# I really need a better way to search desktop files-- help! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762 "2014-08-04T05:09:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/1 "2014-08-04T05:09:38Z")
Hey all, So… I have about 4895724309485732094.pi files containing different versions of different parts of a novel over the past two years. (How did this happen? It’s a long story…) There’s material from certain versions that I need to find again and use. I know the exact phrases and combinations of words to identify each of the necessary files. So the “search files” box on the start menu or Google Desktop Search should work, or that’s what I thought. The problem is that this method only seems to ever show the most recent ten or fifteen files fitting that description. That isn’t going to help too much, because the most relevant file is from at least six months back. This file would have the correct version of what I need to find, whereas the file in the “most recent” list has an edited version that isn’t the one I need. Basically, the question is this: is there a desktop search/computer file search program which shows EVERY file that has a specific phrase/collection of words, no matter how many files that is and no matter how long ago they were modified? If it helps, I’m now searching on an old laptop running Windows Vista, but I haven’t had better luck with the desktop running Windows 7. It just seems like there has to be a way to do this… and the smart people here would know! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/2 "2014-08-04T05:36:45Z")
\*.pi should show every file on the hard drive. try UltraSearch. I like it because it doesn’t use Windows Indexing. It’s reading the hd directly. It’s freeware. > **[Free File Search Tool UltraSearch | JAM Software](https://www.jam-software.com/ultrasearch_free)** > > UltraSearch Free searches files on local NTFS drives. The freeware provides the results within just a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/3 "2014-08-04T14:41:13Z")
We use Agent Ransack at the office - looks to be a bit more programmer-oriented than **aceplace57** ’s recommendation but you might like it. ---
**Author:** ![Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obnoxious_Hood_Ornament)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/4 "2014-08-04T15:21:46Z")
[Astrogrep](http://astrogrep.sourceforge.net/) is a lightweight and powerful search utility for Windows. Better yet, it’s free. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/5 "2014-08-04T15:53:51Z")
It doesn’t help with your immediate difficulties, but quite a few authors I follow on Twitter have raved about [Scrivener](http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php) for organising stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/6 "2014-08-05T01:47:14Z")
From the command line run [findstr](http://ss64.com/nt/findstr.html) /s /i /m /c:“first phrase to find” /c:“second phrase to find” “c: he folder containing the documents\*.\*” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-better-way-to-search-desktop-files-help/694762/7 "2014-08-05T01:50:46Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > We use Agent Ransack at the office - looks to be a bit more programmer-oriented than **aceplace57** ’s recommendation but you might like it. Seconded. It’s unbelievable, but search has gotten progressively worse with each new version of Windows (well, I haven’t tried Win8). I’ve always found Agent Ransack to be totally reliable (and has nice geeky features like regular expressions) and is something I install on every computer I use.