SearchInform Desktop Free for Windows

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Editors’ Review

Download.com staffAugust 24, 2015

Building the index takes longer than we'd like, but the results are worth the wait. For quick searches, just input keywords into the program's search box and hit Enter. Advanced search options let you find similar words, specify a range of relevancy, and look for files containing a particular phrase. A standout feature, the Stop Words Manager, blocks searches on a preloaded but alterable list of common words in English, French, and Russian.

Once you've done a bit of setup work, this full-text freeware search utility brings speed and efficiency to what can be a laborious process. Upon installation, SearchInform Free prompts you to create a search index. A somewhat ungainly tabbed interface displays several customization options that allow you to choose system attributes, morphology options (only in Russian, though), and the file types you want to index. You can specify an update schedule for the index, too.

We also like the preview pane, which highlights the search term in the currently selected file. We ran into a bit of trouble with missing help files, but don't worry too much about setup time. If you have as many files as we do, you'll soon recoup it with interest.

What’s new in version 3.0.01

Version 3.0.01 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.