Find Any Files

Searching files through File Explorer works...until it doesn’t, and perhaps that’s all that can be said about it. It’s hardly reliable, as even simple searches may not be all that simple for it to handle. It would be nice for Microsoft to focus on improving that, but it isn’t likely anytime soon.

Your best bet to get better results when looking up files is through a third-party file finder. Find Any Files has a fitting name in that sense, as it should provide the additional tools you need to get to certain files much easier and faster than with the default method.

You won’t always look up a file through its name or extension, which is where such a tool can prove its value. It essentially gives you greater control over your queries: you can include and exclude certain paths, and the same is true for extensions and file names.

All of this is for the program to provide you with more accurate results that more closely reflect what you’re looking for. To narrow your search even further, you can also configure date and size parameters, and even filter out certain file owners.

Upon dialing in your settings, the program should display a satisfactory result. To help users manage multiple files, the Properties window will present you with a quick rundown of the properties for each file.

What’s more, you also get access to a bulk file renamer, which can come in handy whenever you need it. It can be fairly complex for a more casual user, but it’s a nice addition nonetheless. A file extension changer is also present, but I had no luck with it as it would return an error message each time I tried to change something.

I had a positive experience with Find Any Files. I appreciated being able to more closely fine-tune the search parameters, which in turn provided me with more accurate results.