Microsoft Adds 'Automatically Find Other Relevant Locations' Indexing Feature to Windows 11

Microsoft is introducing a new search indexing feature for Windows 11 called 'Automatically Find Other Relevant Locations.' The feature uses a user's file activity to identify commonly used folders and add them to the search index automatically, without requiring manual configuration.

Historically, the default indexing scope in Windows 11 covered only a limited set of locations such as Pictures, Documents, and Desktop, and did not include paths like Downloads, leaving files that users created or downloaded undiscoverable through search.

Windows Search currently offers two indexing modes: Classic and Enhanced. Classic mode requires directories to be added manually, while Enhanced mode can traverse all partitions but at the cost of additional performance and power consumption. The new feature analyzes file activity to determine which folders are important, adds them to the index automatically, and allows users to manually exclude folders that were included by mistake. The settings page explains that Windows will learn which folders matter to the user based on file usage.

In addition to automatic indexing, Microsoft plans to adjust the Windows 11 search experience. The search functionality being tested can detect spelling errors in user input and support locating local files with just two characters. Microsoft also plans to turn off Bing search and ads in search results; a test build has shown that with these turned off, search results display only Windows settings rather than web results.

Under the current plan, these search-related improvements will be rolled out in stages later in 2026. The spelling-error search optimization has already begun rolling out to some users.