Open every archive, and fix the ones that won't open
- Free: Extract and browse every format with no limit, 3 repairs or joins a day
- $4.95 once: Unlimited repairs and joins, batches of any size, a watch folder
Vow File Search
Instant file search for Windows
Find any file as you type. Every drive. Inside documents too.
Type any part of a name and the results are already there, across every drive, kept up to date live. Remember the words but not the file name? Search inside PDF, Word, Excel and code files. No ads, no account, no subscription, and nothing leaves your PC.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- Light & dark theme
- Unlimited file name search on every drive, 10 searches inside files 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 $4.95 unlimitedNo subscription. No trial that runs out.
The problem
You know it's on here somewhere
Windows Search makes you wait, then misses the file anyway. The alternatives want admin rights, your attention or a yearly fee.
Windows Search keeps you waiting
Type a name, watch the bar crawl, then scroll past web results and apps to find a file you saved yesterday.
And still misses files
If a file isn't somewhere Windows chose to index, it might as well not exist. You end up clicking through folders by hand.
Search tools stuffed with ads
Plenty of free search apps pay their way with banners, sponsored offers and extras slipped into the installer.
A subscription for a search box
Searching the text inside documents is often locked in a yearly plan, for something you need a few times a month.
Admin rights and background services
Some fast search tools want administrator rights, a service or a driver running on your PC all the time.
Names only, never the words inside
You remember what the document said, not what you called it. A name search can't help you with that.
Vow File Search fixes all of it.
How it works
Type. Find. Open.
Results with every keystroke, the right file first, and the text inside your documents one click away.
- 01
Open it and start typing
The first start indexes your drives in the background and you can search straight away. After that the saved index loads in a fraction of a second.
Type a few letters and find any file on any drive - 02
Narrow it down, or look inside
One click for Documents, Pictures, Recent, Large or Duplicates, filters for size, date and folder, or Inside files to search the text in your documents.
Type a few letters and find any file on any drive - 03
Open, show or copy
Enter opens the top result, Ctrl+Enter shows it in Explorer. Right-click to copy, move, rename or send it to the Recycle Bin, or drag it into any app.
Features
A power search tool, without the homework
Simple enough to just type a name, deep enough for size, date, type and full-text searches across millions of files.
Results as you type
Every keystroke searches the whole index. A word over a million file names takes about 15 milliseconds.
Search inside documents
PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, RTF, e-mail, web pages, text and code, with the line or PDF page of every hit.
Always up to date
Every change is followed live, new drives join by themselves, and the saved index loads in about 0.3 seconds.
Filters in one click
Chips for Documents, Pictures, Audio, Video, Archives, Code, Recent, Large and Duplicates, plus size, date and folder filters.
The right file first
Exact names come first, then names that start with your word. Files you open often rank higher, newer before older.
Preview without opening
See the picture, the first lines of a document, or exactly where your words were found, right beside the results.
Power syntax when you want it
Wildcards, "exact phrases", OR and NOT, regex, ext:, size:>1gb, dm:thisweek, in:"folder" and dupe:, with clickable tips.
Act on any result
Open with, copy, move, rename, Recycle Bin, Properties, a terminal there, or Explorer's own right-click menu.
From anywhere, by keyboard
Press Ctrl+Alt+F in any app and type. Arrow keys, Enter and shortcuts for everything, no mouse needed.
Export the results
Save any result list as CSV for Excel, plain text with one path a line, or an Everything file list (EFU).
Light & dark theme
Easy on the eyes, day or night.
File Search 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 File Search in action
Real screenshots of the real app, in both of its themes: 5 light, 5 dark. Click any picture to see it full size.
Light theme
Dark theme
Who it's for
For anyone who has ever lost a file
That invoice or receipt
Type "invoice 2024" and every matching file on every drive is there before you finish typing.
Office work
Find the contract that mentions a client or the spreadsheet with a part number, by searching the words inside.
Developers
Search code by regular expression, filter by extension and leave folders like node_modules out of the index.
Photo collections
Type pic: dm:2024 for every picture from a year, or pic: dupe: for the pictures you have saved twice.
A drive that's nearly full
Sort by size, show files over 100 MB or find duplicates, then send what you don't need to the Recycle Bin.
NAS and network shares
With Unlimited, network drives and NAS shares join the index and are searched just like your own drives.
Compare
Vow File Search vs the usual ways to find a file
What you get when you go looking for something faster than the Start menu.
| Feature | Vow File Search | Windows Search & typical search tools |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free every day, or $4.95 once | Yearly plans, or full-text search as a paid upgrade |
| Ads, pop-ups, bundled extras | None, ever | Common in free search tools |
| Results as you type | About 15 ms over a million names | Windows Search often makes you wait |
| Searches every drive | Every fixed drive, new ones join by themselves | Windows indexes chosen places only |
| Search inside PDF and Office files | Yes, with the line or page of each hit | Often a separate or paid tool |
| Needs admin rights, a service or a driver | None of them | Some fast tools need them |
| One-click filters, no syntax to learn | Yes, chips and a Filters panel | Often memorised syntax only |
| Preview with highlighted hits | Yes | Rarely |
| Account or sign-up | Never | Sometimes required |
"Typical" describes what we found across the most-downloaded alternatives when we built File Search. Your mileage with any one of them may vary; ours won't.
Pricing
Free every day. Just $4.95 once for the lot.
That is not a typo. Software this powerful usually means a monthly subscription; File Search is $4.95, 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
Unlimited file name search on every drive, 10 searches inside files a day.
- Instant file name search on every local drive, unlimited
- Every filter, chip and search operator
- Live updates, preview pane and quick actions
- 10 searches inside files a day (resets at midnight)
- Export results to CSV, TXT or EFU
- No ads, no sign-up, nothing uploaded
Best valueUnlimited
$4.95USD, once. Yours for life.
Almost a giveaway. Less than a coffee for software this powerful: no subscription, no renewals, yours for life on 2 PCs.
Unlimited searches inside files, network drives and NAS shares.
- Unlimited searches inside files, every day
- PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text and code
- Network drives and NAS shares in the index
- Mapped drives and \\server\share paths alike
- One payment, yours for life on 2 PCs
- Every future update included
How unlocking works
- 1Use it free first Install Vow File Search and use it on your own files. No card, no account, no time limit.
- 2Click "Unlimited" in the app Pay $4.95 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 File Search doesn't need to: it's paid for honestly, once, by the people who find it useful.
Download File Search free- No ads, toolbars or "offers"The installer installs one thing: Vow File Search. 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 find any file on Windows in seconds
From "where did I save that?" to the file open in front of you, in a few keystrokes.
Step 1: get it freeDownload and install it free
Get Vow File Search from this page and run the installer. It needs no administrator rights and no account, and everything it needs is inside.
Let it learn your drives
The first start builds the index in the background, about a minute per million files, and you can search while it works. From then on it follows every change live.
Type part of the name
Results appear with every keystroke. Add more words to narrow them down, or click a chip such as Documents, Pictures or Recent.
Search inside if you remember the words
Click Inside files, type the words or "an exact phrase" and press Enter. Matching files stream in with the line, or PDF page, of every hit.
Open it
Press Enter to open the top result or Ctrl+Enter to show it in Explorer. Right-click for copy, move, rename and more, or drag it straight into another app.
Technical details
File Search at a glance
- Works on
- Windows 10 (1809+) and Windows 11, 64-bit
- Speed
- About 15 ms for a word over a million names
- Searches inside
- PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, EPUB, RTF, HTML, e-mail, text, code
- Index
- Every fixed drive, USB and extra folders optional, live updates
- Exports
- CSV, TXT and EFU result lists
- Internet
- Not needed: works fully offline
- Install
- Per-user, no administrator rights, no account
- Languages
- English
- 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 File Search
Is Vow File Search really free?
Yes. File name search on every local drive is free and unlimited, with every filter, the preview and export included, plus 10 searches inside files a day. There are no ads. Unlimited, a one-time $4.95 USD payment, removes the daily limit on searching inside files and adds network drives and NAS shares.
Does it upload anything?
No. The index lives on your own PC and every search, including the text inside your documents, runs locally. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is downloaded while it runs.
How fast is it?
Every keystroke searches the whole index: a word over a million file names takes about 15 milliseconds. The first index takes about a minute per million files and you can search while it builds. After that the saved index loads in a fraction of a second and stays up to date live.
Which files can it search inside?
PDF, Word (DOCX and older DOC), Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, EPUB, RTF, web pages, e-mail (EML and MSG) and text and code in any encoding. It has no OCR, so the text in scanned PDFs and pictures can't be searched.
Does it need administrator rights or a background service?
No. It installs per user and indexes your drives without administrator rights, a service or a driver. It can keep running in the notification area so searches stay instant, and starting with Windows is off unless you switch it on.
How is it different from Windows Search?
Results appear as you type across every drive, not only the places Windows chose to index, ranked with the best match first. One-click chips and filters replace hunting through menus, and Inside files searches the current text of your documents with the line or page of every hit.
Can it search network drives and NAS shares?
Yes, with Unlimited. Mapped drives and \\server\share paths join the index and are listed again every 30 minutes, with live updates where the server supports them.
Is it safe to install?
Yes. It is made and published by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company. The installer contains no ads, no toolbars and no bundled software, needs no administrator rights, and uninstalls cleanly from Windows Settings.
The Vow collection
More apps you'll never have to go looking for
Same design, same promises, a tiny one-time price. Learn one and you already know them all.
See what's filling your drive, then win the space back safely
- Free: Unlimited scans, the full map and every view, 3 one-click cleanups a day
- $4.95 once: Unlimited cleanups, Clean all safe items, all drives at once, scheduled scans
Find every file you have twice, and free the space with Undo
- Free: Full scans on every drive, every duplicate shown, 100 removals a day
- $4.95 once: Unlimited removals, Smart selection for every group, USB and network cleanup
Done searching. Get File Search.
Find any file as you type, across every drive. Free to use every day, $4.95 once if you ever want Unlimited.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- No subscription