How to Enable or Disable Indexing File Contents on Specific Drive in Windows 11
- 6 steps
- Needs administrator rights
Indexing file contents in Windows 11 lets Windows search inside the text of your documents, PDFs, and emails, not just their file names. You can turn this on or off for each drive separately. Turning it off saves some disk space and background work. Turning it on lets you find a file by a phrase you remember from inside it.
Open File Explorer, go to This PC, right-click the drive, and choose Properties. On the General tab, tick or untick “Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties”, then click OK. Ticking it lets Windows search inside documents, PDFs and emails. Unticking it leaves file names only. You need administrator rights to change it.
What is Search Indexing?
Windows search indexing builds a catalog of file names, locations, and other file details on your computer. When you search from the taskbar or File Explorer, Windows reads this catalog instead of scanning the whole drive each time. That is why results come back so quickly.
With content indexing on, Windows also reads the text inside supported files, such as Word documents, text files, and emails. You can then search for a phrase you remember from a document, and Windows will find that document even if the file name has nothing to do with it.
The catch is that reading and storing the text of every file uses disk space and some CPU time, especially right after you change the setting. For most people the default works fine. Changing it makes sense if you are short on space, or if a drive holds files you only ever look up by name, such as backups, installers, or media. Windows gives you two choices for each drive:
- Properties OnlyWindows indexes the file name, date, size, and other details, but does not read the text inside. You can still search by file name, but not by words inside documents.
- Properties and ContentThis is the default. Windows indexes the file details and the text inside the files. It gives you the most powerful search, because you can find files by what is written in them.
The setting is per drive, so you can index contents on your C: drive and turn it off on a large data drive, or the other way round. Here is how to change it:
How to Change How Windows Indexes File Contents on a Drive
On your own PC your account is probably an administrator already. On a work or school PC you may need to ask your IT department, because the change affects every file on the drive and a standard account may be blocked from making it.
Step 1Open “This PC”
First, open File Explorer and go to the list of your drives. This PC shows every internal drive, external drive, and connected storage device, so you can pick the one you want to change.
- Press Win+E to open File Explorer. You can also click the folder icon on the taskbar. File Explorer opens on the screen.
- Click This PC in the left-hand pane. The right side now lists your drives, such as your C: drive and any others, with a usage bar under each.
If you don’t see the drive you want, check that it is connected and has a drive letter. A drive without a letter won’t appear here.
Step 2Access Drive Properties
Next, open the properties of the drive. This is where Windows keeps the indexing option for that drive, along with the file system type and the space used.
- Right-click the drive you chose. A context menu appears.
- Click Properties, near the bottom of the menu. The drive’s Properties window opens on the General tab.
Step 3Adjust the Indexing Option
At the bottom of the General tab is the checkbox Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties. This single box controls whether Windows reads inside your files on this drive.
- To enable indexing of contentsMake sure the box is checked. This is the default. Windows will read the text inside your files so you can search by content.
- To disable indexing of contentsUncheck the box. Windows will then index only file names and properties, not the text inside.
Once the box is set the way you want, click OK at the bottom of the Properties window. You can also click Apply first and then OK. Either way, Windows now asks how widely to apply the change.
Step 4Choose Where to Apply Changes
A Confirm Attribute Changes window appears. It asks whether the change should cover only the top level of the drive or everything on it.
- Apply changes to this drive only: This changes the setting on the drive’s root only. Files and folders that already exist keep their old setting.
- Apply changes to this drive, subfolders and files: This is the default and the usual best choice. It applies the setting to everything on the drive, so search behaves the same across all of it.
For most people, choose the recommended option, which covers the drive, subfolders, and files. Then click OK.
Step 5Approve the Changes (If Asked)
If you are changing your main Windows drive (C:), or any location that needs elevated rights, a User Account Control (UAC) prompt may appear, asking permission to change the attributes. Click Continue to let Windows proceed. If you are signed in as a standard user, Windows will ask for an administrator password at this point.
Step 6Handling Errors (Don’t Worry!)
On a drive with many files, you may see an error such as Error Applying Attributes or Access is denied. This usually happens because a file is open in another program, or because it is a protected system file that Windows can’t change while it is in use.
- Click Ignore All. Windows skips the files it can’t reach right now and carries on with the rest.
- Let the process continue. Most of your files will get the new setting.
Skipped files are usually system files or files that were locked at that moment. They matter little for search. If you want a particular file covered, close the program using it and run the change again.
Step 7Let Windows Finish
Leave the progress window open until it closes on its own. How long it takes depends on how many files and folders the drive holds. A drive with hundreds of thousands of files can take several minutes. You can keep using your PC while it runs.
No restart is needed. The setting is saved once the window closes. After that, Windows may re-index the drive in the background, so search results can be incomplete for a while. You can check the indexing status in Settings Privacy & security > Searching Windows.
To undo the change, repeat the same steps and set the checkbox back the way it was.
Remember that turning off content indexing means you can no longer search for words inside files on that drive. You can only search by file name and file properties. Weigh the space and performance you gain against the search ability you lose on that drive.
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Summary
Changing how Windows indexes file contents lets you tune search to how you use each drive and save some resources where you don’t need full-text search. Follow the steps above to switch content indexing on or off for any drive, and repeat them whenever you want to change it back.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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