Finding and organising information just got easier

Windows Vista Business streamlines information management

Windows Vista Business is focused on boosting small business efficiency with tools that let you search for, organise, and view your information in new ways.

Below are examples of how Windows Vista Business streamlines the way you find and manage information.

Find out what you need, when you need it

Searching for information in Windows Vista Business is more than just typing a keyword in a search box. It is about finding information, any kind of information, anywhere on your computer, when you need it. With a search box located in almost every window - on the desktop, in email, and elsewhere - you are always just keystrokes away from the information you need. Here's how it works:

Windows Vista Business features Instant Search boxes as well as Search Explorers which combine Instant Search with the ability to auto-organise content throughout your PC based on file properties. This enables broad searches or targeted searches over documents, media files, Control Panel functions, and more.

Instant Search enables you to search for anything - a keyword in a document, a file name, a program in the Control Panel, music files, and more. And you don't have to remember the file name, just something about the file such as what is in it, when it was created, who authored it. Instant Search will find it for you.

Tagging your files

To easily find and sort your files, you can customise their properties by adding specific information to them through a process called "tagging." For example, to quickly pull up all the files related to a specific project, you can add the name of the project, such as "3rd Quarter Inventory," to these files in the Properties dialog box. Later, you can use a Windows Vista Explorer to search for all "3rd Quarter Inventory" tags to see all your project files in one view.

Enhanced column header controls

As shown below, the column headers at the top of Explorer windows now feature drop-down menus that display name, type, size and other values of the files you are viewing. For example, if the information you are viewing contains Microsoft Office PowerPoint files, HTML documents, and Microsoft Office Word documents, you will see all of those file types in the drop-down menu.

Then, if you want to view only the PowerPoint documents, you can click on "PPT file" in the menu and you will see only the PowerPoint results. These enhanced controls help find information much faster. If you know the file you are looking for is a PowerPoint presentation, why waste time browsing other file types to find what you need? Or, if you know who authored the document you need, why sort through documents written by other people?

Column headers also display any tags you may have added to your files so you can easily sort by tags.

With these and other options for finding, organising, and viewing your information, you will be able to put your information to work sooner by getting better results faster.

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