Search In Files

Search In Files is a lightweight and portable application you can use to look up keywords and phrases across multiple files at the same time. It features advanced filters that can be easily configured, even by those with minimal experience in file searchers.

The program's not wrapped in a setup kit, so you can copy the downloaded files to a custom directory on the disk or to a removable storage unit, in order to directly run it on any PC without setup.

It doesn't change your system registry settings or need libraries to work properly. It remembers your configuration on exit by updating its .ini file, so make sure you're not launching it from a write-protected device.

The GUI doesn't put emphasis on appearance, but it takes a rather straightforward approach toward the file searching operation.

Before filling out information in the main window, you can access the settings panel to specify the full path of the directory to scan, along with the app title. Plus, you can use wildcards with file names and extensions.

After returning to the main window, you can enter the keyword to take into account for the file search operation, as well as add two more keywords to create a phrase (if necessary). The task shouldn't take long, after which you can inspect results, namely the full path of each identified file which contains the specified words.

The utility didn't put a strain on the computer's performance in our tests, since it needed a low amount of CPU and RAM to function normally. No error dialogs popped up and it didn't freeze or crash.

However, Search In Files hasn't received updates for a pretty long time, which can be clearly noticed by its rudimentary-looking GUI. Nevertheless, you can test it for yourself, since it's free.