Say y'all're searching for a file, and you know it was last modified during a certain period of time. You lot tin can limit your searches to date ranges in Windows, merely it'due south not immediately obvious.

Searching a specific engagement range in Windows viii and 10 is harder than it needs to be. Back in the days of Windows XP, File Explorer presented a calendar selector front and center. Even in Windows Vista and Windows 7, that selector wasn't hard to get to. In Windows 10, you have to leap through a hoop or two first.

How to Search a Date Range with the Keyboard

Get-go of all, if you like using the keyboard, you can hands select a appointment range past typing it in the search box in any folder, just like in previous versions of Windows. Just use the following syntax:

modified:2/i/2016 .. 2/20/2016

The central is the two periods between the dates, which tells the search engine to use it equally a range. You could likewise use "Datecreated:" or but "engagement:" instead of "modified:" if you wanted to.

RELATED: Employ Advanced Query Syntax to Find Everything

And if you're a real keyboard junkie, know that Windows uses the Avant-garde Query Syntax for search commands. This means you can search using Boolean operators, file properties, kinds of files, and a lot more. In fact, when you select options using the File Explorer UI, Windows is actually but inputting those text searches for you.

How to Select a Date Range with the Mouse

Speaking of the File Explorer UI, it is nonetheless possible to search for a range of dates using but your mouse. This is where those hoops come in. In the File Explorer ribbon, switch to the Search tab and click the Appointment Modified push. Y'all'll meet a list of predefined options similar Today, Last Week, Last Month, and so on. Option any of them. The text search box changes to reverberate your choice and Windows performs the search.

To choose a more specific engagement range follow those steps, then click anywhere on the text in that box after the colon (and so, for case, on "this week") and a calendar will pop up. Click any appointment to search for files modified on that day.

To search a range of dates, you accept a few options:

  • Click a date and drag your mouse to select the range. This is the easiest option if your range falls within a month.
  • Click one date and and so Shift-click another date. This makes it easier to select a range that spans multiple months.
  • Click the name of the calendar month at the top of the calendar to select the whole month. When yous do that, the calendar zooms out to show yous the whole year. Yous can select the whole year as a range and the view will go along zooming out until you can select an entire decade.

Don't forget, one time y'all've selected your date range, you lot can also add together other parameters like file name or file type to your search. And if you think information technology's a search y'all're likely to perform once again, go ahead and salve it by clicking the Save Search push. Adjacent time, your search will be just one click abroad.

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