Archivarius 3000：The Best file content search software than FileLocator on Windows
"Google Desktop"
What was it used for?
It functioned like a "local version of Google Search Engine", but it could only search local files.
Besides being faster than the built-in system search, it could also search the full text content of documents in formats like txt, pdf, and doc.
In fact, full-text document search is a genuine necessity, whether for office work or academic research.
Presumably, many people have encountered similar problems like these:
Having a bunch of xls spreadsheets and suddenly needing someone's information, but having to open each spreadsheet one by one to find it.
Downloading PDF papers, remembering the general content after reading them, but later forgetting which paper to reference or cite.
Writing a Word document a long time ago, then neither remembering where it was saved nor what the file name was, and rummaging through folders without success.
......
Google Desktop was designed to solve such problems.
Unfortunately, however, this software ceased updates and services as early as 11 years ago 🤦🏻♂️
Nevertheless, for people who work with words, the ability to search full text in documents remains an essential feature.
That's why there are actually quite a few similar products on the market: AnyTxT, Eagle Eye Quick Search, SearchMyFiles, DocFetcher, FileLocator Pro, Guihai Data Desktop Search, Windows 10 Built-in Search, Archivarius, FileSeek, XSearch, and more.
Although each of them is hailed online as a "magic tool" of some sort, most of them are in name only.
After hands-on experience, I will tell you what a real damn magic tool is!
The Indexing Principle You Need to Understand
First of all, it's important to understand that these search software tools can't search all your documents across the entire disk immediately after installation—they all require indexing first.
What is indexing?
Think about how you look up a word in a dictionary—you definitely don't flip through every page from start to finish, right?
You first check the table of contents, find the first letter of the word you want to look up according to the ABCD... order.
Only after finding the first letter can you quickly locate the page number corresponding to the specific word.
The table of contents here is equivalent to an index.
Preliminary Screening of Full-Text Search Software
However, there's still a problem here: indexes can't be generated in an instant.
It's like creating a table of contents for a thick dictionary—it definitely takes a lot of time.
With so many documents on my computer, creating an index file that includes document content would probably take forever(roughly 17 or 18 hours).
▲This is just for one folder.
Unless you have very few files on your computer, the ability to manually set index directories is a crucial feature in practical use.
| Software Name | Customizable Index Directory | Reason for Elimination |
|---|---|---|
| BBdoc | ❎ No | Failed to search anything at all |
| AnyTXT | ❎ No | Crashed while building the index |
| Eagle Eye Quick Search | ✅ Yes | Crashed while building the index when there were too many files |
| Guihai Desktop Data Search | ✅ Yes | Paid software with mediocre search results in actual testing |
| SearchMyFiles | No Indexing | Mediocre search results |
| XSearch | No Indexing | Does not support PDF content search |
| DocSearch | No Indexing | Does not support PDF content search |
| FileSeek | No Indexing | Slow search speed and failed PDF search |
| FileSearchEX | No Indexing | Extremely slow when searching for keywords located in deep lines of a document |
| FileSearchy | No Indexing | Unfriendly to Markdown (md) document search |
| Archivarius | ✅ Yes | - |
| FileLocator Pro | ✅ Yes | - |
| DocFetcher | ✅ Yes | - |
| Windows 10 Built-in Search | ✅ Yes | No search preview function |
After this preliminary screening, I eliminated most of the software.
Next, let's take a detailed look at the remaining 4 options.
What Qualifies as a Real "Magic Tool"?
After actual testing, the software introduced below all:
Support searching common documents (txt/pdf/word/xls/ppt) and documents inside compressed packages.So this won't be specifically mentioned in the following text!!!
However, I additionally tested the search function for e-book formats like epub/mobi/azw3 and Markdown (md) files.
Archivarius 3000 (Win)
You Can Click to download the Archivarius 3000（This software supports the English language）: https://link-hub.net/1394003/B45P0AxY4Mam
There are very few online articles about this software, and its last update was in late 2014.
Nevertheless, based on the test results, Archivarius is truly a little-known magic tool! 👑
After launching the software, it will prompt you to set the index directory. The process is basically just clicking "Next" all the way, so I won't demonstrate it here (The index is roughly 1/3 the size of the directory files).
Once the index is built, search results appear in seconds—the results showed up as soon as I finished typing the keywords👇
Moreover, among all the software I tested, this magic tool is the only one that supports searching document formats like azw3/epub/mobi/md by default 💪
You can easily preview the context where the keyword is located on the right side, and right-click the search result in the left window to open it in File Explorer:
▲Search result for an epub document.
If new files are added to the folder, you need to go to the Index section and update it manually (usually select the first option).
If you use it frequently, you can also add a scheduled task for index updates by yourself.
Additionally, you can set a shortcut key to launch the software quickly in the settings, allowing you to start searching anytime, anywhere.
In short, although Archivarius is a product from the Windows 2000 era, its functions undoubtedly live up to the title of "magic tool"!
FileLocator Pro (Win)
Click to download the FileLocator Pro 9.0（This software supports the English language）:
Many people may have considered FileLocator the best full-text search software before.
But in my opinion, it's still not as good as Archivarius 3000. For example, FileLocator does not support searching mobi/azw3 formats, does not support previewing searched epub formats, and requires separate settings to search md formats...
However, ranking FileLocator in the second recommended position is still justified ✌️
Its biggest advantage is: support for direct search without indexing!
Although the speed is naturally slower, it's still fast when the number of files is not large.
▲Recorded in real time, results appeared in approximately 3 seconds.
Because it supports direct search without indexing, it is particularly suitable for users who only need to use it temporarily once or twice on certain occasions.
After all, if there are slightly more files, FileLocator might have already found the search results while you're still waiting for the index to be built.
Of course, FileLocator also supports creating indexes to improve search speed. You just need to change the search mode to "Index Search" and click "Create New Index".
After waiting for the index to be built, you can also achieve search results in seconds!
▲Disadvantage: No preview for epub search results.
Another disadvantage of FileLocator is that it cannot update indexes automatically and does not allow setting scheduled tasks for automatic index updates like Archivarius 3000.
If files in the directory are updated later, you can only click to update the index manually.
▲Having to do it manually is a bit troublesome.
DocFetcher (Win/Mac/Linux)
Click to download DocFetcher: https://docfetcher.sourceforge.io/zh/index.html
The biggest advantages of DocFetcher are that it is free and open-source, and supports Mac and Linux systems—this is the reason why it is included here.
Since it is developed in Java, you may need to install the Java Runtime environment first before installation (if it's not installed on your computer, a download link will pop up automatically when you run the software).
If you are not satisfied with the full-text document search results of Spotlight (the built-in search tool on Mac), you can try using DocFetcher instead.
However, it also has disadvantages: it only additionally supports epub/md formats, does not support mobi/azw3 formats, and when searching for documents inside compressed packages, the displayed file names may appear garbled.
In short, after launching the software, right-click in the lower-left corner of the interface and select a folder to build the index.
▲Create a new index.
It's worth noting that DocFetcher uses fuzzy search mode by default, so searching for a single keyword can easily bring up a large number of irrelevant results.
▲Fuzzy search is enabled by default.
To achieve precise search, you need to manually add double quotes (in English input mode) around the keyword.
As shown in the figure below, after adding the double quotes, you can accurately locate the content you want to search for.
▲Add double quotes for precise search.
Windows 10 Built-in Search (Win)
If you have very basic needs—only wanting to simply search Office documents,
and don't expect to search e-books in mobi/epub/azw3 formats, nor need to search md documents, nor require preview during search...
You can use the built-in search function of the Windows system to solve your problem.
You can quickly bring up the Windows 10 built-in search function using either of the following two sets of shortcut keys:
At the same time, the first step to using Windows 10 Built-in Search to retrieve full text in documents is still to build an index.
Access Windows 10 Search Settings in the upper-right corner of the search interface.
Select "Customize search locations".
Click "Modify" and manually add the document directory.
Then remember to click "Advanced" and change the indexing method to "Index properties and file contents".
After completing the settings, wait for the index to be built, and then you can use it.
The disadvantages of Windows 10 Built-in Search are: no search result preview, no support for searching document formats like epub/mobi/azw3/md, and no support for searching files inside compressed packages.
By default, Windows does not support searching file types like docx, pptx, and xlsx. You need to manually install the Office filter to solve this problem.
Click to download Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Pack：https://link-target.net/1394003/9ONsnSryOxmE
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