

The Files mode lists the name, path of the documents which contain the search term. This changes the columns in the search results pane, to display the relevant information. Switch between the Files search mode and the Content finder by toggling the option in the bottom right corner of the window. Don’t feel intimidated by these options, you don’t need to know regex commands to use the program for simple searches, though by doing so you’ll be missing out on some of its strongest filters. Speaking of regular expressions, you can add the ones you use to the presets, which will help you add them quickly the next time. You may add | to separate multiple items. To include file types, use wildcards like *.TXT, and to exclude types, add a – before it. You can blacklist specific folders from searches using the exclude dirs box, the syntax is ^(FOLDERNAME)$. This also shortens the time taken for the search to complete by a considerable duration. GrepWin could list a ton of files, and if you have trouble finding the one you wanted, I recommend playing around with the Limit Search settings to restrict the process by file size, date, hidden, system or binary files, disabling recursive search (subfolders). Right-click on a result to access the Explorer shell menu. TXT files in Notepad, audio files in your music player, and so on. Double-click on a file to open it in its default app, e.g. The information is split into various columns, such as file name, size, path, extension, encoding, and date modified. Hit the enter key or click on the search button to make the query and grepWin will list the results on the pane at the bottom. Hit F1 to view the help file, it has a list of all supported regex syntax. GrepWin even has a test regex option for checking if your regular expression works or not.

For a more advanced approach, you may opt for the Regex search mode. Enter your query in the box that’s labeled “Search For”. Select the folder that you want to search by clicking the three-dot button at the top. The program’s interface is not the most user-friendly, but that’s probably an impression caused by the various options on the screen. GrepWin is an open source program that specializes in finding text in documents it supports advanced regular expression filters, and you may want to give it a try for that purpose. I agree with you, it is a fantastic application. What’s your preferred desktop search engine program? The answer is likely Everything, by Void Tools.
