Surely, any of us have duplicate files accumulated on our disk over time. Files in “Downloads” that you have downloaded several times, identical photographs and musical compositions lying in such depths that your hands simply cannot reach them. You can get rid of all this manually, but special utilities that search for identical files will work much faster for you.

A very popular “cleaner” that probably everyone has installed. Yes, it not only searches for system garbage and clears browser history and cookies, but also removes duplicate files.

Platforms: Windows, Mac.

Price: free, $24.95 for premium version.

The program searches for files with the same or similar names and identical content. Works well with music and can find identical music files even if they have different tags. In addition, dupeGuru can compare images to find not only identical, but simply similar photos.

Developed for Mac and Linux. The Windows version is no longer supported by the developer, but it can be downloaded from the official website - it is fully functional.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux.

An advanced file search application that, among other things, can remove duplicates. SearchMyFiles has flexible filters so you can customize your search results the way you want.

Platforms: Windows.

A popular Mac application that searches for the same or similar files and shows you the difference between them. Copies in “Photos”, in the iTunes music library - nothing will pass by Gemini 2. The developers have announced a smart duplicate search mechanism that remembers which files you leave and what you decide to delete.

Platforms: Mac.

Although AllDup is free, it does a lot. Searches for, deletes, copies and moves duplicate files, including identical audio recordings with different tags. There is a flexible search setting. Using the built-in viewer, you can examine files and choose what to delete.

Platforms: Windows.

Duplicate File Finder quickly and efficiently finds duplicate files. Provides an interesting opportunity to search for duplicates not only on the hard drive, but also on the local network. Can work with images and music, comparing both tags and content. The preview function will help you figure out what to really delete and what to leave. Unfortunately, quite a few options are not available in the free version.

Platforms: Windows.

Price: free, $29.95 for premium version.

A universal file manager that can do anything with your files. Including finding duplicate files. You can enable the search for copies option on the search parameters tab, in the same place where you specify other attributes of the searched files.

Platforms: Windows.

DupeGuru looks like the most attractive option. It's free, but it offers all the necessary features to rid your drive of accumulated junk. The only sad thing is that development of the Windows version has been stopped. For Windows users who don't want to pay for commercial alternatives, AllDup is a better choice. CCleaner and Total Commander are more universal and widespread solutions that are probably already installed on everyone.

A program for quickly searching for files in specified folders both by file name and by its content. What distinguishes Windows from the standard search function is its high speed and efficiency, as well as the ability to find files even inside archives!

Screenshot gallery

Working at a computer, one way or another, involves handling a variety of text data. Whether we are looking for information on the Internet, writing an annual report, or just reading a book, we come across text everywhere we go!

We usually know where all our work files are located because we open them almost every day. But sometimes there are situations when we remember that somewhere we had a document with the necessary information, but we forgot where it was and what it was called.

We have two options: we can either manually try to find the file we need by opening and checking all our working folders, or we can use the Windows feature to search for a word or phrase.

However, if we have a lot of folders and files, then manually finding anything is almost impossible, and the built-in search tool can only search inside ordinary text files (Windows 7, however, can already search in DOC).

In this case, only third-party software that has advanced search capabilities can help us. All programs of this kind can be divided into two categories: those that use the indexing mechanism, and those that do not.

Those applications that do not use indexing when scanning, in fact, check all files each time for the presence of the search string, that is, they automatically implement a mechanism similar to manual search.

The speed increase compared to a standard search tool is mainly due to better parallelization of requests to the file system, but still, it can take quite a lot of time.

The principle of indexing files on a local PC is essentially the same as on the Internet. The program pre-scans the specified drive or folder and creates a database of files with the ability to quickly detect their contents. Due to this, the search occurs in a matter of seconds!

The disadvantage of this kind of programs is their advantage - the need to index files, which takes quite a long time :(. Otherwise, in my opinion, this class of programs is better and more functional than its counterparts that work without an index, so I suggest you familiarize yourself with one one of the best free programs of this kind - DocFetcher.

Today there are quite a few programs for local indexing and searching of files, but not all of them have the same capabilities. In terms of breadth of functionality, DocFetcher can be compared with the popular paid indexing system Archivarius 3000.

Comparison with a paid analogue

From the comparison it is clear that the programs differ little from each other (except, perhaps, the interface). Both programs work with almost all file types, and both allow you to use complex queries containing search masks.

The only advantage of Archivist is that it uses a persistent database for indexing, which allows you to view the contents of currently inaccessible remote folders and removable media.

Although the fact that DocFetcher uses a dynamic database is not such a minus, since it automatically indexes added and deleted files, which allows you to always have the most up-to-date version of the list of all working files at hand.

Preparing to work with the program

An additional advantage of DocFetcher is the presence of a portable version, which is recommended for use by the developers themselves (although it is also available). The developers recommend using the portable version for two reasons:

1. The portable version can run on all popular systems, since it is written in the platform-independent JAVA language and contains executable files of all currently popular operating systems (Windows, UNIX and Mac OS).
2. If you are used to carrying all your work files with you on a flash drive or external hard drive, then the portable version can index files even on a removable device, which will allow you to find the files you need just as quickly as on a PC. Again, the flash drive can be connected to any computer with any operating system, and everywhere we will be able to quickly search!

I’ll add that the portable version works a little faster (I don’t know why) than the installation version, so I also recommend using it!

In the archive downloaded from our website, you will find the portable version of the program. To make it work, just unzip the folder "DocFetcher 1.1.9" to any location on your PC (except for the Program Files folder).

You will also need a set of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) libraries installed on your computer, version 1.6.0 or higher (currently version 7.40). Usually JAVA is already installed on all modern systems, but just in case, check ;)

When everything is ready, you can launch DocFetcher.

Program interface

After running the executable DocFetcher.exe we will see the working window of the program:

If your system is in Russian, then the program interface language will automatically be Russian, so you don’t need to change anything!

The interface itself consists of four sections that can be hidden/displayed using buttons with black arrows:

1. In the upper left corner there is a search options section. Here you can set the minimum and maximum size of the file you are looking for, as well as specify its extension (all extensions are active by default);
2. In the upper right corner of the window there is a search bar with a results output field. Here, to the right of the search bar, you can see additional buttons that call up help, settings and hide the program window in the tray.
3. The search area is located in the lower left corner. It is in this section that all indexed folders with our working files will be displayed.
4. In the lower right corner there is a preview window of the selected file. By default, this window displays the readme of the program, but as soon as we select a file, its contents will immediately be displayed here, and the searched phrase or word will be highlighted in color!

Folder indexing mechanism

If you try to find something using DocFetcher right now, you will fail, because in order to search, the program must first index the folders with the files we need!

To do this, we need to call up the context menu of the search area and hover over the only active item “Create index from”:

For example, I will index my working folder with articles by selecting the “Folder” item. However, in addition to folders, DocFetcher can index archives, Outlook email storage files and, for some reason, the clipboard.

After selecting the indexing mode, we will be asked to specify the folder to scan, and then we will see the following window:

Here we can set indexing parameters such as:

• special instructions for processing certain types of files;
• exclusion of certain files from the index by extension or MIME type (regular expressions are supported);
• other additional settings.

If you are an ordinary user, then you do not need to change anything here. If you are a developer, then I advise you to specify the files containing your code as text files in the “File extensions” section.

This is necessary so that DocFetcher searches for the necessary expressions inside the code (by default, PHP files, for example, are processed like HTML, that is, the search is carried out only by text visible in the browser!).

If you are satisfied with all the settings, click the “Run” button and wait for indexing to complete:

The program only takes a few seconds to scan small folders with a small number of files. However, if the folders are large and have a complex structure of attachments with archives and pictures, then indexing may take a while.

As you can see from the screenshot, DocFetcher processed my working folder weighing 3.6 Gigabytes, which, as the scanner claims, contained almost 46 thousand files (including in archives) for almost half an hour! Quite a long time, but worth it!

Yes! I do not recommend indexing system folders (and Drive C, in general), because this, firstly, will slow down the program, and, secondly, it can generally lead to a “blue screen of death” due to frequent changes of content...

And one more thing... The more files in the indexed folder, the more RAM the program will consume to support the index. My 46 thousand files, for example, in idle mode “devour” up to 200 megabytes of RAM and up to 20% of the processor! And in search mode, it happens that all resources are used (fortunately, the search only takes a couple of seconds).

Well, now you seem to know everything - let's get to the fun part.

Easy file search in DocFetcher

After closing the scanning window, we will return to the main window again, but now we will have an indexed folder in the search area:

By clicking on the plus sign to the left of the folder name, we will expand its structure and be able to see the directory tree. Moreover, along with regular folders, the tree also includes archives, the attachment structure of which we can also view!

By default, all folders in the indexed directory are marked for search. However, we can always narrow the search field by checking only the necessary directories or archives.

Let's leave the entire folder selected and try to set the first word to search. Let, for example, be the word "installer". Enter the word into the search bar and click the “Search” button:

The program thought for 3 seconds, and then produced a list of 180 (see the lower left corner for “Results”) files in which the searched word occurs in the same form that we entered.

All files are sorted by default by the “Hit” indicator, which expresses in percentage form the degree of relevance of each file to the entered query. In our example, the maximum match percentage - 22% - was assigned to a file in which the search word appears twice (and in the same paragraph).

If you select this file in the search list, its contents will be displayed in the preview window, and the first match found will be highlighted in blue (like a normal selection). Subsequent matches will be highlighted in yellow and you can quickly navigate to them using the up and down arrow buttons on the viewport toolbar.

On the same panel for regular text files there are two more buttons that allow you to turn off the highlighting of search results and activate/deactivate HTML viewing mode (if available for this file type).

And one last thing. Any file in the list of found ones can be opened by a regular double-click or using the context menu. The latter also contains items that allow you to open the parent folder of a file or copy the file itself to the clipboard.

Using search masks

Advanced (and sometimes not so advanced) users know that you can search in Internet search engines not only using simple queries, but also using a variety of special features that allow you to include/exclude certain words in/from search results, search for inexact matches, etc. .P.

DocFetcher, being essentially the same search engine, but local, can do this too :). However, unlike conventional search robots, by default it only looks for strict matches to the query. To get around this limitation, you need to use special characters «?» And «*» . Let me explain with an example with the word already mentioned above "installer":

Special character "?" replaces any one letter. That is, if we put it at the end of the searched word, then we can find files in which there are various forms of this word, in which only the last letter changes (see the screenshot above: “installer”, “installer”, etc.) . However, you should remember that with such a search, files with the main form of the search word will not be found!

For a more flexible search, use the special character “*”:

This symbol allows you to find results that are completely equivalent to the query, or that have different endings, which may not consist of one letter, as in the previous case (for example, files with the words “installer”, “installers”, “installers” and even “ installer").

Always use an asterisk when you want to specify a non-exact match for a query!

By the way, in the screenshot above we can see the activation of the HTML code processing function. In this mode, the preview window turns into a mini-browser with navigation buttons, a search bar and all the necessary attributes. You can switch to code viewing mode using the outermost button on the right.

In addition to using the special characters mentioned above, DocFetcher supports some other search functions:

• Boolean operators "AND", "OR" and "NOT" (similar to "&&", "||" and "-") for searching that contains two keywords at the same time, one of the keywords, or excludes one of the words. For example: “cat && dog” - all documents in which the words “cat” and “dog” appear will be found, “cat OR dog” - documents where at least one of the words is found, “cat - dog” - documents where there is only the word "cat", without mention of the word "dog". You can combine multiple operators, for example, the query "(cat OR dog) AND mouse" will return all documents that contain the word "cat" or "dog" as well as the word "mouse".
• Phrasal special characters. This includes quotation marks and the “+” sign. For example, a phrase placed in quotation marks will be searched in its unchanged form (the one in which you wrote it down). This function is similar to the exact search function in regular search engines. The “+” sign indicates that the word marked by it has priority, while the remaining words of the query may not be present. For example, the request “+cat dog” will first give us all files that contain both keywords, and then those that only contain the word “cat”. If you add “+” to all query words, the result will be equivalent to using the “AND” operator.
• Search for similar words. With DocFetcher we can search for files containing words similar to the keyword. To do this, use the special character “~” at the end of the keyword. For example, the query “cat~” can return the words “code”, “that”, “sweat”, etc. Additionally, we can specify the degree of similarity in the range from “0” to “1”. By default (if we haven't specified a value), this degree is "0.5" (equivalent to the query "cat ~0.5").
• Search by file attributes. In practice, it is often necessary to find files not only (and not so much) by content, but also by certain attributes. For example, we want to find all letters from Vasya Pupkin. To do this, you can use the following request: “sender:“Vasya Pupkin””. Unfortunately, attribute search is only available for text files (attributes: title, filename, and author) and email files (attributes: subject, sender, and recipients).

There are also some other specific search functions, but since they are not particularly in demand, we will not consider them (if you want, you can read about them in the English manual for the program in the “Query Syntax” section).

Search area context menu

I thought for a long time whether it was worth focusing on the context menu, but in the end, to complete the picture, so to speak, I decided to stop after all :). If you remember, at the very beginning, only the first item was active here - “Create index from”. Now, after indexing the folder, all other options become available to us:

If we do not take into account obvious functions such as “Update index” or “Delete “dead” indexes”, then we will only be interested in the last item of the context menu - “List of documents”. By activating it, we will receive in the search results field not the result of any query, but a list of all files in the folder for which the document list display function was called. Sometimes such an opportunity will be useful and even convenient!

DocFetcher settings

You can get into the program’s few settings by clicking the second button to the right of the search line:

Here all parameters should be clear and without additional explanations. The only thing you should pay attention to is the "Advanced Settings" link in the lower left corner. Clicking it opens a text configuration file in which you can make some fine adjustments.

Alas, the comments to the settings (and they themselves) are in English, so I advise you to change anything only if you clearly understand what the selected parameter will affect!

Advantages and disadvantages of the program

• almost instant search by file names and contents;
• the ability to create complex queries;
• sorting search results by relevance;
• search in archives;
• preview of file contents with query highlighting.

• the need for preliminary indexing of files;
• by default, a strict match to the request is searched, which is not always convenient;
• high resource consumption when indexing a large number of files.

conclusions

DocFetcher is not the only program of its kind, but one of the most functional, even in comparison with paid software.

The only serious drawback, in my opinion, is the fact that the application is written in JAVA, which, despite all the statements of the developers, heavily loads the system. Of course, for modern multi-core PCs this is not a problem, but on older machines, “brakes” can sometimes be observed.

Otherwise, DocFetcher is an excellent search engine that in a few moments can find any important file based on just one word that it contained. The program will also be indispensable for developers, as it allows you to search for any complex code structures.

P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

Programs for quickly searching information on a computer.

↓ New in the "File Search" category:

Free
Bloodhound 4.5.2 is a personal search system that has the ability to find the necessary documents or files on your hard drive in one second. The Snoop app allows users to find and use any document almost instantly with a simple keyword search.

Free
Archivist 3000 4.44 is an application that will search for documents and email messages on your computer, on removable drives and on the local network. The Archivist 3000 application searches using keywords or query language.

Free
SearchMyFiles 2.06 is an application that will help replace the standard Windows search, expanding its functionality and making it more convenient. The SearchMyFiles application can easily search for files in the system according to specified parameters.

Free
REM 6.0 will help the user to quickly search by parameters such as name, content and user access to data of files and folders not only on the computer, but also on the local network or on available FTP servers. The REM application will help users who store a large number of different folders and files not only on local drives, but also on the network.

Free
NetLook 2.3 is a small utility that scans a local network. The NetLook utility also has the ability to navigate shared resources and exchange network messages between different users.

Free
Disk Investigator 1.61 is an application for finding hidden information from your hard drive. The Disk Investigator application will help not only search, but also restore data deleted by mistake.

Free
Copernic Desktop Search 3.5.1 is an application for collecting various data. The Copernic Desktop Search application also has the ability to work with mail message data and process attached files contained in the memory of your hard drive.

Free
CloneSpy 2.62 is an application for identifying duplicate files on your hard drive. The CloneSpy application will help you conveniently and quickly find duplicates of downloaded programs, regardless of their name or download date.

Free
AVSearch 3.13 is an application for searching files on disks based on text fragments with any encoding. AVSearch supports Windows, KOI-8R, UNICODE, OEM 866 (DOS) and ISO 8859-5 encodings.

Free
Auslogics Duplicate File Finder 2.2.1.0 is an effective and easy-to-use application for finding and removing duplicate files that take up extra memory. The Auslogics Duplicate File Finder application will help you quickly clean up about half of your disk space.

Every day the volume of information from the network, and therefore on users’ computers, increases. On the average user’s hard drives, the number of files can reach several hundred, and finding the one you need in the total mass is not at all easy. The standard Windows search engine does not always work quickly and has very limited functionality, so it makes sense to use third-party programs.

In this review, we will look at several programs that will help you find the necessary data on your computer.

This program is perhaps the most powerful tool for searching PC disks. It has many fine settings, filters and functions. The distribution also includes additional utilities for interacting with the file system.

One of the distinctive features of Search My Files is the ability to completely delete files by overwriting with zeros or random data.

SearchMyFiles

Search My Files is often confused with the previous software due to its similar name. This program differs in that it is easier to use, but at the same time, it lacks some functions, for example, searching on network drives.

Everything

A simple search program with its own features. Everything can search for data not only on the local computer, but also on ETP and FTP servers. It stands out from other representatives of similar software in that it allows you to track changes in the computer’s file system.

Effective File Search

Another very easy to set up and use software. With a very tiny size, it has a sufficient number of functions, is able to export results to text and table files, and can be installed on a flash drive.

UltraSearch

UltraSearch can find not only files and folders, but also search for information in the contents of documents by key phrase or word. The main distinguishing feature of the program is the automatic initialization of connected media.

R.E.M.

REM has a more friendly interface than previous participants. The principle of the program is to create zones in which files are automatically indexed, which can significantly speed up the search process. Zones can be created not only on the local computer, but also on disks on the network.

Google Desktop Search

Developed by a world famous company, Google Desktop Search is a small local search engine. With its help, you can search for information both on your home PC and on the Internet. In addition to the main function, the program provides for the use of information blocks - gadgets for the desktop.

All of the programs in this list are great replacements for native Windows search. Choose for yourself: install simpler software, but with a smaller set of functions, or a whole search engine with the ability to process files. If you work with folders and drives on a local network, then REM and Everything are suitable for you, and if you plan to “carry the program with you,” then pay attention to Effective File Search or Search My Files.

Free programs for searching on your local computer. The programs are designed to search for duplicate files, files that take up a lot of space, as well as to organize a convenient search based on specified criteria.

AllDup – search for duplicate files and folders

A flexible tool for quickly finding duplicate files on your system, allowing you to delete everything you don't need. You can specify which drives and folders you would like to study, for example, plus the program works fluently with local and network drives, folders and files.

Everything – a program for quickly searching files

A free local search program that will help you quickly find a file on your computer. It will scan and create an index of the contents of all your disks installed on your computer (HDD, SSD, USB flash drives, etc.). The program only works with the NTFS file system.

SimilarImages – search and delete identical photos

A free program that searches for identical photos (similar images, duplicates) on your hard drive. It is possible to automatically and manually remove duplicates. Supports searching for all major graphic formats and many others.

Xinorbis - what takes up disk space

An advanced utility for complete analysis of hard disk content in the Windows operating system. The program will show the user maximum information about the contents of his hard drive - which files and folders take up space, which ones take up the most space, and what types of files are located most on it.

DupKiller – clean disk from duplicate files

A program for cleaning your computer from duplicate files on your disks. Thanks to its own algorithm, files are searched as quickly as possible, and a large number of settings allow you to optimize the search for certain criteria.

AntiDupl. NET – find identical photos on the computer...

The program searches for the main graphic formats: JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, GIF, PSD, EXIF, EMF, WMF, ICON, TGA. You specify the folders in which to search and start the search by pressing the “play” key. All found duplicates will be presented in a convenient form, and you can easily put things in order in your photo album.