How to Hide Certain File Types from Search Results on Windows 11 / 10

A lot of times, due to some reason, you may not want certain file types to appear in the search results in Windows 11. For example, you may want certain images or videos to be hidden and not show up when you search for files on your PC. It can be a JPG file, a PNG file, or an mp4 file that you want to hide. In such a case, you would need to change a few settings on your Windows 11 to hide certain file types from search results on your Windows 11 PC.

To be able to hide the specific file type, you would need to add that file format to the exclusion list on your PC and once done, it will not show up in the search results anymore. Let’s see how to make the changes.

 

How to Hide Certain File Types from Showing Up in the Search Results

 

Windows 11 allows you to block any file type to appear in thee search results if you chose to hide the file type. So, for example, to hide an mp4 format video, you must add this file type to the exclusion list. Let’s see how:



 

Step 1: Go to the Start menu, click on it and type Indexing Options in the Windows search bar.

 

Start Windows Search Indexing Options

 

Step 2: Click on the result under the Best match section to open the Indexing Options window.

 

Best Match Result Indexing Options

 

Step 3: In the Indexing Options window, click on the Advanced button below.

 

Indexing Options Advanced

 

Step 4: In the Advanced Options dialogue box that opens, select the File Types tab and you will now see the list of extensions that you can currently view in the Windows 11 search results in the Extensions field.

Here, look for the file type/s from the list that you want to hide from search results and uncheck the box next to it.

For example, in my case, I unchecked the jpeg file type.

 

Advanced Options File Types Tab Uncheck File Type From Extensions List

 

*Note – If you do not see the file type listed in the Extensions list, then go to the bottom of the dialogue box and in the Add new extension to list field, type the extension or the file type and press the Add button next to it to add it to the list.

 

Step 5: Next, go to he Index Settings tab, go to the Troubleshooting section and click on the Rebuild button.

 

Advanced Options Index Settings Rebuild

 



Step 6: You will now see a confirmation prompt – Rebuild index.

Press OK to proceed.

 

Rebuild Index Confirmation Ok

 

This will now create an all new search index and delete all the extensions that have not been selected. In the Index Options window, at the top, you will notice the current status of the index building process. This process take a while, so wait till its over.

Once done, exit the Index Options window and now, you should not see those file types anymore that you excluded from the list on your Windows 11 PC.