FileBrowser’s search feature helps you quickly find files and folders across your sources. With instant results powered by an efficient index, you can locate any file in seconds.

Quick Access

Click the search bar or press / on your keyboard from anywhere in FileBrowser to instantly open the search bar and start searching.

How Search Works

FileBrowser uses the index information from the source, this allows all search results to be instantly available without scanning the filesystem.

Simply type your search terms to find matching files and folders:

The search will match:

  • File and folder names
  • Any part of the path
  • Text is case-insensitive by default

Search Context

When you open search, it shows the current search context - the folder you’re currently in. By default, search looks within your current location and all subfolders.

Searching Multiple Sources

If you have access to multiple sources, you can search across all of them at once using the source dropdown:

  • Select “All” to search every source you have access to
  • Choose a specific source to search only that source

When searching multiple sources, results show a badge indicating which source each file belongs to.

Advanced Filters

Click Show Options to reveal powerful filtering tools that help narrow down your search results.

File Type Filters

Filter your search by specific types of content:

Folder/File Toggle:

  • Only Folders - Show only directory results
  • Only Files - Show only file results (enables additional filters below)

File Category Filters (when “Only Files” is selected):

  • Photos - Image files (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc.)
  • Audio - Music and sound files (MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc.)
  • Videos - Movie and video files (MP4, MKV, AVI, etc.)
  • Documents - PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets, etc.
  • Archives - ZIP, TAR, compressed files, etc.

You can combine multiple category filters to search for specific types of files. For example, select both “Photos” and “Videos” to find all your media files.

Size Filters

Find files based on their size using the size constraint inputs:

  • Smaller Than - Enter a number (in MB) to find files below that size
  • Larger Than - Enter a number (in MB) to find files above that size

You can use both filters together to find files within a specific size range. For example:

  • Larger than: 100 MB
  • Smaller than: 500 MB

This will show only files between 100-500 MB.

Preview Images

Toggle Show Preview Images to display thumbnail previews for image and video files in the search results. This makes it easier to visually identify the files you’re looking for.

Search Results

Each search result shows:

  • File/folder icon - Visual indicator of the item type
  • Full path - The complete path to help you locate the file
  • File size - For files, the size is displayed
  • Source badge - When searching multiple sources, shows which source contains the file

Interacting with Results

Click any search result to navigate directly to that file or folder. You can also:

  • Right-click (or long-press on mobile) to open the context menu
  • Access all normal file operations: download, rename, delete, share, etc.

Search Performance

FileBrowser’s search is designed to be fast and efficient:

  • Index-based - Results come from a pre-built index, not live file scanning
  • Sub-second results - Most searches complete in under 1 second
  • Handles thousands of files - Efficiently searches large file collections

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • / - Open search from anywhere
  • Esc - Close search and return to browsing
  • Enter - Navigate to the first search result

Search makes it easy to find what you need, when you need it, without manually browsing through folders.