How to Disable or Remove Search Index Locations in Windows 11

Search Indexing is a Windows 11 feature that allows your computer to search through every folder and file and then return a result based on a word or metadata. Although you can manually locate a file or folder, it will take a long time if you have many files and folders on your computer. You can quickly find an item in most apps, such as File Explorer, Groove, Photos, and so on, by using Windows search.in this article you will learn how to Disable or Remove Search Index Locations in Windows 11.

Indexing improves search functionality, but a low.spec computer can put a strain on your CPU, resulting in slower performance. As a result, if you notice that your computer is becoming slower, you can disable Search Indexing and see what happens.

Table Contents:

• add folder locations to Windows Search index
• How to remove Windows Search index locations in Windows 11
• Conclusion

add folder locations to Windows Search index

add or remove folders from the Windows Search index. If you have an external (removable) drive and want to search for content on it, you can add it as an index path so that Windows can index the content on it.

Searches performed by users will return results from the external drive that was included in the index path.

use the Windows key + i shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings as shown in the image below:

you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it.

In Windows Settings, click Privacy & security, and select Searching Windows tile on the right pane as shown in the image below.

select Advanced indexing option.

select Modify as highlighted below.

click on OK when finished.

click on the Show all locations button to see all available locations.

How to remove Windows Search index locations in Windows 11

you can reverse the steps above to remove a location from Windows Search index.

Go to the Start Menu ==> Settings ==> Privacy & security ==> Searching windows ==> Advanced indexing options ==> Modify.

remove a location from Windows Search index and click OK when done.

Conclusion:

This article demonstrated how to add or remove a Windows Search index location in Windows 11. Please use the comment form below if you find any errors or have anything to add.

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