Windows-type Search Feature

WinBackup has a powerful Windows-Type Search Feature that allows you to search for specific file names (including full and partial name searches) and to locate files with specific extensions.

On the right-hand side of the Select Files for Backup screen, you will notice the Search Window on the Side Panel. To search for specific file names, type in the full name or part of it in the Search For Field and press the Search Icon (

). WinBackup will search for the file or files which contains the name specified by you in all your directories. If you know the location of the file or if you want to limit the search to a particular directory or drive, click on the Folder Icon (

). This will return the path of the folder in the Look In Field.

The Select Search Location pop-up window enables you to select the desired location as may be seen from the screenshot above.

The syntax to use is similar to that used in Windows. To look for a specific word or part of it, just type in the word in the Search For Field and press the search icon. Using "*" [star] before/after the word, allows you to limit your search to looking for words ending or starting with the search term respectively. For example, looking for the term "*123", tells WinBackup to look for files ending with the numbers 123. Typing "123*" tells WinBackup that you want to search for files starting with "123". Omitting "*" tells WinBackup that you would like to search for filenames that contain the numbers 123 anywhere whether at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the name.

The WinBackup Windows-type Search Feature allows you also to perform searches of file-types. In other words, you can look for specific types of file that are stored on your computer. For example, you may have image files (stored with the extensions BMP, GIF, JPG, TIF, etc) stored in a variety of folders on your hard drive. Instead of manually selecting the folders that carry these files, you can perform a search according to the file extension/s and WinBackup will automatically find them.

The syntax to use when looking for a particular file extension is "." [dot or period]. For example, when looking for GIF files, type in the search phrase ".GIF" in the search for field and press the search icon. You may also type "*.GIF" where "*" signifies that you want to find all the files with the GIG extension.

If you want to look for files ending in more than one extension, type dot followed by the extension followed by a comma. So if you want to look for GIF and JPG files, you would need to type ".GIF, .JPG"

By ticking the Search Results checkbox, you will be selecting the specified files to be backed up. This is extremely useful when your files are spread over several folders and you cannot keep track of these locations.

When performing backups through this search functionality on a regular basis you must keep in mind the following:

1. These searches are dynamic. In other words, WinBackup performs the search every time you load the search itself. In this way, any new or changed files will be added to your search result.

2. This also means that backups may take longer to be performed as WinBackup will have to perform the search every time before running the backup. This guarantees that all of your important files are backed up.

3. WinBackup creates a folder with the search results taking the files out of their folder context and structure while storing information on their actual location.

When performing restores, you must ensure that you restore to Original Location (See, Restoring From Searches). In this way, WinBackup will restore the backed up files from the search folder to their original location respecting your original directory tree or folder structure.

When restoring to Alternate or Single Locations, WinBackup will return all the backed up file in a folder with a flat structure that does not reflect the original directory tree.