FindOnClick > Using FindOnClick > FindOnClick Easy Search

Using FindOnClick: Easy Search

This page provides examples and advice on how to best utilize the Easy Search mode.

The Easy Search (Main) tab in FindOnClick lets you specify what drives to search and to filter by file names. By default all existing drives are listed. Click the checkbox next to the drive to select or deselect the drive. All drives which are ticked will be searched (multiple drives will be searched depending on your selection).

foc_search_cdrive

Using the Filename Filter

The Filename filter lets you define what the filenames must match to be included in the search:

To only list files that have the word test in the filename you would enter:

test

*test*

You can also use free text or "wild cards" (asterisks and question marks).

To search more than one search criteria separate your words by a space or the capital letters OR.

wood lumber

The example above will find all file names that contain either "wood" or "lumber" in their names.

If your search criteria contains spaces in it then include it into double quotes:

"red wood"

The example above will find all file names that contain phrase "red wood" in their names. Files that have only word "red" or word "wood" will not be found.

Here are some more examples of using the Filename filter:

Text.txt	This will list files called test.txt
Test.*	This will list files called test and have any extension, e.g. test.txt, test.doc, test.xls, etc.
*.txt	This will list all files with the .txt extension, e.g. test.txt
test.	This will list all files that end with test and have any extension, e.g. a text.txt, lightest.doc, FileText.xls

Search On Exact Filename

You can use single quotes to specify an exact filename. For example 'mynewdoc.txt' will limit the FindOnClick search to finding only those files that exactly match the file name mynewdoc.txt.

Highlighting Duplicate Files

You can find duplicate files (files which have exactly the same contents as other files):

Duplicate files will be highlighted in the results. To find duplicates, sort on the Hash column or select the Only show duplicate files option. The MD5 hash value is calculated for files to find duplicates. To use the SHA2 256-bit hash value you must use command line parameters.

Note that to calculate the hash value for a file the entire file must be read. This is therefore a very time consuming and slow process, so it is advisable to only use this feature with a small number of files.

If you are only interested in finding duplicate files then enable the Only show duplicate files option. FindOnClick will then only hash files that are potential duplicates. For example, if a file has a unique size then it must be unique so there is no need to calculate its hash value.

When the results are displayed you can use the quick refresh key (Ctrl-F5) to only recalculate the hash values of files that have changed.

Search Contents

Note that to search the contents of files the entire file must be read. This means it is very time consuming and slow, so it is advisable to only use this feature with a small number of files.

FindOnClick allows you to search the contents of files. For example, you may only want to list files that contain your email address:

Note that when using the Easy Search mode searches are not case sensitive (for example, the meaning of abc is the same as ABC or Abc).

As you type the search criteria into the text fields FindOnClick will present the eight values previously entered. To view or select your previous eight search entries click the down arrow to the right of the Filename Filter and move your mouse over the entries. Press Enter to use the value.

Search_Window_Easy_Mode_history

Note that you can switch off the search criteria history from the Options menu of the main interface.

Press Reset to clear the search history and search parameters. These will then be reset to the default settings.

Selecting Drives

By default all drives are checked. To save time searching only check the drives that you think contain the files you are searching for. Right clicking on the drives list will invoke a drives right click menu with convenient shortcut operations:

foc-drives

When you enter search parameters in FindOnClick that will slow the search process, the program will warn you by showing an exclamation mark in the lower left corner of the Search window. Click your mouse on the exclamation graphic to see a list of reasons for the slower search:

FOC_warning

The last search parameters that were entered in FindOnClick are placed in memory. If you wish to reset the memory to the default values, press the Reset button which will also clear the search history.