Explorer Search

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Explorer Search is a lightweight Windows file search app built with C#, .NET 8, and WinUI 3.

It is designed for fast file name lookup using a local database index, so repeated searches are quicker than Windows 11 File Explorer search on large directories.

What it does

• Search files by partial file name
• Choose a root folder to search from
• Include or exclude subfolders
• Limit maximum result count
• Cancel long-running searches
• Open the selected file location in Windows Explorer

Apps

• Language: C#
• Runtime/Framework: .NET 8
• Desktop UI: WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK)
• Data storage: SQLite (local file index)

Requirements

• Windows 11 (recommended)
• .NET 8 SDK
• Visual Studio 2022/2026 with these workloads:
  • .NET desktop development
  • Windows application development
  • WinUI 3 development

Getting started

1. Open WindowFileExplorerSearch.sln in Visual Studio.
2. Restore NuGet packages (if prompted).
3. Set ExplorerSearch.App as the startup project.
4. Select Debug | x64.
5. Press F5 to run.

Index Database File Path

The search index is stored here:

• %LOCALAPPDATA%\ExplorerSearch\index.db

You can delete this file to force a fresh index rebuild.

Troubleshooting

• App runs from solution but not from .csproj directly
  • Open WindowFileExplorerSearch.sln
  • Use Debug | x64
  • Clear .vs, bin, and obj folders if needed