Windows Search 4 already is an improvement over the standard Windows Search, but did you know you can search inside Office 2007 documents too?

I sure didn’t, Sarah Perez (on 10) does:

With the the Microsoft Filter Pack installed, Windows Search 4.0 is able to search within Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office 2007 documents based on the text they contain. It also works for Vista too, adding new search capabilities which can be accessed right from Vista’s search bar. Now when you do a search, the Windows indexing service doesn’t just search for file names but also knows what’s in the files themselves, and that makes finding the right file so much easier.

Very handy, thanks Sarah!

The 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack, will install and register IFilters with the Windows Indexing Service. These IFilters are used by Microsoft Search products to index the contents of specific document formats. This Filter Pack includes IFilters for the following formats: .docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, and .vtx. It is supported on Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Windows Desktop Search (WDS) consumes IFilters from Windows Indexing Service, so the IFilters will be automatically registered and available for use by WDS. If you want to register these filters with another specific Search product ( Office Sharepoint Server 2007, Search Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, SQL server etc.), have a look at the KB articles provided on the download page.

Download Windows Search 4
Download Microsoft Filter Pack