--- title: "Finding It Again | StartCloud" description: "Module 6 of our free Microsoft 365: Everyday Skills pathway: search across Microsoft 365 instead of hunting folder by folder, naming files so a human can find them later, the Recent and Shared views, and why the folder tree you built years ago stopped being the answer." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": [ "LocalBusiness", "ProfessionalService" ], "@id": "https://startcloud.au/#business", "name": "StartCloud", "legalName": "Start Technologies Pty Ltd", "alternateName": "StartCloud Australia", "identifier": { "@type": "PropertyValue", "propertyID": "ABN", "value": "17 676 121 449" }, "slogan": "Go Beyond", "description": "StartCloud is Perth's cybersecurity-first AI MSP: managed IT, Essential Eight security, Microsoft 365 and cloud, networking, and practical AI for Australian businesses with 5 to 50 staff.", "url": "https://startcloud.au", "logo": "https://startcloud.au/og-image.png", "image": 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"https://www.google.com/maps/place/StartCloud/@-31.8648767,115.8069889,739m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2a32a5b5d9e864b5:0x9f02690968f0e50c!8m2!3d-31.8648813!4d115.8095638!16s%2Fg%2F11vzbgtytj" ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "LearningResource", "name": "Finding It Again", "description": "Module 6 of the Microsoft 365: Everyday Skills pathway: search across Microsoft 365, file names that survive a year, the Recent and Shared views, and why deep folder trees stopped being the answer.", "educationalLevel": "Beginner", "learningResourceType": "Module", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Course", "name": "Microsoft 365: Everyday Skills", "url": "https://startcloud.au/learn/microsoft-365-everyday-skills", "provider": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "StartCloud", "url": "https://startcloud.au" } }, "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "StartCloud", "url": "https://startcloud.au" }, "datePublished": "2026-08-13", "dateModified": "2026-08-13", "url": "https://startcloud.au/learn/finding-it-again" } ] --- [![StartCloud](/assets/StartCloud-Logo-ByZE1kzP.svg "StartCloud: Cybersecurity-First Managed IT Services Perth")](/ "StartCloud | Managed IT Services Perth") - Cybersecurity - AI Solutions - Cloud - Technology - Networking - Explore [Contact Us](/contact "Contact StartCloud, Perth IT Support") Open menu Module 6 of StartCloud's Microsoft 365: Everyday Skills learning pathway, in five short units with a knowledge check: searching across email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams at once instead of hunting folder by folder, naming files so future you can find them (dates that sort, no final\_v3), the Recent and Shared views that beat any folder, and why a deep folder tree stopped being the right answer once search got good. Course contents [Pathway overview](/learn/microsoft-365-everyday-skills) Pathway Microsoft 365: Everyday Skills 0 of 5 units done in this module 1. [Where things live ](/learn/where-your-stuff-actually-lives) 2. [Stop emailing attachments ](/learn/stop-emailing-attachments) 3. [Teams without the noise ](/learn/teams-without-the-noise) 4. [Better meetings ](/learn/meetings-worth-attending) 5. [Taming Outlook ](/learn/making-outlook-work-for-you) 6. Finding it again 1. Ask once, instead of hunting folder by folder 2 min 2. Naming things so a human can find them later 2 min 3. Recent and Shared, faster than any folder 2 min 4. Why the folder tree stopped being the answer 1 min 5. Knowledge check 2 min 7. [Working anywhere ](/learn/working-from-anywhere-microsoft-365) # Finding It Again Module 6 · Search Unit 1 of 5 · about 2 min ## Ask once, instead of hunting folder by folder Think about the last time you went looking for a document. There is a good chance you opened a folder, then another folder, then a third, decided it was probably in the other place, went there, came back, and eventually found it about four minutes later in the first place you looked. That is not a memory problem. It is what happens when you navigate to things instead of asking for them. Microsoft 365 has a single search that reaches across your email, your OneDrive, the SharePoint sites you belong to and your Teams files, all at once, and it is sitting in the bar at the top of nearly every app you use. **Ask once, rather than hunting in six places.** You can only ever find what you already have access to This is the question everyone is too polite to ask, so here it is answered. Searching does not give you access to anything, and it never shows you files you were not already allowed to open. Payroll stays invisible to you, and your half-written resignation letter stays invisible to everyone else. Search reads permissions, it does not change them. Two people searching the same words get different results That is not a fault. Results are ranked around you: what you have access to, what you have been working on lately, and who you work with most. It is why a colleague swearing they found it in two seconds is not much help to you, and why your own results tend to get better the more you use it. It reads inside the documents, not just the names The words in a Word document, a PDF, a spreadsheet, the body of an email, all of it is searchable. So if you cannot remember what a file was called but you remember a phrase in it, or the client's name, or the job number, that is genuinely enough to go on. The results tell you which one is the right one Alongside each result you get who changed it last, when they changed it, and where it lives. That is usually how you pick between three files with almost the same name, and it is information a folder listing never gave you. One thing that trips everyone up Search pays attention to where you are standing when you ask. Search from inside Outlook and you get email, because that is what is around you. Search from inside a SharePoint site and you get that site's pages and files. If you want the whole lot at once, search from the Microsoft 365 start page in your browser, the one that shows your recent files when you sign in. So when a search comes back with nothing and you are certain the thing exists, the first question is not "what did I call it", it is "where was I standing". Mark done and continue ![StartCloud](/assets/StartCloud-Logo-ByZE1kzP.svg "StartCloud: Cybersecurity-First Managed IT Services Perth") Cybersecurity-led IT for Australian businesses. We manage security, compliance, and modern IT environments, so risk is governed, not guessed. Ground Floor West, 6 Gibberd Road, Balcatta WA 6021 [08 6285 0001](tel:+61862850001 "Call StartCloud on 08 6285 0001") Serving Perth businesses from Balcatta, Western Australia. ![Microsoft Solutions Partner - Modern Work](/assets/microsoft-solutions-partner-DqvNMv91.png "Microsoft Solutions Partner: Modern Work") ### Services - [Cybersecurity](/cybersecurity "Cybersecurity Services Perth | StartCloud") - [AI Solutions](/ai "AI & Automation Services Perth | StartCloud") - [Cloud](/cloud "Cloud Services Perth | StartCloud") - [Technology](/technology "IT Services and Support | StartCloud") - [Networking](/networking "Business Networking Perth | StartCloud") - [Packages](/packages "IT Support Packages Perth | StartCloud") ### Company - [About](/about "About StartCloud, Perth IT Support Team") - [Company Facts](/facts "StartCloud Company Facts | Perth Cybersecurity-First AI MSP") - [Resources](/resources "IT Resources & Guides | StartCloud Perth") - [Service Areas](/it-support-perth "IT Support Perth | StartCloud") - [Contact](/contact "Contact StartCloud, Perth IT Support") ### Locations - [All Service Areas](/locations "Perth IT Support Areas | StartCloud") - [IT Support Perth](/it-support-perth "IT Support Perth | StartCloud") - [Cybersecurity Perth](/cybersecurity-perth "Cybersecurity Perth | StartCloud") - [MSP Perth](/managed-service-provider-perth "Managed Service Provider Perth | StartCloud") - [Industries We Serve](/industries "IT Support by Industry Perth | StartCloud") © 2026 Start Technologies Pty Ltd trading as StartCloud. 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