Guide

On first launch it scans the whole disk once to build an index. With 4.66 million files that takes 45 s . After that it uses the saved index, so startup takes under a second .

You can search while the index is being built. Results grow as it goes.

No, but with them it is much faster.

With administrator rights it reads the NTFS master file table (MFT) in one pass and builds the index in tens of seconds. Without them it walks folder by folder, which takes several times longer.

64-bit Windows 10 and 11. The file system it works best on is NTFS . exFAT and FAT32 can be searched too, but live updates and fast indexing are NTFS-only.

It searches. However, You have to turn it on separately.

Settings → Index scope → “Include USB and network drives”

Anywhere that is not NTFS — exFAT and FAT32 USB drives, SD cards, network drives, NAS — cannot be read through the NTFS record table (MFT), so you have to open folders one by one . It is slower by that much, and more so over a network. So, to let only those who need it turn it on, It is off by default.

Turning it on leaves the NTFS-side speed you have been using unchanged. The storage is entirely separate, so the two do not interfere. When you search, The faster side's results come first, and more are appended afterwards.

There is a switch for this from 0.96.5.

Settings → Network folders → "Exclude from normal searches; find only when pointed at with path:"

With it on, the network folders you added no longer mixes into the "All" results. that folder path:\\server\share like only when you point at it appears.

Make it one of My filters and it is a single click. In Settings → My filters, enter a name and a query like this.

NAS   —   path:\\192.168.0.95

A "NAS" chip then appears in the filter row, and the network folder is searched only when you press it.

It is off by default — leave it as it is and nothing changes.

It is fine. Plug it in and it is scanned and taken in; unplug it and what was taken in stays. Plug it in again and it is read again then.

USB drives are re-scanned every 10 minutes and network drives every hour, to keep up with what has changed.

Type plain text and it searches file names. You can add conditions like these.

Put ! .

It looks at the whole path, not just the file name. C:\temp-folder\report.docx is dropped too, even though "temp" is not in its name.

You may type only what to drop — !temp alone means "everything except things with temp in them".

Most of it works. Only the differences are listed below.

If something you used to type does not work, tell us through Contact . We will make it work and write it down here.

Yes. What counts as ‘the same’ decides which kind you use.

If you have been using Everything, you can type sizedupe:, namepartdupe: and dmdupe: just as they are. The Korean form 중복: is understood too.

Results are shown grouped side by side , so you can see at a glance what overlaps with what.

Everything's dupe: looks only at the name. Files with identical contents but different names are missed — and those are usually exactly the ones you want to delete, which is why we added dupe:content.

It works in three steps.

• narrows to files of the same size. Identical contents always means identical size, so this removes almost everything.
• reads only the first 64 KB and filters again. Files of equal size usually differ near the start.
• Only what survives is read in full to confirm.

Programs like this normally have to scan the whole disk before they can start, and that takes minutes. FastFind already holds the sizes of all 4.66 million files in its index, so those minutes disappear entirely.

If there are more than 20,000 candidates it stops at size rather than reading contents, so the disk is not tied up for minutes. In that case narrow it down like dupe:content ext:jpg .

dupe: on its own scans every file and takes a moment. Narrowing by extension or folder speeds it up.

Yes. ㅅㄱㄷㅁ Typing this finds ‘설계도면’. Initial-consonant search has its own dedicated data, so it runs in about 2 msends there.

In the Search menu, File name only(Alt+N) turns it off and the whole path is searched. It is on by default — looking only at names is much faster and usually finds what you want.

If the query contains \ or / , the path is searched automatically even when the option is on.

Prefix with content: and it will. Plain text of course, and it also pulls text out of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Hangul (hwpx) documents.

Unlike name search it must open each file, so it is slower. Narrow the range with a name or extension condition first.

at the very front of the search box ? — type that, then just what you want to say, as it is after writing it, Enter Press it.

It does not ask on every keystroke. you have to press Enter It asks once.

in the search box, ✨ — press it, and ? is not required.

is only the one line you typed. Not one of your file names, paths, contents, or index ever leaves.

and what the AI understood it as We show them on screen as they are found. What you typed in the search box is left as it is — nothing is quietly swapped out. If there was a piece it could not make sense of, that is noted for you too.

You need an API key. Any one of the three will do. If this is your first time, pick Google Gemini— no card needed, and the model we call is their smallest and fastest one.

Without a key, the ✨ icon itself does not appear, and ? still works as a wildcard, just as before. The screen looks exactly the same as it does now.

A Google account is all you need. No card number is asked for.

1. In FastFind, Settings → AI → "Get a key ↗" .
   (or open aistudio.google.com/apikey in a browser)
2. Sign in with your Log intoo.
3. First time, you will see the terms. Accept them and a project is created for you. You do not have to create one yourself.
4. 「Create API key」.
5. Copy the whole string wholetoo. AQ. .
   Keys issued before May 2026 start with AIza — please read "I entered a key and it still does not work" below.
6. FastFind Settings → AI → turn on "Allow AI search", then in the key box, paste it and press OK.

How to check it worked — type ?Excel files I received last week in the search box and press Enter. After a moment, a line like "AI reading: ext:xls,xlsx mtime:lastweek" appears — that means it works.

If a space or a quote comes along with the key, FastFind tells you first — that is what "That does not look like an API key" means.

Gemini costs nothing within the free tier. No card is registered. Past the limit, requests are simply refused for a while — nothing is charged automatically.

How many free calls you get per day is something Google changes now and then. Your current limit is shown on the rate-limit page in AI Studio.

Each search sends one thing only: the sentence you typed. Nothing is sent as you type; you have to press Enter sends it once. The model we call is their smallest and fastest (about a second to rewrite one line), so you rarely come near the limit.

FastFind takes nothing in the middle. The key and the bill are between you and that company.

The message on screen tells you which one it is.

What Google changed in September 2026 — Google is switching how keys work. Keys issued on or after 28 May 2026 start with AQ. , and and the older AIza… keys are refused from September 2026 on. If a key that used to work suddenly says "That API key was rejected", this is why. Follow the six steps above, get a new key and paste it in — FastFind accepts the new keys as they are.

only inside this PC, Locked with the Windows credential store, It stays there. It does not go into the settings file.

%LOCALAPPDATA%\FastFind\ai_key.bin

It can only be unlocked on this account on this PC. Moving the whole folder to another PC will not unlock it, and if locking fails, Nothing is written — it is never left in plain text. Clear the field and save, and the file is deleted.

works. Pick the files to tidy up, right-click → “Tidy up names with AI…” . Tags are “Add tags with AI…” .

is not changed right away. First it shows you, line by line, what will be changed into what.

• You can clear the checkbox to leave out any line you do not want
• you can add “change it like this” and ask again
• nothing happens on disk until you press “Apply”

Up to 40 at a time. What goes out is file names onlyand the path, size, and contents never leave.

Tags are It does not change a single byte of your files. It is written only to a list kept separately.

The name the AI gives is not used as-is; it passes through a filter first. \ / : * ? " < > | is in it, it is thrown away, and changing or inventing an extension is rejected. Names that are too long and names Windows cannot use (CON·NUL and the like) are blocked too.

Settings → Integration → Add to the Explorer right-click menu Turn this on. It applies as soon as you press OK — no need to restart the program or Explorer.

After that, right-clicking shows two entries.

The search box opens with path:"C:\Work" already filled in — just type the word you are looking for.

In five places.

• A file — narrows to the folder that holds it
• A folder
• Empty space inside a folder — narrows to the folder you are looking at
• Empty space on the desktop
• A drive — on this PC C: D: Right-click

Windows 11 does not show menus registered this way on the first screen. Shift + right-clickor use Show more options at the bottom of the menu.

Windows decides this placement and we cannot change it. On Windows 10 it appears directly.

The registered entry used to keep pointing at the old folder, so clicking did nothing. Now the program notices at startup and re-registers itself.

If it still fails, turn it off and on again in Settings.

Results Right-clickand it appears.

To select several, Ctrl or Shift Hold this while clicking.

Results Shift + right-clickor use the right-click menu's More Windows options Press it.

Archivers, antivirus, cloud sync and anything else attached to Explorer keep working as usual.

Right-click a result → Toggle favourite pressing this ★ is attached.

In the Search menu, ★ Favourites only shows only the items you have marked.

Yes. In the Search menu, Saved searches stores it so you can recall it in one step next time.

path:"C:\Work" ext:pdf mtime:thisweek — the longer the query, the more it helps.

The button at the bottom right, Grid , turns the list into tiles. When looking for photos or videos, a picture beats a name.

In grid view, ← → moves sideways.

Examples turns them on and off from the menu.

Right-click a column header to choose among Name, Path, Size, Modified, Extension and Type , and drag to change their order and width. Reset to default columns is in that menu too.

In the Tools menu, Open web UI opens the same search in a browser. The address is http://127.0.0.1:9090 .

Web access is off by default. The first time you click it, we ask whether to turn it on; if you choose Yes, it is turned on right there and the browser opens. You can turn it off again at any time under Settings → Web access.

On its own this opens only on your own PC — to reach it from outside, Using it from outside has the details.

Usually not — new and deleted files are tracked live.

If it still looks wrong, use Rebuild index from the Tools menu. It takes about 45 seconds for 4.66 million files, and you can keep searching meanwhile.

Clear cache also deletes the saved index file and rebuilds from scratch. Use it only when a rebuild is not enough.

Three things. You do not need to open a port — nothing is touched on your router.

1. Sign up at fastfind.kr and copy your Verification code. (it is on the My account page)
2. In FastFind, Settings → Web access tab: turn on Enable relay remote access and paste the code in.
3. In the same tab, set an id and a password. Without these you cannot get in from outside.

Then yourid.fastfind.kr lets you in from anywhere. You log in with the id and password you set in step 3.

The password in step 3 is the key that opens that PC, and it is not the same as your fastfind.kr account password. The PC itself takes the login — no record of it is left on our server.

No. Turning the relay on turns on whatever it needs.

You can see it on the settings screen too: turn the relay on and the box reads “the relay keeps this on” — ticked, and no longer clickable. Turn the relay off and it goes back as it was.

“Allow direct external access” does not need to be on either. That one is for when you go without the relay and punch through your router to come straight in.

What works — search, recent files, favourites, tags and saved searches, preview, downloads (one file or several at once), opening folders, and disk analysis.

What does not — changing settings, deleting or renaming files, and running programs on that PC. We have not opened up anything that lets a request from outside change someone's PC.

Uploading files is off by default. To use it, in Settings → Web access, turn on Allow uploads from outside. Unlike searching and fetching, this writes to someone's PC, so we made it a switch of its own.

Click Log out at the top right of the web screen.

If you leave “This window only” on when you log in (it is on by default), closing the browser logs you out. On someone else's PC it is better left alone.

Yes. On the web screen, press Turn on my PC remotely and it sends a wake signal (Wake-on-LAN).

However, the PC's motherboard and your router need to have this turned on too. Depending on your router it can take one or two minutes. If it does not come on, Wake-on-LAN is usually turned off in the motherboard settings (BIOS).

Between your browser and our server, traffic goes over HTTPS in both directions. Between our server and the PC the link is encrypted too (WSS).

However, it does pass through our server. We are not going to tell you that we cannot read what passes through — it is not built that way. What we do say is that we do not store it. And because the PC itself takes the login, your password never passes through us.

Not opening a port is the point of this approach — no hole is made in your router.

That happened in versions before 0.96.4. It only recorded that you had turned it off, and connections that were already open reattached every five seconds. Fixed in 0.96.4 — turning it off now cuts them on the spot.

If you are on an older version, update it, or just close the program and start it again.

Entering the filter row starts from the chip currently applied. Simply entering it does not change the filter.

Double-clicking the path column opens the folder that holds it. Double-clicking the name column opens the file.

Settings → Shortcuts lets you change it. It applies on save, and if another program already holds the combination we tell you which one.

Leave the field empty and that shortcut is simply not used. Handy when you cannot give up the program it clashes with.

Yes. Register it in right-click tools, batch files or shortcuts. Inside the program, Help → Command-line help has the same information.

FastFind.exe -s quote
FastFind.exe -p "C:\Work" -s quote
FastFind.exe -p D: -s quote
FastFind.exe --console ext:log > list.txt

Do not put a backslash at the end of a path. The Windows command line reads the following quote as a character. "D:\" Instead of D: or "C:\Work" , write it like this.

The install location (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\FastFind) is not on PATH. Command Prompt needs the full path.

Run (Win+R), shortcuts and right-click toolsaccept the name alone.

If you use it often from a command prompt, save the two lines below as ff.bat and put it in a folder on your PATH.

@echo off
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\FastFind\FastFind.exe" %*

Then, from anywhere, ff -p "C:\Work" -s quote is all you need.

While FastFind is running it opens a small search serverinside your PC. Other programs can fetch results from it, and you can add your own entries to the result right-click menu .

Developer docs documents the REST API and how to write plugins.

Something built exactly this way — KBox finds your PC files from a browser start page. Install FastFind and it connects automatically.

Settings → General → Theme has ten of them.

All ten have had the brightness difference between text and background measured, and so that there are no hard-to-read combinations , and set them to meet it.

Settings → General → Font — change it there.

The default is “Match the language”, so on Korean Windows it uses Malgun Gothic. But Malgun Gothic has almost no Chinese characters, so for file names with Chinese or Japanese mixed in, Windows draws them with a substitute font instead. The sizes and positions then fall out of line, and the text looks blurry and crooked.

Switching to a font that covers Korean, Chinese and Japanese (for example Noto Sans KR) makes them render evenly. only the fonts installed on this PC list — it appears there.

Settings → General → Default sort — set it there and it will keep opening that way. The default is by relevance.

You can also type it straight into the search term — 크기순 or sort:size:desc like that. In this case, what you typed in the query wins.

Settings → System → “Find by other words too” — turn it on. It is off by default.

When turned on, 사진 (photo) also finds photo, picture and img, and 글꼴 (font) also finds font. We show on screen what your term was expanded with.

in the search box Shift+Space instead. It is on by default, and Settings → General — you can turn it off there.

Settings → General → Retention period — choose from 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, 1 year, or keep forever. The default is 30 days.

for 4.66 million files 65.9MB . Under the same conditions Everything used 473.5 MB. Names and the item array are borrowed straight from the file, so nothing is held twice in memory.

How to check it yourself is written down.

Over 60 idle seconds it uses 0.85 s is used. That is the cost of watching the journal so new and deleted files show up live. Under the same conditions Everything used 0.84 s — effectively the same.

for 4.66 million files 479MB . Right now both the old and the new index are kept side by side. Merging them into one is still to come, and that will cut it to less than half. Full comparison is written out there.

The measurement conditions and How to measure it yourselfare all published — including the items where we lose.

See the full comparison · How to check it yourself

Nowhere. The index lives only on your PC and searching happens entirely there. It works with no internet connection at all.

We have not attached a code-signing certificate yet, so some antivirus products treat the file as unfamiliar and warn. You can verify the download has not been altered using its hash.

Get-FileHash "$HOME\Downloads\FastFind-Local-Setup-x64.exe" -Algorithm SHA256

The value shown manifest.json — if it matches, the file is genuine.

Uninstalling removes the index file too. Settings and the index live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\FastFind — you can look and delete it yourself.

This can happen when the program starts before the taskbar is ready after boot. It now retries by itself until it succeeds, so it appears shortly after.

If it still does not show, check Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar → System tray icons to see whether FastFind is hidden.

It normally appears immediately. If not, that drive may be excluded from indexing, or it may be caught by the excluded paths and extensions in Settings. Please check there.

Check whether a filter chip is switched on. If you pick Documents › PPT, for example, only PowerPoint files appear no matter what you type afterwards. An active chip is now shown as Documents · PPT, so you can see it at a glance. Press All to clear it.

Please let us know via Contact. Attaching the log file (%LOCALAPPDATA%\FastFind\fastfind.log) makes it far quicker to track down.