How to include abc files in plain text searching on Windows XP

Microsoft made a change to the way in which the Search facility works in Windows XP compared to previous versions of Windows.

The Search option in previous versions of Windows (under Start => Find => Files Or Folders) treated all files as if they were plain text, and therefore would conscientiously chew through every file looking for the specified text. Under XP, the search (under Start =>Files => Search) will only look in file types registered as plain text types.

This change, unfortunately, means that abc files (eg files stored with a .abc extension, such as woodenflute.abc) are not included by default in a plain text search - which in turn means that using the Search facility to find a tune title or fragment in your local abc files is no longer available as standard. (It is thought on the web that this change was made to stop the system wasting time scanning through huge binary sound and image files looking for the requested text, but that's just speculation in the absence of a definitive explanation from Microsoft.)

However ... help is at hand!

The following instructions will add the .abc file extension to the index of files that a plain text search will look for - hey presto, you've got your search facility back.

You can either make the change yourself by hand, or download a small file which carries out the same modifications and do it semi-automatically. This modification is only needed for Windows XP, no previous version of Windows requires this modification.

Start regedit.

Under the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT check for the existence of a .abc key. If the .abc key already exists, open it - otherwise create a new key named .abc

Under the .abc key create a new key named PersistentHandler

Set the value of the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.abc\PersistentHandler key to {5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}, which is the CLSID of the plain text Persistent Handler. By creating this key you are explicitly marking the .abc file extension as a plain text file type for the purposes of the Search facility.

Regedit left hand pane :

Regedit right hand pane :

Save your changes, close regedit, and log off and log back on to apply your changes. If all has gone successfully, abc files should now appear in the Search results.

Click here to download the small file AbcSearch.reg and save the file to a drive on your computer.

Double-click the file AbcSearch.reg : you will be prompted to agree to adding the information in the file to the registry. Having re-read the disclaimer above, agree to this, and you will be notified that the registry has been updated.

Log off and log back on to apply your changes. If all has gone successfully, findings from abc files should now appear in the Search results.

Acknowledgements to the excellent and pleasingly idiosyncratic IT news/gossip site The Register for my first sighting of this issue, and also to Alex Feinman for his page giving a detailed explanation of what's going on and how to fix it. The solution presented here is obviously only good for abc - for a more comprehensive solution to this issue you should refer to Alex Feinman's pages, which include a downloadable program to update your plain text search settings. There is also now a Microsoft KB article about this, KB no. 309173, thanks to Ryan Prechel for that.