How do I search a W10 document (Excel or Word) for a specific phrase?

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How do I search a Windows 10 document (Excel or Word) for a specific phrase. I've tried everything that I've seen on other posts in other operating systems and nothing has worked.
Other items I've tried:
~="the phrase I'm searching for"... nothing
"the phrase I'm searching for"... nothing
So much of the search options are pretty much useless. I don't need date, I don't need document type,... I need to be able to find a specific phrase amongst thousands of documents that I have on my computer and I don't want part of the phrase, i.e. if I'm looking for something that is 10 mm x 20 mm I don't need it looking for all occurrences of 10 and 20 and mm. The search I'm hoping also doesn't get mixed up when I'm searching for things with inches, i.e. 10" and 20".
Hopefully someone has some assistance for me. Since the operating systems went away from XP, I've found a significant decline in userfriendliness especially for us business people.
 

Regedit32

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Hi KatCam63,

In the Search Box, or Cortana box you can enter the following details to locate a file or files with an exact Phrase.

For this example I will assume Author Name (i.e. who authored the document is Kat and the phrase being looked for is "John walked his dog."

  • Type the following in the Search or Cortana box:
  • Author: Kat "John walked his dog"

Note: The default Search box and Cortana can be a little slower for searches as they need to index files. As a result if you know the folder your document is saved in (for example Documents) then if you open File Explorer, then open the Documents folder, you can enter the above into the folders search box (located top right of folder window).

The Author name is commonly the name you Registered as Owner of your Windows installation, or your User logon name. But if unsure:

  • Right click on any word or excel document
  • Select properties
  • Click the Details tab
  • Then under the Origin section of window that opens you'll see the Author name

If you want to learn some other tips on locating files in Windows, this Microsoft article is very good:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/tips-for-finding-files

The Booleans and other suggestions work fine in Windows 10 also, so ignore that the article was originally written with Windows Vista in mind.

Regards,

Regedit32
 
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KatCam63
In word document to search for a specific word or phrase I use Ctrl+F then type your word in the navigation pane.
 

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