Finding Files Faster: A Guide to Using Wildcards in Windows
What are Wildcards?
Wildcards are special characters that can represent one or more characters in a search. This makes it easier to find files when you don’t remember the exact name.
How to Use Wildcards in Windows Search
You can use the taskbar search for this or you can use the search box in File Explorer (Windows key + E).
Type Your Search Query: Start typing the part of the file name you remember.
Use the Wildcard Characters:
Asterisk (*): Represents zero or more characters.
Example: To find all documents that start with report, type report*
Question Mark (?): Represents a single character.
Example: To find files named document1.docx, document2.docx, and so on, type document?.docx.
Example Search Queries:
Find all files ending with .pdf type *.pdf
Find all files ending with .jpg type *.jpg
Find all files ending with .csv type *.csv
… and so on.
Find all files starting with photo and ending with .jpg, type photo*.jpg:
Combine Wildcards: You can combine both * and ? in a single search query. For example, to find files starting with roses and ending with .docx, you can use roses*.docx
Use Quotes: To search for an exact phrase, enclose it in quotes. For example, to find a file named important document.docx, you can use “important document.docx”
Wildcards help you find what you’re looking for faster in Windows 10 and 11.