File Search Manager Bohdan Koudelka

desktop files mft ntfs search utility windows

Use this command to install File Search Manager with WinGet:

winget install --id=BohdanKoudelka.FileSearchManager -e

Fast Windows desktop file search and management with live filtering, content search, drag-and-drop, archive support, optional NTFS MFT indexing, and keyboard or context-menu file operations.

File Search Manager

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File Search Manager is a fast Windows desktop search and file-management application. It indexes local drives, filters millions of file-system entries as you type, searches file contents, and performs common file operations directly from the result list.

The WPF desktop app can read the NTFS Master File Table through an optional Windows service or an elevated helper. When neither is available, it falls back to a normal directory walk.

Features

Fast NTFS indexing with live file-system updates and safe fallback scanning.
Filtering by name, immediate parent folder, full path, or exact directory.
UTF-8, UTF-16, case-insensitive, and hexadecimal content search.
Sortable Name, Size, Count, Changed, Folder, and content-result columns. Count is 1 for a file and the number of all descendant files and folders for a directory.
Extended mouse selection plus keyboard-driven selection commands.
Drag files and directories to other applications from the Name or Folder column.
Drop files onto selected directories to copy, move, create symbolic links, or create hard links.
Drop files onto executables and scripts to pass them as arguments.
Pin named filters for one-click switching between reusable result sets.
Keep folders, archives, and executables in a persistent target basket and apply one source selection to several targets.
Export and import pinned filters and the complete target basket as one JSON settings file.
Standard Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V shell-compatible clipboard operations.
Collision handling with overwrite, skip, rename, and apply-to-all choices.
Transfer progress and cancellation, plus restore-friendly best-effort deletion through the Recycle Bin.
Dynamic Open with menu for installed compatible applications, including diff tools, 7-Zip, browsers, editors, and Ghostscript-family viewers.
ZIP and 7z creation, archive extraction, and browsing of supported archive contents.
Persistent filter/search history and window layout under %LOCALAPPDATA%\win-search.

Install

The preferred installation method is Windows Package Manager:

winget install --id BohdanKoudelka.FileSearchManager --exact

Alternatively, download the latest installer from GitHub Releases.

The installer is named FileSearchManager-Setup-.exe. It installs File Search Manager.exe under Program Files, creates Start Menu shortcuts, and installs the read-only WinSearchService for prompt-free NTFS indexing. The service is selected by default and can be unchecked during setup; without it the app asks for administrator rights at every start, or falls back to a slower folder walk.

The Modify button in Windows Apps & features launches the cached installer and offers Modify settings: it keeps the installed files and only re-applies the options, so the service can be added or removed afterwards without reinstalling. Running the installer of the version that is already installed offers the same choice. Any other version is an upgrade, whose task page changes the service just as well.

Quick Start

Start File Search Manager.
With the service installed there is no prompt at startup. Without it, approve the optional elevation prompt for immediate MFT access, or decline it for the folder-walk fallback. Either way the elevated helper is offered on the first action that needs administrator rights (the A key, admin-only files); the 🛡 toggle next to 🌐 asks for it at launch instead.
Type in Filter to narrow the result list.
Type in Search and press Enter to search contents within the filtered files.
Select results with the mouse or keyboard.
Use the right-click menu, drag-and-drop, standard clipboard shortcuts, or commands shown in the Hints panel.

Press F1 anywhere to open the complete keyboard help. Press F12 to refresh the NTFS index; both shortcuts are always shown in Hints, including while the result grid has focus.

Deletion first attempts each selected folder as one fast operation. If a locked or inaccessible item prevents that, File Search Manager continues with the largest removable subtrees and leaves only the blocked items and their required parent folders. Recycle Bin items retain their attributes and original locations; use Restore to put a partially recycled tree back. Shift+Delete uses the same best-effort behavior permanently and clears the ReadOnly attribute when necessary.

The user interface follows the Windows display language. English is used as a fallback; Czech, German, French, Spanish, and Polish are also included.

See docs/HELP.md for filter syntax and detailed controls.

Build

Prerequisites:

Windows
.NET 10 SDK
Inno Setup 6 for installer builds

Build:

dotnet build search/search.sln

Publish both self-contained binaries and build the installer in one clean step:

.\tools\Build-Installer.ps1

The script clears stale generated publish inputs, rebuilds the app and service, verifies that their versions match, and then invokes Inno Setup. The main publish output is File Search Manager.exe; the installer is written under installer/Output.

Release versions come from v* git tags. The release workflow publishes the installer and SHA-256 checksum.

winget Publishing

The winget package identifier is:

BohdanKoudelka.FileSearchManager

Generate manifests with:

.\tools\New-WingetManifest.ps1 `
  -Version 0.1.0 `
  -InstallerUrl https://github.com/KoudelkaB/win-search/releases/download/v0.1.0/FileSearchManager-Setup-0.1.0.exe `
  -InstallerPath .\installer\Output\FileSearchManager-Setup-0.1.0.exe

See docs/WINGET.md for the complete release checklist.

Compatibility Notes

The repository name, internal search namespace, optional service name WinSearchService, installer AppId, and %LOCALAPPDATA%\win-search data directory remain unchanged so existing installations and settings continue to upgrade cleanly.

License

File Search Manager is licensed under the MIT License. Third-party dependency notices are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.