Vista - Indexing won't index what I am asking it too.

I just reinstalled Vista 64. Prior, I had specific folders chosen for the
index. These folders are related to my work and I even chose specific
folders within Outlook 2003 instead of indexing the entire 1.3GB Outlook
file. As such, it showed about 47,000 files indexed and I could search mail
and contacts. Now I can't get it to find more than 5,000.

However, after reinstalling Vista 64 4 times in the last 24 hours because I
keep having the same problem with index, I have given up and I am assuming
that it is some kind of bug in the system. The same specific folders are
checked. I have reinstalled a new address file and made sure that all the
Contact folders are seen in the address file. I can search for the contacts
within the Address file search in Outlook just fine, but when I use Index, it
won't see any contacts at all.

It is indexing the folders in Documents with .doc's, .tif's, .xls', etc...
That is working fine. But sometimes after reseting the Index, I can get it
to see some, but not all relevant emails. So part of it is working. I just
can't get it to see Outlook properly.

Hi, chunnel.

Have you given it enough time to complete the indexing? Each time it is
installed, it has to start from scratch to build the index, and it works in
the background so that we can continue to do other work in the foregrounds.
Depending on the size and contents of your files, it may take a few days to
build the index. When it is finished, Indexing Options will show the number
of files indexed and say, "Indexing complete." Until then, it will say,
"Indexing speed reduced due to user activity", or similar language.

You say you've "reinstall[ed] Vista 64 4 times in the last 24 hours". That
means that the Indexing Service has had only 6 hours (average) to rebuild
the index each time. Perhaps if you had reinstalled it just once, then let
it run overnight, the index would be complete by now.

Also, if you use the Modify or Advanced buttons on Indexing Options, the
index may need to be rebuilt - and that means starting from scratch again.

My Indexing Options screen now shows 738,439 items indexed, and Indexing
complete. But I still can't find thinks in my 150 Publisher files because
there is no filter available for .pub files. :>( Other than that, Vista's
Search works pretty well for me. The forthcoming Vista SP1, which just went
RTM and will be available next month
(http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/wi...vista-sp1.aspx),
has some improvements in Indexing Options - including a Pause button. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"chunnel" <chunnel@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:97C0A9D0-FA14-401B-9FD8-DF2A74696208@xxxxxx

Yes, it says indexing complete. In fact up until yesterday, when it began
working, when I just selected Outlook or even more specifically Contacts, it
would show that the indexing was working and then after 2-3 minutes it would
say indexing complete and show zero in the number of files indexed. I did
run cleanfiles, cleanpst and scanpst and at first this appeared to have no
affect on the indexing but later it did begin working and I don't know if
they were related because sometimes problems seem to fix themselves
inexplicably with Vista. Such as after install of Vista and Office 2003 the
MailTo protocol would be Mail instead of Outlook and there was no way in
default programs to reasign the default program to Outlook because Outlook
2003 didn't show as an option to select. However and eventually over time it
would fix itself, or not. Sometimes, I would have to reinstall Vista and the
MailTo protocol would now be Outlook immediately after installing Office.
Confusing and inconsistent. The best way to fix bizarre problems with Vista
is often just to reinstall and hope everything works that is supposed to.

"R. C. White" wrote:

Hi, Chunnel.
I disagree. I haven't reinstalled Vista in over a year. There have been a
few problems, but nothing that came anywhere close to requiring
re-installation. And I'm glad because, as I said, every re-install requires
lots of re-tweaking, plus updating all Windows Updates, plus re-installing
applications, PLUS waiting while the Index rebuilds AGAIN... And many of
those activities require the Administrator credentials.

All in all, it's better to identify and SOLVE the Vista problem (whatever it
is) than to just re-install Vista and recreate the problem (whatever it is)
all over again. :^{

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"chunnel" <chunnel@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:641EB721-64FA-486F-B3D8-F201D058916E@xxxxxx