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Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

voidtools.com

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Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#31

This tool has completely changed the way I work with files - I no longer need to remember where they are, just a part of the name. Coincidentally, this means my files are better organized, since I know I can always just jump straight there instead of having to think about the folder structure. I use it so often that I put it in the search bar, so that I can open it with Win + 1.

You may find FlowLauncher useful too: https://github.com/Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher It can be configured to use an existing Voidtools Everything install in its settings, so a universal launcher can double as the everything searchbar

Huh, looks cool! Thank you for sharing, will check it out.

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#34
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And File Pilot :) https://filepilot.tech/ (t. FP Pro license holder)

I prefer XYPlorer.

I do like XYplorer as well and have a license for it too, but its startup time is just so slooooow that I can't reach for it like I reach for File Pilot.

Now written in twinBASIC for 64-bit support! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42637089

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#35
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer XYPlorer.

I do like XYplorer as well and have a license for it too, but its startup time is just so slooooow that I can't reach for it like I reach for File Pilot. Now written in twinBASIC for 64-bit support! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42637089

I have it in my startup. No time wasted to open its window.

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#36

* The tool is truly amazing. Both for simple usage, and the advanced queries that it accepts. Very powerful, like a command line tool. * As another comment says, v1.5 alpha has many advantages. Despite the alpha label, I find it to be very stable. * Several software integrations exist: https://www.voidtools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6326 , I mostly like being able to see folder sizes instantly in explorer. I used xpl…

Everything about this feels like what Microsoft should have done. It’s absolutely amazing to me that search is so broken in Windows and yet a free third-party tool can instantly find any file anywhere.

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#37

I've been using this tool for a while. It is incredibly useful. Kudos to the developer(s). The real question is: why is the default Windows search so terrible? Did Microsoft make it useless on purpose?

Because the default windows search actually iterates every folder/subfolder, rather than using the global file table, which "everything" uses

I think it also searches inside documents by default.

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#38
I used this a lot when I was doing Windows stuff professionally, and I always really liked it.

The command line interface is good too: supply file spec that you'd type in to the GUI, and it'll print a list of matching files to stdout, one per line. Very easy to work with. I cobbled together a bit of Python stuff so that any time I was putting together a tool that needed to search for files, it could find the Everything command line tool if present, and use that instead of os.walk and the like, for a useful speedup.

(If nothing else, "es PATTERN" (to instantly find any name matching PATTERN anywhere on the system) is less typing than "find FOLDER -iname 'PATTERN'", and finishes more quickly. And compared to using locate, there's less chance of the database being out of date.)

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#39

I've been using this tool for a while. It is incredibly useful. Kudos to the developer(s). The real question is: why is the default Windows search so terrible? Did Microsoft make it useless on purpose?

It now seems to serve the purpose of funneling users into edge, AI products, or serving ads.

It's been bad since early 2000s though

Re: Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly

#40

* The tool is truly amazing. Both for simple usage, and the advanced queries that it accepts. Very powerful, like a command line tool. * As another comment says, v1.5 alpha has many advantages. Despite the alpha label, I find it to be very stable. * Several software integrations exist: https://www.voidtools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6326 , I mostly like being able to see folder sizes instantly in explorer. I used xpl…

Everything about this feels like what Microsoft should have done. It’s absolutely amazing to me that search is so broken in Windows and yet a free third-party tool can instantly find any file anywhere.

I genuinely just don't use the Start Menu anymore. It cannot find anything, and every search will include two Internet results (Bing only of course) and a Microsoft Store reference.
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