Developing Filter Handlers for Windows Search

Microsoft Windows Search uses filters to extract the content of items for inclusion in a full-text index. You can extend Windows Search to index new or proprietary file types by writing filters to extract the content, and property handlers to extract the properties of files.

This section provides the conceptual framework that is necessary for implementing a filter handler (an implementation of the IFilter interface).

• Understanding Filter Handlers in Windows Search
• Best Practices for Creating Filter Handlers in Windows Search
• Returning Properties from a Filter Handler
• Filter Handlers that Ship with Windows
• Implementing Filter Handlers in Windows Search
• Registering Filter Handlers
• Testing Filter Handlers

Additional Resources

• The IFilterSample code sample, available on GitHub, demonstrates how to create an IFilter base class for implementing the IFilter interface.
• For an overview of the indexing process, see The Indexing Process.
• For an overview of file types, see File Types.
• To query file association attributes for a file type, see PerceivedTypes, SystemFileAssociations, and Application Registration.