Vista - Vista Indexing "complete" -- NOT! (any tips?)

Hi all, I have a Vista box with Windows Live Mail (which means I have
lots of little files, as each email is now saved in a discrete file).

When I first set up this PC, and let the indexer complete, it
indicated something like 90,000 files indexed.

I recently restored the PC and copied the Windows mail folder back
over, and told the indexer to "rebuild" -- but it keeps stopping at
about 5,000 files when I know I have lots more in the user folder (ie,
~90,000).

In other words, the indexer doesn't seem to want to index the files I
copied over from the backup -- any ideas on how I can "force" the
indexer to index everything again?

Thanks, -Scott

Turnstyle

You may need to reset the Indexing Options. Open Control Panel / Indexing
Options. Click the Modify Button and then click Show All Locations.
Checkmark the folders you want indexed.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"turnstyle" <turnstyle@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:01313ecf-7b1f-4ecd-bb8d-af8843192b8f@xxxxxx

On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:48:16 -0800 (PST), turnstyle <turnstyle@xxxxxx> wrote:
Indexing - search is a nasty little bug windows isn't talking about.

You shouldn't get it into your head that it has any use or that it will ever
find anything on your HD.

Indexed or not, it'll still take more time to locate something than you care to
wait. I've had it try to find something in 1 specific folder that I'd be
sitting there in explorer looking right at and the search couldn't find it.

Other Kool tricks with the search. It finds stuff that you deleted MONTHSago.
IOW: You'll spend more time adjusting, identify what to search, and rebuilding
than it's worth..

Just my $0.02 , get a 3rd party dual folder explorer like windows commander and
use it's built in search. It doesn't build indexes. it searches HIDDEN & System
folders. It doesn't shove non-existent folders and files at you in the results.
It doesn't choke on unknown files. It can replace windows explorer.
It loads faster, doesn't choke on every unknown file, allows dual folder
operations, move, copy, compare run file, edit file, view file synch folders
etc..
--
more pix @ http://members.toast.net/cbminfo/index.html

Quit spouting second-hand FUD that you heard at the water cooler at work. Windows Vista Search is one of the features that makes it worth switching to Vista.

In a vast majority of searches that I perform, I can't type fast enough to keep up with the results being returned, which returns the results I'm looking for.

In your case, you're not getting the results you want because either the folder you're searching isn't in the index, or you have not given the indexer service time to complete. Leaving your computer on (and idle) overnight usually does the trick.

And when I save a file (from Word, IE7, Firefox, etc.), that file is added to the index in less than 2 seconds, and is available within search results just as quickly.

FUD. Just leave your computer on overnight and idle at least once a month, and you'll not have this problem.

Why? Windows Explorer does all that, as is faster also than most 3rd party tools I've looked at.

All the right stuff is checked, but it still won't index. It almost
seems like the backed up files (which had previously beed indexed) now
have an "alread indexed bit" set, and so it feels like now that I've
copied them back to the Vista box, the indexer just skips them.

Again, here's what I did:

1) built the Vista box, imported email into Windows Live Mail

2) let that index (when done, it had indexed ~90,000 files)

3) backed up the email and other files to a network share

4) restored the Vista box to an earlier image (ie, without the email
files)

5) copied the archived email files back over to the fresh Vista box

6) let that index -- now it keeps stopping at ~5000 files indexed (it
says "complete")

In the Index control panel, when I navigate to:
Users > {USER} > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Windows Live Mail
All those folders are checked.

However I also noticed that some folders in the index control panel
appear gray, and I can't check/uncheck those one. All of the folders
in the Windows Live Mail folder are gray -- oddly except for just
two,"Outbox" and "Sentinel"

Any suggestions?

Thanks, I appreciate the help -- it kind of ruins the indexer for me
if it won't index my restored email!

-Scott

Hey, I just discovered something!

Per my previous post, when I navigate to the Mail folder via the Index
control panel, everything is gray except for two folders, "sentinel"
and "outbox" -- additionally, some other nested folders also appear
black, but most are gray (the gray ones can't be checked or unchecked,
but seem to be set to checked).

Anyhow, I discovered that if I get Properties for folders like
"sentinel" and "outbox" and then click Advanced -- those have "Index
this folder for faster searching" checked -- and the others do not.

Is that setting (ie, in the folder's Advanced Properties) impact the
Index setting for that folder?

An ideas why, when I copied the archived folders back over, the "Index
this" check was set to off?

I'm guessing you turned those check boxes on?

One other thing - If you copy those files to another folder (say, "Documents"), do they appear in the index?

> I'm guessing you turned those check boxes on?

I'm a bit baffled because I don't know what the "proper" settings are,
to compare against what I wind up with after I restore from the
backup.

As best as I can tell, if I back up the contents of the Windows Live
Mail folder, restore the PC to a "clean" image, and then copy the
backed up file into the Windows Live Mail folder, the "index this"
settings aren't what they had been, and the mail won't be included.
And then it's not clear what I'm supposed to change.

The expectation is that you can simply copy the contents of your
Windows Live Mail folder to back it up, and then copy that back in to
restore -- but that doesn't actually work if it winds up excluded from
the index.

Does anybody here use Windows Live Mail (my guess is that the same is
true of Mail)? If so, have you ever backed up your Windows Live Mail
folder, and then restored it? Do you lose indexing?

Thanks, -Scott

Not too sure about Windows Live Mail (I don't use it), but the correct method for backing up your mail in Windows Mail is as follows:

1. Open Windows Mail
2. Click the "File"->"Export"->"Messages..." menu
3. Select "Microsoft Windows Mail" from the list, and click "Next"
4. Browse for a folder where you want to backup placed, and click "Next"
5. Make sure "All Folders" is selcted, then click "Next"
6. Click "Finish"

The procedure then to restore those messages is as follows:

1. Open Windows Mail
2. Click the "File"->"Import"->"Messages..." menu
3. Select "Microsoft Windows Mail 7", and click "Next"
4. Browse for the folder that contains you backups, then click "Next"

It is likely that because this procedure was not followed, you have failed to backup and restore one critical file or setting that is required.

Thanks dzomlija -- but, as I understand it, for Outlook Express,
Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail you can simply copy the store
folder to back it up.

The problem (imho) with the method you describe is that it takes a
manual active step -- whereas you can automate backing up the store
folder -- my understanding is that this is a good way to do it.

The problems seems to be that when you restore that backup, the
"archive this" flags aren't set the way they had been, and so the .eml
files aren't getting indexed.

I think backing up the store folder is a "formally correct" way to do
it (in fact, I saw the Mail team talk about doing exactly that on a
Channel 9 video).

But the problem is how to properly restore that to retain the proper
index settings.

Anybody here back up the Mail store folder?