Windows Search
Windows Search is the built-in desktop search engine in Windows that helps users find files, emails, applications, settings and more on their device. It indexes local content for fast searching.
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Windows Search: Built-in Desktop Search Engine for Fast File Finding
Windows Search helps users find files, emails, applications, settings and more on their device with fast indexing of local content.
What is Windows Search?
Windows Search is the built-in desktop search capability in Windows operating systems. It allows users to quickly find files, emails, applications, settings and other items stored on their Windows devices.
Some key features of Windows Search include:
- Indexing of local content on the device such as documents, media files, emails, contacts, calendar appointments, notes, and more.
- Fast and responsive searches - the content index allows searches to complete in just a few seconds.
- Search from the Start Menu search box or within File Explorer to find matching files and folders.
- Filter search by file types, date modified, sender, and other properties.
- View recent or frequent searches for quick access to common queries.
- Integration with Windows libraries to search user-specified indexed locations.
- Advanced query syntax for more complex searches.
- Personalized searches using Windows Account profile information.
Overall, Windows Search aims to provide a simple but powerful file search capability out of the box to help users quickly find their important content stored across different locations and formats on their Windows devices.
Windows Search Features
Features
- Indexing of local files, emails, settings, apps
- Natural language queries
- File preview
- Search refinement
- Contextual results
- Cortana integration
Pricing
- Free
Pros
Fast local search
Intuitive interface
Tight OS integration
No need for third party software
Cons
Limited customization options
No web search
Can slow down older PCs
The Best Windows Search Alternatives
Top Os & Utilities and File Search and other similar apps like Windows Search
Here are some alternatives to Windows Search:
Suggest an alternative ❐
Everything
Everything is a powerful file search utility for Windows that can quickly locate files and folders on local hard drives or external devices. It creates an index of all files on specified drives and searches against this index, providing nearly instant search results. Some key features of Everything include:Extremely fast...
Agent Ransack
Agent Ransack is a free and lightweight desktop search utility for Windows that allows you to quickly find files and folders on your computer or networked drives. Developed by Mythicsoft, Agent Ransack has been around since the early 2000s and has remained popular due to its speed, flexibility, and ease...
DocFetcher
DocFetcher is an open source desktop search application designed for individual personal use. It indexes documents stored on your computer, including PDFs, Office documents, ebooks, images and more, and allows you to quickly search the content by keyword or phrase.Some key features of DocFetcher include:Full text search of document content,...
Copernic Desktop Search
Copernic Desktop Search is a desktop search application designed for Windows operating systems. It indexes files and content stored locally on a computer's hard drives to allow for fast and efficient searching.Some key features of Copernic Desktop Search include:Indexes files in common formats like PDFs, Office documents, emails, photos, music,...
UltraSearch
UltraSearch is a leading enterprise search platform designed to help large organizations harness the knowledge stored across their networks, servers, and databases. It features patented indexing technology that crawls and extracts insights from both structured and unstructured big data sources in real-time.Key capabilities include:Comprehensive content processing - Documents, emails, multimedia...
EasyFind
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SearchMyFiles
SearchMyFiles is a powerful file search application for Windows that makes it easy to locate files and folders on your local hard drives, external drives, network shares and more. It has an intuitive and customizable interface that allows you to perform simple or advanced searches quickly.Some key features of SearchMyFiles...
Search Monkey
Search Monkey is a free alternative to paid feed readers and search engines like Feedly and Google Search. It enables users to search multiple websites, blogs, news feeds, and more from a single interface and save frequent searches for quick access later.Some key features of Search Monkey include:Search through thousands...
Locate32
Locate32 is a free portable Windows program that provides a fast and easy way to find files and folders on your local hard drives or networked storage locations. Developed as an alternative to the basic Windows search, Locate32 has an intuitive user interface that allows you to perform simple or...
Recoll
Recoll is a powerful open source desktop search application designed for Linux, Windows, and macOS operating systems. It allows you to quickly find files, documents, emails, and other content stored on your computer by indexing the content and metadata of your files.Some key features of Recoll include:Full-text indexing of many...
RecentX
RecentX is a free, open-source alternative to WizTree for visualizing disk space usage. Developed by a small team of independent developers, RecentX provides many of the key features of WizTree in an easy-to-use interface.After a quick scan of your computer's drives, RecentX generates an interactive map that allows drilling down...
SwiftSearch
SwiftSearch is a privacy-focused search engine that aims to provide accurate and relevant search results without tracking or profiling users. It was launched in 2021 as an open-source alternative to Google Search and other mainstream search engines that collect user data.Unlike Google, SwiftSearch does not create a personalized search profile...
