Search this PC, or stay within one folder.

Opt in to Search this PC

1. Open PC search

   Type into the This PC search field, or select Search & storage in the sidebar and choose Search files. Opening RFile alone does not start indexing.

2. Reopen a saved index

   From 0.3.79, saved-index validation and rebuild preparation run off the async command workers used by folder browsing. Opening saved search index means RFile is checking saved metadata; you can continue browsing other folders. Views share a pending status request instead of stacking polls. This preserves integrity checks and your existing index; it does not trigger a new index build. Large indexes can still take time to validate. Startup errors provide Retry index status.

3. Choose your scope

   Select Index all local drives for ready fixed drives, or Choose index folder… for one local folder. RFile indexes filenames, locations, sizes, and dates, not file contents. Network locations and link targets are excluded.

4. Follow the build

   The page shows preparation, enumeration and index publication phases, current path, elapsed time, scanned-item count and the worker cap. Metadata probing uses bounded parallel workers; SQLite publication remains a single atomic writer. Stop indexing cancels the build. Results resume after a completed index is available; timing depends on your data and computer.

5. Search as you type

   Use Search indexed files, then narrow results by Files or Folders, Extension, Over 100 MB, Edited this week, or In folder…. The view returns up to 500 indexed results and asks you to narrow the query when more matches exist.

Optional fuzzy filenames

Fuzzy filenames is off by default. Enable it in indexed Search files to allow one or two edits, including adjacent transpositions, in ordinary filename words of 3–64 characters. Exact matches rank first with deterministic ordering. Wildcards and metadata filters retain their exact matching rules; tagged-file queries remain exact.

A fuzzy query supports up to eight terms and filters and examines at most 10,000 indexed candidates. Limited results are not exhaustive: narrow the folder or filters when the limit is reached. This session-only choice is not saved with a smart folder and never enables content reads. The direct folder-toolbar scan does not become fuzzy.

Separately enabled local content search

1. Enable this session

   Expand Local content search and enable content reads. This is a fresh on-demand scan, not a saved or complete content index, and it does not start a whole-PC background scan.

2. Choose one local folder

   Choose the folder whose text you intend to read. Whole-drive roots, network locations, links and junctions, cloud placeholders, named cloud-sync folders, and hidden/system/known credential locations are excluded.

3. Choose file types

   Documents only is the default: UTF-8 TXT, MD, RST, CSV and TSV. Documents and source code additionally allows RS, PY, JS, JSX, TS, TSX, C, CPP, H, HPP, CS, JAVA, GO, CSS, HTML, XML, JSON, YAML, YML and TOML. This does not enable PDF or Office-content extraction. Changing the choice clears old results but does not start a scan.

4. Search deliberately

   Enter literal text and press Search content. Stop content search requests cancellation. Results return matching filenames and locations, not snippets or retained document text. Search again after files change; freshness applies only to that run.

Tags and smart folders

Right-click eligible local files or folders and choose Tags. Add a tag, remove it from the selection, or return to Tags & smart folders > Tagged files to filter and manage assignments. From 0.3.78, Smart folders and Tagged files form one segmented tab switch with a highlighted current view. Click either tab or focus it and use Left/Right, Home or End to switch. Tags live in RFile's local database; they do not move files, modify file contents or attributes, or synchronize tags to another app or computer.

Tagged files are checked against their recorded identity before being shown. Missing, replaced, inaccessible, or unsafe paths are skipped instead of giving another file the same tag. Only explicitly observed, identity-verified renames can follow the file automatically; external moves or unobserved renames may need reassignment.

Save smart folder stores the current query, including the visual filters, under a name. Reopen it from Tags & smart folders to run that query again; it is a saved search, not a copied folder or a frozen result list. A tag:work query searches verified tag assignments and can work without building the PC index.

How local-folder search runs

Enter a query in a local folder's toolbar and press Enter. The current folder becomes the one search root, and RFile scans its descendants directly from the filesystem while sending matching results to the file view. It does not search every drive at once.

The scan is progressive and cancellable. A local search can descend at most 128 levels, examine at most 1,000,000 entries, and display at most 10,000 results. Reparse-point and symlink directories are not followed.

• Recursive

  Yes for a local folder tab: the active folder and its subfolders are scanned.

• Fuzzy

  Not in this direct folder-toolbar path. Use the optional Fuzzy filenames control in indexed Search files for bounded typo matching.

• Indexed

  No for this folder-toolbar path. Use Search & storage > Search files for the opt-in metadata index, visual filters, and saved smart folders.

• Progressive

  Yes. Matches appear while traversal is still in progress instead of waiting for the complete folder tree.

Matching rules

Plain terms use case-insensitive filename substring matching. Add * to match any sequence or ? to match one character. When a query contains several terms, every term must match; terms are combined with AND rather than OR.

With fuzzy filenames off, exact, stem, prefix, and word-start matches can rank ahead of looser substring matches without admitting spelling edits. Indexed Search files has a separate opt-in fuzzy mode; content reads require the separate Local content search action.

• invoice

  Matches filenames containing invoice, regardless of letter case.

• *.pdf

  Uses wildcard matching to find PDF filenames.

• name:invoice ext:pdf

  Requires both the name term and PDF extension filter to match.

• type:image size:>5MB

  Finds image files larger than 5 MB.

• modified:>=2026-01-01 folder:projects

  Combines a modified-date comparison with a parent-folder term.

Typed filters

In a local folder, type filters into the same query field and quote values that contain spaces. Search this PC additionally provides visual Type, Extension, size, date, and folder controls that compose a query for you.

• Name and wildcard

  Use plain text or name:, glob:, *, and ?.

• Extension

  Use ext: or extension:, such as ext:pdf.

• Type

  Use type:file, folder, image, video, audio, document, archive, code, executable, or other.

• Size

  Use size: with >, >=, <, <=, =, or a range using .. or ..=. Units include B, KB, MB, GB, TB, KiB, MiB, GiB, and TiB.

• Dates

  Use created:, modified:, or accessed: with YYYY-MM-DD, a comparison, a range, today, or this-week.

• Folder and hidden state

  Use folder: for a parent-folder term and hidden:true or hidden:false for the hidden attribute.

Search fields in other locations

• This PC

  The search field routes to Search & storage > Search files and the opt-in local metadata index described above.

• Home, Network, and Recycle Bin

  The field performs a case-insensitive substring filter over items already loaded on that page; it is not a recursive filesystem scan.

• Google Drive

  The field filters the currently loaded Drive items and does not recursively search unseen Drive folders.

• Sidebar

  The sidebar field filters Quick Access entries only.

Related documentation

• RFile basics
• Views and navigation
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Feature status