SQL Features Unavailable in Microsoft Windows Search

  • Article

Microsoft Windows Search query language is based on Structured Query Language (SQL); however, it does not search in a relational database with user-defined tables or indexes. Because of this, many standard SQL statements and syntax features do not apply. The following is a list of the more significant SQL features that are not supported in Windows Search.

  • BATCH statements
  • COALESCE_TABLE function
  • CONVERT function (use the CAST functions instead)
  • CREATE VIEW statement
  • Data definition language
  • DATASOURCE statement
  • Date and Time formats other than ISO date and time stamp
  • DELETE statement
  • GRANT statement
  • Information schema
  • INSERT statement
  • OLE DB data types
  • SQL-standard regular expressions (use CONTAINS or LIKE instead)
  • Parameters to SQL queries
  • Relational column comparison
  • Revision ID header
  • REVOKE statement
  • SCOPE aliases or revision numbers
  • SELECT ALL (removes duplicates automatically)
  • Stored procedures
  • Structured document expansion
  • UNION ALL
  • UNKNOWN keyword
  • UPDATE statement

Windows Search does not support Thesaurus and Noise Words.