Search Inside Files
Find any phrase across a folder — inside text, code, notes, and documents like PDF and Word. Fast, live results with line numbers and context. No background index, nothing uploaded.
Search Inside a Folder
Live results — no index to rebuild
Type a word, phrase, or regex. FileHop searches inside every file in the folder you opened — including PDFs, Word docs, and spreadsheets — and shows the path, line number, and surrounding context for each match.
Note: Content search reads files directly with a parse cache, so results are never stale and there is no always-on indexer using your CPU in the background.
Just 181 MB
How to Search Inside Files
Open the folder you want to search
Point FileHop at the folder where your files live — a project, a Documents folder, a downloads archive. It searches that folder and its subfolders.
Type a phrase, word, or regex
Search filenames or file contents. Toggle whole-word or case-sensitive matching, or use a regular expression for more precise patterns.
Jump straight to each match
Every result shows the file path, the line number, and the surrounding context lines, so you can see the match in place and open the file at the right spot.
What FileHop Can Search Inside
Content search looks inside plain text and code, and also extracts and searches the text inside common document formats.
Text, code & data
Plain text and source files are searched line by line.
TXT, MD, JSON, CSV, LOG, source code (JS, TS, Python, Go, Rust, and more)
Documents (text extracted)
FileHop pulls the text out of these formats and searches it. Extracted text is cached, so a heavy PDF or spreadsheet is parsed once, not every time.
PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, XLSM, XLS, ODS
Honest limits
- •Scanned or image-only PDFs with no embedded text layer return nothing — that needs OCR, which content search does not do.
- •Legacy binary .doc and .ppt are not content-searchable; the modern .docx, .pptx, and .xlsx formats are.
- •There is a 10MB default per-file size cap. Very large logs above the cap are skipped unless you raise it.
- •Binary media like images, video, and archives are skipped during content search.
Why Choose FileHop Desktop?
Searches inside files, not just names
Find the document that contains a phrase, even when you can't remember its filename.
Looks inside documents too
Searches the text inside PDF, DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX files, not only plain text and code.
Live results, nothing to rebuild
Content search reads your files directly, so results are never stale the way a corrupted Spotlight or Windows index goes stale.
No always-on indexer
There is no background daemon hammering your CPU and disk like SearchIndexer.exe or mds. FileHop searches when you ask it to.
Regex, whole-word, case-sensitive
Match exactly what you mean — use a regular expression, restrict to whole words, or make the search case-sensitive.
Local and free
Runs on Mac and Windows. Nothing is uploaded — your files never leave your computer.
How FileHop Compares to Other Search Tools
Each tool is good at something different. Here is an honest look at where FileHop fits.
| Feature | FileHop | ripgrep (CLI) | Everything (Win) | Agent Ransack (Win) | HoudahSpot (Mac) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GUI (no command line) | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cross-platform (Mac + Win) | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Fast content (inside-file) search | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ✅ | ➖ |
| Searches inside PDF / DOCX | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ➖ | ➖ |
| Depends on a background index | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Local / no uploads | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Price | Free | Free | Free | Free | Paid |
ripgrep is the fastest content search but is command-line only and does not extract document text. Everything gives instant filename results but its own docs note content search is slow and unindexed. Agent Ransack is a capable Windows GUI content search. HoudahSpot is a polished Mac tool but relies on Spotlight's index, so it inherits index problems.
When You Need This
Common situations where searching inside files solves the problem.
Spotlight isn't finding files on your Mac
When the Spotlight index is corrupted or incomplete, search stops returning files you know exist. A live content search doesn't depend on that index.
Fix Spotlight not finding files →Windows Search misses files or pegs your CPU
Windows Search not finding files, or SearchIndexer.exe eating disk and battery? A search with no always-on indexer solves both at once.
Fix Windows Search not finding files →Find the one document with a phrase
You know a sentence is in there somewhere across a project folder, but not which PDF or spreadsheet. Search the contents of all of them at once.
Download FileHop →Frequently Asked Questions
How do I search for text inside files instead of just filenames?
Open the folder you want in FileHop, type your word or phrase, and switch to content search. FileHop reads inside every file in that folder and its subfolders and returns each match with its file path, line number, and surrounding context — not just files whose names match.
Can I search inside PDFs, Word, and Excel files?
Yes. FileHop extracts the text from PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, XLSM, XLS, and ODS files and searches it alongside plain text and code. The extracted text is cached, so a large PDF or spreadsheet is parsed once and is fast to search again afterward.
Does it work on both Mac and Windows?
Yes. FileHop is a native desktop app for both macOS and Windows, so the same content search works on either platform. There is no Linux, web, or mobile version.
Is this a GUI alternative to grep or ripgrep?
In effect, yes. FileHop's content search is built on the same ripgrep-style engine, so it is fast and supports regex, but you drive it from a graphical interface instead of the command line. Unlike ripgrep, it also searches inside documents like PDF and Word.
Does it build a background index or slow down my computer?
Content search reads your files live, with a parse cache for documents, so there is no always-on indexer running in the background like SearchIndexer.exe on Windows or mds on Mac. Filename search uses a lightweight per-folder index that is built once on demand, not a system daemon. FileHop does work only when you ask it to search.
Can I use regex or whole-word search?
Yes. You can use a regular expression, restrict matches to whole words, or make the search case-sensitive. You can also limit results to certain file types with a glob pattern or exclude folders you don't want to search.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. FileHop runs entirely on your computer and searches your local files directly. Nothing is uploaded to a server, so it works offline and your file contents never leave your device.
Why can't it find text in my scanned PDF?
A scanned or photographed PDF is an image of a page with no embedded text layer, so there is no text to search. Reading that requires OCR (optical character recognition), which is outside the scope of content search. PDFs that contain real, selectable text are searched normally.
How is this different from Spotlight or Windows Search?
Spotlight and Windows Search rely on a system-wide index that runs constantly and can become corrupted or fall behind — which is why they sometimes stop finding files. FileHop's content search reads your files live, so results are never stale, there is no index to rebuild, and there is no background process using your CPU. It is folder-scoped, though: you point it at where your files are rather than replacing the OS-wide search bar.
Is it free?
Yes. FileHop is free to download and use for searching inside files on Mac and Windows, with no signup required.