be queried for each file kind displayed in the Windows Search results window.

• About AQS Syntax
• Scope: Locations and Data Stores
• Boolean Operators
• Boolean Properties
• Wildcards
• Characters
• Dates
• Common File Kinds
• Properties by File Kind
  • File Kind: Everything
  • Contacts
  • Communications
  • Calendar
  • Documents
  • Music
  • Picture
  • Recorded TV
  • Video

About AQS Syntax

A search query can include one or more keywords, with Boolean operators and optional criteria. These optional criteria can narrow a search based on the following:

• Scope or data store in which files reside
• Kinds of files
• Managed properties of files

A search query, including optional criteria described in greater detail following, has the following syntax:

[<search string>] [<scope>:<value>] [<file kind>:<value>] [<property name>:<value>] 	

Suppose a user wants to search for a document containing the phase "last quarter," created by Theresa or Lee, and that the user saved to the folder MyDocs. The query may look like this:

"last quarter" author:(theresa OR lee) folder:MyDocs

Scope: Locations and Data Stores

Users can limit the scope of their searches to specific folder locations or data stores. For example, if you use several e-mail accounts and you want to limit a query to either Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, you can use store:mapi or store:oe respectively.

If you have a protocol handler in place to crawl custom stores, like Lotus Notes, you can use the name of the store or protocol handler for the store. For example, if you implemented a protocol handler to include a Lotus Notes data store as "notes," the query syntax would be store:notes.

Boolean Operators

Search keywords and file properties can be combined to broaden or narrow a search with operators. The following table explains common operators used in a search query.

Boolean Properties

Some file types let users search for files using Boolean properties, as described in the following table.

Wildcards

You can use the familiar ? and * wildcard characters in queries.

Characters

In addition to using wildcard characters in queries, you can do character based searches in specific properties.

For example:

• subject:~~9032663700002 can be used to find a message with 209032663700002001 in the subject.
• System.search.Autosummary:~~9032663700002 can be used to find all occurances of Autosummary which contain this string.

Dates

In addition to searching on specific dates and date ranges using the operators described earlier, AQS allows relative date values (like today, tomorrow, or next week) and day (like Tuesday or Monday..Wednesday) and month (February) values.

Common File Kinds

Users can also limit their searches to specific types of files, called file kinds. The following table lists the file kinds and offers examples of the syntax used to search for these kinds of files.

Properties by File Kind

Users can search on specific properties of different file kinds. Some properties (like file size) are common to all files, while others are limited to a specific kind. Slide count, for example, is specific to documents. The following tables list these properties by file kind.

You can search for null values in properties using empty brackets (for exmaple, subject:[]) or for all non-null values in properties (for example, -subject:[]).

File Kind: Everything

These are properties common to all file kinds. To include all types of files in a query, the syntax is:

kind:everything <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Contacts

These are properties common to contacts. To limit the search to contacts only, the syntax is:

kind:contacts <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Communications

These are properties common to communications. To limit the search to communications only, the syntax is:

kind:communications <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Calendar

These are properties common to calendars. To limit the search to calendars only, the syntax is:

kind:calendar <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Documents

These are properties common to documents. To limit the search to documents only, the syntax is:

kind:documents <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Music

These are properties common to music files. To limit the search to music only, the syntax is:

kind:music <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Picture

These are properties common to pictures. To limit the search to pictures only, the syntax is:

kind:picture <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Recorded TV

These are properties common to recorded tv. To limit the search to recorded tv only, the syntax is:

kind:tv <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

Video

These are properties common to videos. To limit the search to videos only, the syntax is:

kind:video <property>:<value>

where <property> is a property listed below and <value> is the user-specified search term.

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, places, or events is intended or should be inferred.