File search guides for Windows, Mac and Linux

Last updated: September 28, 2026 · written by the FileLocator team

Every guide here is step-by-step and tested on real machines. Pick by the one thing you do remember about the file:

You just saved it and it vanished — start with where lost files usually end up.
You know roughly when you worked on it — search by date modified.
You know part of the name or the file type — learn the Windows Search operators, or build a query with our query builder.
You only know a word or phrase inside it — search file contents (and PDFs).

If Windows Search itself is the problem — slow, missing results, or blind to your NAS — jump to setup and performance.

Lost a file? Start here

The rescue searches: a file you just saved, or one you only remember by when you touched it.

Can't find a file you just saved? Where to look → Default save locations, Recent items, and the searches that recover a file in under a minute. Find files modified today or yesterday → Date filters in File Explorer, Everything's dm: syntax, PowerShell, Spotlight and find -mtime.

Windows Explorer search

Get far more out of the search box that is already on your PC.

Windows Search syntax cheat sheet → datemodified:, ext:, kind:, size: and content: operators, with copy-paste examples. Search file contents in Windows → Explorer's content: prefix, index configuration, and the free tools that search inside files properly.

Search inside files

When you remember what a file says, not what it is called.

Search inside PDFs, including scanned ones → Search whole folders of PDFs, set up the Windows PDF iFilter, and OCR scans with no text layer. Regex file search: patterns that work → A plain-English regex crash course and ten copy-paste patterns for filenames and contents.

Find by size and duplicates

Reclaim disk space without deleting anything you need.

Find large files on your PC → Six ways to see what is filling a drive, and what is genuinely safe to delete. Find and remove duplicate files → Hash-based duplicate detection, and the rules for deleting copies safely.

Setup and performance

Fix search that is slow, incomplete, or blind to your network storage.

Fix slow Windows Search → Rebuild a stale index, repair the search service, and know when to replace Windows Search. Search network drives and NAS shares → Why mapped drives are never indexed client-side, and the workarounds that do work.

Organization

The best search is the one you never have to run.

Folder structure best practices → Nesting depth, ISO-8601 date names, the PARA method and naming rules that keep files findable.

Tools

Free, in-browser helpers. Nothing to install, nothing uploaded.

Windows Search query builder → Pick a date, size, type and keywords; get a ready-to-paste File Explorer search query. Free online File Finder → Scan a local folder in your browser for duplicates, large files and text inside files.

Guides by platform

Each hub collects the built-in search features and best tools for one operating system.

/windows/

Windows file search hub

Explorer operators, indexing setup, and the tools that beat built-in search.

/mac/

Mac file search hub

Spotlight, smart folders and mdfind.

/linux/

Linux file search hub

find, fd, locate, ripgrep and desktop search options.