How to turn on/off Encrypted Files in Windows 10

by Harry Williams Manager

Windows OS tends to use indexing while searching basically for providing the faster and smoother search results. Users can customize the search index based on file types, properties, extensions, file content, and many other factors as well. Locations selected by user determine the place of indexing. Thus, indexing is undoubtedly an essential aspect of Windows search. Now, this article is going to help you learn how you can turn on/off the Encrypted index Files in Windows 10. Before you begin, make sure to sign in as administrator.

Encrypted Files in Windows

The index sets up the Windows Search service. It keeps running in the background as a Searchindexer.exe process. The index updates by itself for changes made to the included locations since the last index rebuilds in order to enhance search result accuracy.

Windows Search puts a ceiling on access to encrypted files to local searches only. Windows Search never indexes encrypted files in the search results. For being able to get encrypted file indexed, the administrator has to get the permission from settings. You will need to enable the “Settings” that makes the indexing of encrypted files possible.

Note: You are likely to come across security warnings while going through the steps that are mentioned below. Acknowledge the warning and proceed.

Steps to turn on or off Encrypted Files to Index in Windows 10

To turn on or off to Index Encrypted Files, follow these steps:

Right click on the Start button and go to Control Panel.
Type “indexing options” in the search bar of Control Panel. Or else, the Indexing Options can also be found straight from the menu.
After that, tap Advanced.
Under Index Settings, go to the File Settings option.
Here, under File Settings, select “Index Encrypted File.”
Now, check the “index encrypted file” option to index Encrypted files. Or else, uncheck the “index encrypted file” option to stop indexing Encrypted files.
At last, select OK and Close.

Joe Martin is a Microsoft Office expert and has been working in the technical industry since 2002. As a technical expert, Joe has written technical blogs, manuals, white papers, and reviews for many websites such as office.com/setup.

Source: Office.com/setup