The File Seeker

If your work implies handling large quantities of files these can be identified through the built-in search tool. However, it can take some time for it to index all locations. On the other hand, there are tons of alternatives like The File Seeker you can use to search for any file of interest, including custom text strings inside documents.

The first time you launch the application you need to wait a little while for it to index all locations on your computer. Sure enough it can take a while, but this mostly depends on the size of your hard disk drive and complexity of folders and files. Indexing is not done automatically, but you can manually initiate it in case major updates are performed on your PC.

The indexer quietly sits in the tray area when not used, but this isn’t the case with the general search window, which has a considerable impact on overall practicality. What’s more, there’s no built-in option to assign a hotkey, but you can manually bypass this by configuring one for the program’s shortcut in the Properties panel.

Search parameters you can use aren’t abundant, but come in handy for most domains of activities and scenarios. There are two major ways to trigger search, either by keywords or content. Text search is done in files like DOC, WRI, TXT, and RTF by default, with the possibility to manually add more extensions.

Related attributes can mean to find all words, search by case sensitivity, ignore hidden files, and those with the read-only attribute. You can write down custom extensions to narrow down results. The search process is pretty decent in terms of speed, with the results panel updating in real time as files are identified.

To sum it up, The File Seeker is a lightweight, practical application which can be used to locate text strings inside different documents, but also retrieve files on your computer based on custom criteria. Indexing is only performed one time, while the process itself shows results as they’re identified.