# PC File Searches **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323 "2023-10-30T17:44:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/1 "2023-10-30T17:44:31Z")
Is there something I can download to search for keywords in documents or text files? I thought Windows (on a Dell) could search in documents, but it is only searching file names. (I am using a Dell with an older version of Windows, I believe.) Is there something to save me a lot of time and trouble? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/2 "2023-10-30T18:03:01Z")
I use [astrogrep](https://astrogrep.sourceforge.net/). Works ok for me. Searches inside text, word doc, excel spreadsheets and probably most common formats ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/3 "2023-10-30T23:10:35Z")
I will try it. I should have asked…is it free? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/4 "2023-10-30T23:13:48Z")
You could try to enable File Contents for the file type under Indexing Options → Advanced. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/5 "2023-10-30T23:28:09Z")
Yes. Open source. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/6 "2023-10-31T00:30:42Z")
I use Agent Ransack: [https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/](https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/) Free, though not open source. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/7 "2023-10-31T01:14:39Z")
The built in Windows search _does_ search within documents. I use it every day. Maybe you have some setting turned off. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/8 "2023-10-31T01:32:19Z")
The Windows file search fails constantly for incomprehensible reasons. Ultimately, it comes down to “the data wasn’t in the index”, but it fails to index files all the time based on the phase of the moon. I just did a couple of test searches in a directory and it couldn’t even come up with a complete list of _filenames_ that matched the request, and it was totally incapable of searching the contents. And aside from being totally useless at its _one job_, it has a shitty-ass user interface that tells you nothing about its progress or what it’s doing. Agent Ransack at least tells you how many files its searched and how many gigabytes it has to go. Sometimes searches can take a long time; that’s fine as long as I’m _informed_ of that fact. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/9 "2023-10-31T01:35:41Z")
+1 for Agent Ransack. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/10 "2023-10-31T11:40:20Z")
I use Filelocator Pro (Lite version is free) (and i see that it is now merged with the aforementioned Agent Ransack, so they are the same !) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/11 "2023-10-31T11:47:50Z")
I like [ripgrep](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep) for this purpose. “Faster than anything else.” ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/12 "2023-10-31T11:50:49Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I thought Windows (on a Dell) could search in documents, but it is only searching file names. As mentioned, you can change advanced search settings to search for date parameters, key words, etc. I would like to add that good organization makes searching much easier. Creating folders for general categories and using key words in the file names themselves really helps a lot. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/13 "2023-10-31T14:13:23Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Filelocator Pro (Lite version is free) (and i see that it is now merged with the > aforementioned Agent Ransack I thought I remembered a story behind that fork. > **Mar 2010** - Due to the discomfort from some people over the name Agent Ransack an alternative rebranded version named FileLocator Lite is released. > The end result is that we now have a single code base for the product, which is much easier to maintain, but two product names, which is potentially confusing. Over the next few years we’ll carefully monitor the demand for both names and hopefully retire one eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-file-searches/992323/14 "2023-10-31T14:20:04Z")
I’ve had great use from TextCrawler to find keywords in any document on my PC. - [https://textcrawler.en.softonic.com/](https://textcrawler.en.softonic.com/)