Find files with the Search Companion
Find any file or folder under your home folder by typing part of its name. Results appear as you type.
Search by name
Select Search on the toolbar, press Ctrl + F, or click the dog on the toolbar.
In All or part of the file name:, type a few letters of the name.
The file list shows matches straight away. The dog tells you how many items he found.
Double-click a result to open it.
Search results have an In Folder column in place of Type, so you can see where each item lives. To go to that folder, right-click a result and select Open Containing Folder.
To empty the search box and start again, select Clear. To close the pane and return to the folder you were in, select the close button at the top of the pane or Search on the toolbar.
How matching works
- Search looks at names, not at what is inside files.
- Upper and lower case do not matter.
- The best matches come first: an exact name, then names that start with what you typed, then names where it starts a word, then names that contain it anywhere.
- Extra words narrow the search. The first word must be in the name. Every further word can be anywhere in the full path. For example,
report 2025finds files withreportin the name that sit in a folder called2025, as well as files namedreport-2025.pdf.
The list shows the first 400 matches. When there are more, the status bar says so, for example showing first 400 of 1250 matches. Type more letters to narrow it down.
Filter by kind
Under What are you looking for?, choose one option:
| Option | Shows |
|---|---|
| All files and folders | Everything that matches |
| Folders | Folders only |
| Pictures | .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, .webp, .svg, .ico, .tiff, .heic |
| Music | .mp3, .wav, .flac, .ogg, .m4a, .wma, .aac, .opus, .mid |
| Videos | .mp4, .mkv, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .webm, .flv, .m4v, .mpg, .mpeg |
| Documents | Text, Markdown, PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OpenDocument files |
TIP
Pick a kind and leave the search box empty to list everything of that kind, for example every video under your home folder.
Search only the current folder
Under Look in:, tick Only in current folder. Rover then shows matches from the folder you were browsing and the folders inside it.
What search covers
- The index covers your home folder and everything under it.
- Hidden files and folders are not indexed, even when you have chosen to show them in the file list.
- Folders outside your home folder, such as system folders or other drives, are not indexed. Browse to them instead.
Keep the index up to date
Rover builds its index when it starts. It saves the index to disk, so the next time you open the app you can search at once while Rover checks for changes in the background.
Files you add while Rover is open may not appear in search until the index is rebuilt. To rebuild it now, select Tools > Rebuild search index. The status bar shows Indexing… with a running count, then Search index: and the final number.
Things you cannot do in search results
While results are showing, Paste and drag and drop are turned off, because results come from many folders. Open the containing folder first, then paste or drop there. Cut, copy, rename, delete and Properties work on results as usual.