Free downloadWindows 10 and 11 x64

sgcFSearch
Find any file while you type

A whole-disk file search tool for Windows. sgcFSearch indexes the name of every file and folder on your fixed drives, answers queries in milliseconds and keeps the index current while files change.

Download installer Download zip User Guide

Two downloads: the signed installer sgcFSearch_setup.exe, or sgcFSearch.zip with the signed sgcFSearch.exe and sgcfs.exe and the user guide, for a manual installation.

No admin rights Alt+Shift+Space Content search CLI and pipe API
The sgcFSearch search bar showing results while a query is typed
Speed

Fast on a disk with 3.4 million files

QA measurements on one PC with a Release build. Query times are the median server times reported by sgcfs bench.

63sFirst crawl of C:3,404,349 files and 447,577 folders
15.8msQuery, one wordover the whole index
308msA file change in resultslive update visible in searches
1.0sRestart to readyindex loaded, journal caught up
13.8msQuery with a typo
17.6msQuery, two words
13.1msFiltered query
0.16msContent grep
306MBMemory

Results depend on the disk, the CPU and the number of files. Run sgcfs bench to measure your own PC.

See it in action

Recorded from the real app

Captured from sgcFSearch running on a Windows PC.

Typing a query in the sgcFSearch bar, the result list updates on every key
Search as you type

Results on every keystroke

Press Alt + Shift + Space anywhere and start typing. Results appear as you type, best matches first, with file icons and the matched letters highlighted.

Enter opens the file and Ctrl + Enter shows it in its folder.

A misspelled query in sgcFSearch still finding the intended file
Typo tolerance

One wrong letter is fine

A word of 5 letters or more also matches with one error: a missing, extra or different letter, or two neighbour letters swapped. confgi finds config.json and raport finds report.pdf.

Typo matches get the lowest match tier, so they normally rank below exact matches.

Filter chips in the sgcFSearch bar narrowing the results by type, date and size
Filter chips

Narrow it down with a click

The Type, Modified, Size, In folder and Sort chips write filters such as type:images or mtime:week into the query. A filter you type by hand lights up its chip too.

The bar remembers your last 50 searches. With an empty box, Up brings them back.

A grep query in sgcFSearch listing matching lines inside files
Content search

Search inside your files

grep:TODO lists the lines that contain the text, in the files under your content folders. regex: matches a regular expression and sym: finds where a symbol is defined.

When no file name matches, sgcFSearch looks inside the files on its own.

Features

Everything a file search needs

One tray app owns the index. The search bar, the command line and your own tools all ask it.

Every fixed drive

A multi-threaded crawler on the native NT directory API lists every fixed drive. The index is saved to names.idx and loads in about a second at the next start.

Live updates, no admin

While the app runs, a change shows up in searches within a fraction of a second. After a restart the NTFS change journal is read through the unprivileged interface, so no administrator rights are needed.

Typo tolerant

Words of 5 letters or more match with one error, so a slip of the finger still finds the file. Typo matches normally rank below exact ones.

Rich query syntax

Exact, prefix, suffix and exclude modifiers, path tokens, and filters for extension, type, kind, folder, path, size, modified date, regular expression, limit and sort.

Content search

A trigram index of the text in your content folders: text and source code, Word, Excel and PowerPoint without Office installed, OpenDocument, and PDF through Windows filters.

Ranking that learns

Results are scored by match quality and folder depth, and the files you open or copy move up. Each use counts half as much after 14 days, so old habits fade out.

Filter chips and history

Chips for Type, Modified, Size, In folder and Sort write the filters for you. Open, show in folder and copy are one key away, and the last 50 searches are kept.

sgcfs command line

The same results in a terminal, with plain, long and JSON output, exit codes for scripts and a JSON lines bridge. Pipe the paths straight into PowerShell.

Named pipe API

One JSON object per line for your own scripts and tools. The pipe grants access to the current user only and rejects remote clients.

Command line

The same index from a terminal

sgcfs talks to the running app through the pipe and starts it in the background when needed. Paths go to stdout, the summary goes to stderr.

Query syntax

Cheat sheet

Words and filters are separated by spaces, in any order. Every word must match the file or folder name, in any case.

Words and modifiers
You typeFinds
budget 2026Names that contain every word
confgiconfig.json too: one typo in words of 5 letters or more
'readme.mdNames exactly equal to the word
^setupNames that start with the word
.bak$Names that end with the word
!.log$Leaves out names that match
"annual report"Keeps the space inside one word
src\mainNames with main below a folder whose name contains src
node_modules\Anything below a node_modules folder
Filters
You typeFinds
ext:pas,dfmFiles with one of these extensions
type:images,codeFiles of a category, or folders with type:folders
kind:dirOnly folders, or only files with kind:file
in:~\DownloadsItems inside that folder, at any depth
path:backupThe full path contains the text
size:>10mbFile size, also ranges like size:1mb..5mb
mtime:<7dModified in the last 7 days, or mtime:today
re:^img_\d{4}\.jpg$The name matches a regular expression
sort:sizeLargest first, also name, date and -date
limit:20At most 20 results
grep:TODOLines inside files, with regex: and sym: as siblings

Full query syntax in the User Guide

How it works

One index, always current

The tray app owns the engine. The search bar calls it directly and every other client goes through the named pipe.

sgcFSearch architecture: drives feed the crawler, the watcher and the journal catch-up, which build the name index; the name index feeds the content index, the search bar and the pipe server used by sgcfs and your scripts Fixed drives files and folders NTFS change journal Crawler NT directory API, many threads Watcher ReadDirectoryChangesW Journal catch-up after a restart, no admin Name index in memory saved to names.idx Content index trigrams, content.idx Search bar Alt+Shift+Space Pipe server JSON lines sgcfs.exe and your scripts

The crawl

Each folder is opened relative to its parent and listed in bulk, many entries per call, on several threads. Junctions and links are recorded but not entered.

The name index

One compact record per file or folder, with the names stored once in a shared pool. Searches scan it on several threads and keep only the best results.

Live updates

A watcher per drive lists changed folders again and applies the differences. After a restart, only the folders the change journal reports are listed again.

The content index

Every trigram of the extracted text points to the files that hold it. Candidates are read again at search time, so results never come from stale data.

Requirements

What you need

Install with the setup or just unzip, no administrator rights at any step.

Windows 10 or 11, x64

Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763) or later, or Windows 11, 64-bit.

No admin needed

A normal user account runs it, indexes the drives and reads the change journal.

Setup or unzip

The setup installs per user, adds a Start menu entry and can start the app at login and put sgcfs on the PATH. For a manual installation, unzip the folder anywhere and run sgcFSearch.exe, then sgcfs install --login adds the same two entries and sgcfs uninstall removes them.

Memory and disk

They grow with the number of files. With 3.4 million files the QA PC used 306 MB of memory and a 202 MB names.idx.

Search your whole disk in milliseconds

Free download for Windows 10 and 11 x64. Get the signed installer, or the zip with the program files and the user guide for a manual installation.

Download installer Download zip User Guide (HTML) PDF