Visual Studio “Find in Files” does not work

Question

Visual Studio (2010, Ultimate) finds nothing when I do Find in Files (Ctrl+Shift+F) in the Entire Solution. However, it finds 2 occurrences when se

Answer 1

I experienced a similar but not identical symptoms in VS 2017.

In my case Find in Files searched 109 files; but that was only project files in the solution and dependencies. It turns out there is an option to "see more results", but it obscurely violates conventions making it less obvious. And to make it worse, I found I had to double-click (not just "click").

Observe the very last line after the summary. When I double-click that line, only then do I get expected behaviour!

Answer 2

It's silly, but what fixed it for me was prefacing the file extensions with an asterisk under Look at these File types e.g.: *.js; *.aspx instead of just .js; .aspx Maybe try *.* if you're having this issue.

Answer 3

I think I recognize this wellknown, longstanding bug:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20100617142305/http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/105511/find-in-files-says-no-files-were-found-to-look-in-find-was-stopped

The workaround mentioned there worked for me when I had this problem

I found a tip to try pressing Ctrl + ScrollLock to fix it, and it worked.

I think most people report success with the (Ctrl-)Break key, but some say (Ctrl-)ScrollLock worked instead

Answer 4

I fixed this by uninstalling and reinstalling Visual Studio (2017 Professional in my case).

Answer 5

For me the solution was also the one suggested by makdu above (Visual Studio-->Windows-->Reset Window Panel). I'm writing a separate answer just because I am not allowed to write comments yet, as I'm a newbie. I also could not vote for his answer.

Ctrl+Shift+F was actually working but the "Find and Replace" window was apparently opening somewhere hidden behind the other panes. Reset Window Panel made it open on the front again. I believe this is what makdu was also referring above.

Answer 6

It's also not working for me on VS 2019 (16.6) I use a workaround by switching to "Use previous Find in Files": Tools->Options->Environment->Preview Features