27 Find Your Videos Fast

27 Find Your Videos Fast

Before You Begin

19 About Your Project's Contents

26 About Cataloging Your Videos

See Also

31 Play Your Video on the Storyboard

Windows contains a powerful search feature you can use to locate video files quickly. As hard disks get larger, your computer's storage system can hold many videos.

After you locate a video file you want to view or import into Movie Maker, double-click it to watch it on your screen and verify that it's the file you truly want to use. Windows Media Player opens and plays the file as soon as you double-click the filename in the Search Results window. If you've assigned another media playing program to play video files, that program will open instead of Windows Media Player.

1. Click Start
   
   From the Windows desktop, click the Start button. The Start menu appears.
   
   
2. Select Search
   
   Click the Search option to open the Search Results window.
   
   
3. Click to Search for Files
   
   Click Pictures, music, or video so Windows doesn't bother looking for unwanted files, such as Word document files.
   
   

   NOTE

   

   You can use the Search Results window to look for Movie Maker project files: Instead of clicking the Pictures, music, or video option, click All files and folders . Type *.MSWMM to limit your search to Movie Maker project files.

4. Click Video
   
   Click to select the Video option to further refine the search to video files only.
   
   
5. Type Filename
   
   Enter the filename you want to search for. You do not have to enter a filename extension.
   
   
6. Click Search
   
   When you click the Search button, Windows begins its search. The items located that match the filename appear. The Search function will search for your search term in all or part of the filename; therefore, if your search term is summer , Windows locates summer.wmv, summer.avi, summerFun.wmv , and summertime.wmv if all four files are located on your disk drive. Depending on the Explorer options you currently have set in Windows, you might see thumbnails of your videos or a detailed description of the file.
   
   
7. Double-Click to Watch Video
   
   After locating the video you want to see, double-click its filename to play the video.
   
   

   NOTE

   

   If you search for a Movie Maker project file, Movie Maker opens and automatically loads that project into its workspace.

8. Click to Close
   
   You can close the Search Results window by clicking its Close button.