How to prevent Windows from searching for certain file types and formats

When searching through the Windows search tool, it shows results from all types of files, but there may be certain file formats that you do not want to appear in the search because they are important files or because they are unnecessary and slow down the search process or otherwise, so we will learn in this post a simple way to prevent Windows can search for specific file types and formats.

Then open the Indexing Options tool, which is responsible for indexing files on Windows, open the Run window by pressing the Win + R keys, then type "control.exe srchadmin.dll" and press Enter.

-From the Indexing Options window, click on the “Advanced” button. 

-In the pop-up window, go to the “File Types” tab. You will find a list containing all the file types that Windows can find during searches. By default, they are all selected.

Exclude certain types of files by removing a checkmark next to them file type. Then go to the "Index Settings" tab and press the "Rebuild" button, then wait until "Indexing complete" appears.

In this way, those file formats will not be searched for while using the built-in search tool in Windows. However, this will not affect external research programmes.