Description
You wrote a contract three years ago that mentioned a particular clause. The filename is long forgotten and you are not sure which drive it landed on. Windows Search spins for a while and finds nothing. FileLocator Lite takes the old-fashioned approach that still works — no index, just open every file and look inside — and that includes the text of Word, Excel, PDF and ODT files. It takes a few seconds longer and it actually finds the thing.
The query is two rows: a filename on top, the text that must appear inside below, each with its own matching mode — wildcards or regex for names, plain text, Boolean or regex for content. Results come with Summary, Hits, Text, Preview and Reports tabs, and the Hits tab lists each matching line with the term highlighted, so you can tell whether it is the right document without opening it. It is free for personal and commercial use alike.
Full-text search inside documents: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and ODF content is searched directly, and installing the Office filter pack adds OneNote, Visio and Publisher.
Boolean and regular expressions: the content box accepts expressions like
Matching lines highlighted: the Hits tab lists every match with its line number and the term coloured, which is usually enough to identify the right file without opening anything.
Filters on several axes: beyond Main there are Options, Dates, Attributes and Compressed Files tabs for size ranges, modification dates, file attributes and searching inside archives.
Saved search configurations: a tuned set of criteria saves to a file and loads again next time instead of being retyped.
Shell integration: add it to the context menu, or replace Explorer's own search box entirely, so a right-click on any folder starts the search.
Exportable results: the hit list exports as a report for handing over or keeping on record.
The query is two rows: a filename on top, the text that must appear inside below, each with its own matching mode — wildcards or regex for names, plain text, Boolean or regex for content. Results come with Summary, Hits, Text, Preview and Reports tabs, and the Hits tab lists each matching line with the term highlighted, so you can tell whether it is the right document without opening it. It is free for personal and commercial use alike.
Features
Full-text search inside documents: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and ODF content is searched directly, and installing the Office filter pack adds OneNote, Visio and Publisher.
Boolean and regular expressions: the content box accepts expressions like
mythicsoft OR filelocator or switches to regex, and the Tools menu includes a tester so you can try a pattern against sample text first.Matching lines highlighted: the Hits tab lists every match with its line number and the term coloured, which is usually enough to identify the right file without opening anything.
Filters on several axes: beyond Main there are Options, Dates, Attributes and Compressed Files tabs for size ranges, modification dates, file attributes and searching inside archives.
Saved search configurations: a tuned set of criteria saves to a file and loads again next time instead of being retyped.
Shell integration: add it to the context menu, or replace Explorer's own search box entirely, so a right-click on any folder starts the search.
Exportable results: the hit list exports as a report for handing over or keeping on record.
