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Vow Ask Your Files
Private AI document search for Windows
Ask your files a question. Get the answer, and the page.
"Which contract mentions a late-payment clause?" Vow Ask Your Files finds the contract, quotes the clause and tells you the file and page. Small AI models run on your own PC, and every answer is a real sentence from your files. No uploads, no account.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- Light & dark theme
- One folder of any size, 20 questions a day
No ads. Ever.No pop-ups, no banners, no "offers".
No malware or bundlewareThe installer installs one thing: this app.
No account, no uploadIt works on your PC, and your files stay there.
Free daily limits, just $9.95 unlimitedNo subscription. No trial that runs out.
The problem
You know it's in a file somewhere
The notice period, the warranty, the figure from last year's report. Ordinary search finds file names; you need the sentence.
File names, not answers
Ordinary search tells you which files contain a word. You still open twenty of them to find the one sentence you need.
Upload it to ask it
Cloud AI chat wants your contracts, payslips and reports on someone else's servers before it will answer anything.
Confident, but made up
Chatbots can answer fluently and wrongly, with no page to check the answer against.
Gigabytes before the first question
Local AI tools often need a separate multi-gigabyte model download, a powerful graphics card and an afternoon of setup.
Subscriptions for search
Desktop search suites charge yearly plans, often with text recognition for scans saved for the top tier.
Indexing that never ends
Heavy indexers re-read files that never changed and slow the whole PC down while they do it.
Vow Ask Your Files fixes all of it.
How it works
Add. Ask. Answered.
Point it at a folder, ask in your own words, and read the answer with its source a moment later.
- 01
Add a folder
Drag a folder onto the window or press Ctrl+O. Subfolders are included, the newest files are read first, and you can ask straight away.
Drop a folder of documents, then ask in plain words - 02
Ask in your own words
Type a question and press Enter. The answer card shows the best sentence with a confidence label and the file and page it came from.
Drop a folder of documents, then ask in plain words - 03
Check the source
Show in context opens the document's text with the passage centred and highlighted; Open opens the file in its own program.
...and how each answer points back to its source
Features
Answers you can check, from files that stay put
For anyone with years of contracts, reports, policies and notes, and no time to open them one by one.
The exact sentence, cited
The answer card quotes the best sentence from your files with its file and page, slide, sheet or line. Nothing is invented.
Words and meaning together
Keyword search and a semantic AI model work side by side, then a second model re-reads each passage to pick the best one.
Reads the files you have
PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, RTF, text, Markdown, CSV, web pages, EPUB e-books and documents inside zips.
Show in context
Read the document's text beside the results, with the passage centred and your question's words highlighted.
Always up to date
Only new or changed files are read again, changes are noticed while the app runs, and deleted files leave the index.
Filters when you want them
"Exact phrase", -word, type:pdf, in:Contracts, after:2024-03 or year:2023, or pick a folder, type and date from the menus.
Emails too
Outlook .msg, .eml and .mbox mailboxes from Thunderbird or Gmail Takeout, with their attachments, in Unlimited.
Text in scans and photos
Windows' own text recognition reads scanned PDF pages and photos of documents so they answer questions too, in Unlimited.
Export answers with sources
Save answers with numbered source citations as Markdown, HTML or CSV for a report or a file note, in Unlimited.
History with pins
Every question is kept on this PC only, with its hits and best file. Pin the ones you ask often and ask again in one click.
Light & dark theme
Easy on the eyes, day or night.
Ask Your Files comes with a crisp light theme and a calm dark theme. Switch with one click, or let it follow your Windows setting by itself. It remembers your choice.
- LightClear and bright for daytime and busy offices
- DarkGentle on tired eyes late at night
- Follow WindowsChanges by itself when your PC does
Screenshots
See Vow Ask Your Files in action
Real screenshots of the real app, in both of its themes: 6 light, 6 dark. Click any picture to see it full size.
Light theme
Dark theme
Who it's for
Questions it answers every day
Contracts and leases
"How much notice do I have to give?" answered from the lease itself, with the page number.
Warranties and manuals
Find the warranty period or the service interval without opening every PDF in the folder.
HR and company policies
Answer staff questions from the policy folder, quoted word for word with the source.
Reports and budgets
Who owns the marketing budget, what last year's figure was, and which report said so.
Lawyers and consultants
Search years of client files privately, without a single document leaving the office.
Students and researchers
Ask your papers and notes a question and get the passage to quote, with its source.
Compare
Vow Ask Your Files vs the usual ways to search documents
Keyword search, cloud AI chat and desktop search suites, side by side.
| Feature | Vow Ask Your Files | Desktop search & cloud AI tools |
|---|---|---|
| Your documents are uploaded | Never: everything runs on your PC | Yes, for cloud AI chat |
| What you get back | The exact sentence, with file and page | File names, or generated text without a page |
| Searches by meaning, not just words | Yes, words and meaning combined | Keyword only in many desktop tools |
| Model download and setup | None: small models are built in | Often multi-gigabyte downloads |
| Needs a graphics card | No: runs on the processor | Often, for local AI tools |
| Text in scanned documents | Built in, using Windows' own OCR | Often a top-tier plan or extra setup |
| Re-reads unchanged files | No: only new or changed files | Some do, slowing the PC |
| Price | Free every day, or $9.95 once | Monthly or yearly subscriptions |
"Typical" describes what we found across the most-downloaded alternatives when we built Ask Your Files. Your mileage with any one of them may vary; ours won't.
Pricing
Free every day. Just $9.95 once for the lot.
That is not a typo. Software this powerful usually means a monthly subscription; Ask Your Files is $9.95, once, for life: it's almost a giveaway. Use it free for as long as you like, and unlock Unlimited only if you need more.
Free
$0forever
One folder of any size, 20 questions a day.
- 20 questions a day (resets at midnight)
- The same question again that day is free
- One folder of any size, with all its subfolders
- PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, web pages and e-books
- Answers with the exact passage, page and file
- No watermarks, no sign-up, nothing uploaded
Best valueUnlimited
$9.95USD, once. Yours for life.
Almost a giveaway. Less than a takeaway lunch for software this powerful: no subscription, no renewals, yours for life on 2 PCs.
Any number of folders and questions, emails, OCR, exports.
- Unlimited questions and any number of folders
- Emails: Outlook .msg, .eml and .mbox, with attachments
- Text recognition for scanned PDFs and photos
- Export answers with numbered source citations
- Written answers from a local AI model, with citations
- One payment, yours for life on 2 PCs
How unlocking works
- 1Use it free first Install Vow Ask Your Files and use it on your own files. No card, no account, no time limit.
- 2Click "Unlimited" in the app Pay $9.95 USD once by card, securely through Stripe in your browser.
- 3It unlocks itself Within seconds, for life, on up to 2 of your PCs. Your license key is emailed to you, and every future update is included.
Payments by Stripe: we never see or store your card. Questions? Ask a real person.
Clean software
Safe to install. Nothing else comes with it.
Most "free" Windows downloads pay for themselves with ads, bundled extras or your data. Vow Ask Your Files doesn't need to: it's paid for honestly, once, by the people who find it useful.
Download Ask Your Files free- No ads, toolbars or "offers"The installer installs one thing: Vow Ask Your Files. No pre-ticked boxes to watch out for.
- No administrator rights neededIt installs just for you, in your own user folder, and leaves the rest of Windows alone.
- Nothing running in the backgroundNo startup programs, no tray nags, no services. When you close it, it's closed.
- Everything includedAll it needs is inside the installer, so you never have to fetch a "required component" from somewhere else.
- Uninstalls cleanlyOne click in Windows Settings > Apps. Your own files are never touched.
- A real company behind itMade, published and supported by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company, with real people answering every message.
Step-by-step guide
How to search inside your documents with plain questions
From a folder of files to a cited answer in two clicks, without uploading a single page.
Step 1: get it freeDownload and install it free
Get Vow Ask Your Files from this page and run the installer. Everything it needs, including both AI models, is inside: nothing downloads on first run, and there is no account.
Add the folder you want to ask
Drag a folder onto the window, press Ctrl+O or click Choose a folder. It is read in the background, newest files first, and you can start asking straight away.
Ask a question
Type it in your own words, such as "What is the warranty period?", and press Enter. Smart mode combines words and meaning; Exact words looks for the precise term.
Read the answer card
The best sentence appears at the top, marked Strong match or Good match, with its source. Below it, every matching document shows the passage highlighted with its page, slide or sheet.
Check it in context
Press Show in context (or Space) to read the passage inside the document, or Open to open the file in its own program. Ctrl+Shift+C copies the answer together with its sources.
Technical details
Ask Your Files at a glance
- Works on
- Windows 10 (1809+) and Windows 11, 64-bit
- Reads
- PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ODF, RTF, text, HTML, EPUB, zip
- AI models
- bge-small-en-v1.5 + MiniLM re-ranker, on the CPU
- Search
- Keywords (SQLite FTS5) + meaning, re-ranked
- Citations
- File plus page, slide, sheet or line
- Internet
- Not needed: works fully offline
- Install
- Per-user, no administrator rights, no account
- Languages
- English (keyword search: any language)
- Theme
- Light, dark or follow Windows: one click to switch
- Version
- 1.0.0, released 7 November 2026
- Publisher
- XTO Pty Ltd (Australia)
FAQ
Questions about Ask Your Files
Is Vow Ask Your Files free?
Yes. You can search one folder of any size and ask 20 questions a day for free (resets at midnight; asking the same question again that day is free), with PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more. Unlimited, a one-time $9.95 USD payment, adds unlimited questions and folders, emails, text recognition for scans, answer exports and local AI answers.
Are my documents sent to an AI service?
No. Reading the files, the search index and both AI models all run on your own PC. Your documents are only read, never changed, moved or uploaded.
Does it make up answers like a chatbot?
No. The answer card is a real sentence quoted from your files, with its file and page and a confidence label. When nothing in your files answers the question, it says it isn't sure instead of inventing an answer.
Do I need a powerful PC or a graphics card?
No. The two small AI models (about 55 MB together) run on the processor. In testing, a question over 4,500 passages took about 0.35 seconds, and keyword search works the moment a folder is added.
Which files can it read?
PDF, Word (.docx, .doc, .rtf), Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, text, Markdown, CSV, JSON, code, web pages, EPUB e-books and documents inside .zip files. Unlimited adds Outlook .msg, .eml and .mbox emails and text recognition for scanned PDFs and photos.
Does it work in languages other than English?
Keyword search works in any language, with accents handled. The meaning search and re-ranking models are trained on English, so they work best with English documents.
Can it write answers with AI?
Yes, optionally, with Unlimited. If Ollama runs on your PC, Vow passes the top passages to your local model and shows a written answer that cites them as [1] and [2]. It never downloads a model itself, and the built-in search doesn't need one.
Is it safe to install?
Yes. It is made and published by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company. There are no ads, no bundled software and no account, it needs no administrator rights, and it uninstalls cleanly from Windows Settings.
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Done searching. Get Ask Your Files.
Ask your documents a question, get the exact answer and its source. Free to use every day, $9.95 once if you ever want Unlimited.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- No subscription