diff --git a/multiqc/utils/report.py b/multiqc/utils/report.py
index 31de55a857..77dc6e9a69 100644
--- a/multiqc/utils/report.py
+++ b/multiqc/utils/report.py
@@ -15,9 +15,8 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict, Union, List, Optional
 
-import rich
-import rich.progress
 import yaml
+import tqdm
 
 from multiqc.utils import lzstring
 
@@ -300,31 +299,37 @@ def add_file(fn, root):
     for path in config.analysis_dir:
         handle_analysis_path(Path(path))
 
-    # Search through collected files
-    console = rich.console.Console(
-        stderr=True,
-        highlight=False,
-        force_interactive=False if config.no_ansi else None,
-        color_system=None if config.no_ansi else "auto",
-    )
-    progress_obj = rich.progress.Progress(
-        "[blue]|[/]      ",
-        rich.progress.SpinnerColumn(),
-        "[blue]{task.description}[/] |",
-        rich.progress.BarColumn(),
-        "[progress.percentage]{task.percentage:>3.0f}%",
-        "[green]{task.completed}/{task.total}",
-        "[dim]{task.fields[s_fn]}",
-        console=console,
+    # ANSI escape code for dim text
+    if not config.no_ansi:
+        DIM = "\033[2m"
+        BLUE = "\033[34m"
+        RESET = "\033[0m"
+    else:
+        DIM = ""
+        BLUE = ""
+        RESET = ""
+
+    # Set up the tqdm progress bar
+    with tqdm.tqdm(
+        total=len(searchfiles),
+        desc="Searching",
+        unit="file",
         disable=config.no_ansi or config.quiet,
-    )
-    with progress_obj as progress:
-        mqc_task = progress.add_task("searching", total=len(searchfiles), s_fn="")
-        for sf in searchfiles:
-            progress.update(mqc_task, advance=1, s_fn=os.path.join(sf[1], sf[0])[-50:])
+        bar_format=f"{BLUE}| {'searching':>17} {RESET}| " + "{bar} {percentage:3.0f}% {n_fmt}/{total_fmt} {desc}",
+    ) as pbar:
+        for i, sf in enumerate(searchfiles):
+            # Update the progress bar description with the file being searched
+            if i % 100 == 0:
+                pbar.set_description_str(f"{DIM}{os.path.join(sf[1], sf[0])[-50:]}{RESET}")
+            pbar.update(1)
+
+            # Your file processing logic
             if not add_file(sf[0], sf[1]):
                 file_search_stats["skipped_no_match"] += 1
-        progress.update(mqc_task, s_fn="")
+
+        # Clear the description after the loop is complete
+        pbar.set_description_str(f"{'':>50}")
+        pbar.refresh()
 
     runtimes["total_sp"] = time.time() - total_sp_starttime
     if config.profile_runtime: