Search Text In Files: Find Files by What's Inside Them on Windows
Search Text In Files is a $19 Windows tool from Vovsoft that lists every file in a folder containing the words you type, including text inside PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook files, and shows the matching lines. The $19 is a one-time lifetime license with free updates, and the free trial has no time limit.
You know the quote is somewhere in last year's project folder, in one of 400 documents, and Windows Explorer's search box either finds nothing or takes forever. This program does one job: point it at the folder, type the text, press Start, and get the list.
Quick facts
- Version: 5.4, released August 13, 2026
- Developer: Vovsoft, the one-person software company of Fatih Ramazan Çıkan in Turkey
- Platform: Windows 11, 10, 8/8.1, 7 and Vista, 32-bit and 64-bit; interface in English
- Editions: installer (6.13 MB) and portable (5.84 MB)
- Reads: plain text (TXT, CSV, JSON, LOG, HTML, XML and similar), PDF, RTF, DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT/PPTX/PPS/PPSX, Outlook MSG/PST/OST/OFT, EML and MBOX
- Price: $19, one-time payment, lifetime license with free updates
- Trial: free with all search features, but with a nag screen and no commercial use
- Refunds: no money-back guarantee; refunds are at the vendor's discretion, mainly for accidental orders
- What we checked: the installer we downloaded from vovsoft.com on November 8, 2026 is version 5.4.0.0, 6.14 MB, digitally signed by Fatih Ramazan Çıkan; the order page showed $19.00 with no auto-renewal on November 8, 2026. We didn't install it or time any searches.
Overview
Search Text In Files is a plain, single-window program with no index and nothing running in the background. You choose a directory, set a filename filter such as *.docx or *report*, type the search text, and it walks through the folder (and its subfolders, if you tick the box) and lists every file that matches. Right-click a result to open, rename, copy or delete it, or show it in Explorer.
The program has been around since version 1.0 in December 2018, with 40 releases listed. The 2025 and 2026 versions added Outlook PST/OST/OFT and RTF reading, a Date Modified column, an "Ignore Large Files" option, a Send To shortcut, a built-in DOCX decoder and the PDFium engine for PDF files.
A case-sensitive search for "Berlin" in *.srt files, with six matching files listed. The screenshot shows an earlier layout of the window.
Features
Searches inside documents, spreadsheets and email files
Search Text In Files reads more than plain text. It looks inside PDF, RTF, Word (DOC/DOCX), Excel (XLS/XLSX) and PowerPoint files, Outlook message and data files (MSG, PST, OST, OFT), and EML and MBOX mailboxes. Text encodings are detected from the byte-order mark, and ANSI, ASCII, UTF-7, UTF-8 and UTF-16 are supported. That makes it useful for digging through old mail archives and office documents, not just code or logs.
Find what's missing, too: the Ignore Text option
Search Text In Files can exclude every file that contains an "Ignore Text", or list only the files where the text is missing. That second trick is handy for checks like "which of these contracts doesn't mention the new clause?" Searches can be case-sensitive or not, the search string can span several lines, and filenames take * and ? wildcards.
Find Text "Berlin" combined with Ignore Text "Hello" narrows six files down to one.
See the matching lines and export the results
Search Text In Files can show the found lines with file name and line number, so you see the context without opening each file. Results export to TXT, CSV or Excel (XLS/XLSX), which is useful when you need to hand a list to someone else. It also handles path and file names longer than Windows' usual 260-character limit, which many search tools trip over in deep folder trees.
The Found Lines window: 337 matching lines with their file and line number, and an Export to File button.
Save a search and run it again later
Search Text In Files saves the current folder, filters and search text as an operation file (.stif). Open it later, or drag it onto the window, and the same search runs again. For a check you repeat every week, that saves retyping the criteria.
Who It's For, and Who Should Skip It
A good fit for office workers, writers, support staff and admins who regularly hunt through folders of documents, logs or mail exports for a phrase, and want a quick, no-index tool they can also carry on a USB stick. The Outlook PST/OST support and the "text is missing" search set it apart from the most basic free finders.
Skip it if you need instant search across your whole drive as you type: an indexing search tool is built for that, while this one reads the files each time you press Start. Developers who live in the command line already have grep-style tools for code. And if your PDFs are scans, there's no text layer to find; you'd need OCR first.
Usage Guide
- Download the installer or the portable edition from vovsoft.com and run it. The installer also adds a "Send To" shortcut, so you can right-click a folder in Explorer and send it to the program.
- Click Change... and pick the folder to search. Tick Include Subfolders to go deeper.
- Type a Filename Filter (
* for every file, *.pdf for PDFs only, *.txt;*.csv for two types) and the Search Text. Add an Ignore Text if you want to drop files that contain some other word.
- Press Start. Right-click any result to open, copy, rename or delete the file, or to show the found lines.
- Export the list with Export to File, or save the whole search as a .stif operation file from the File menu.
Before you buy
- The trial does everything. The paid license removes the nag screen and allows commercial use; it doesn't add extra search features. Test it on your own files first.
- Refunds aren't guaranteed. Vovsoft's policy is generally no refunds because of the free trial, except at its discretion (mostly accidental orders).
- Using it at work needs a license, and one license covers one person (on any of their own PCs) or one shared workstation.
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Where it falls short
- No index. Every search reads the files again, so a large folder of big PDFs or a multi-gigabyte PST takes as long as reading them takes. The "Ignore Large Files" option helps you skip the worst offenders.
- Scanned PDFs and images are invisible to it. It reads a document's text layer; a scanned page has none.
- No regular expressions. Search and ignore text can use * and ? masks, but only with the case-sensitive box unticked; there are no regex patterns or AND/OR queries.
- English-only interface, unlike most other Vovsoft programs.
What Users Say
Search Text In Files has 4.5 out of 5 from 8 reviews on Vovsoft's product page. Independent coverage is thin: we found no editorial review, only a short user comment on AlternativeTo.
From users on vovsoft.com
"A tiny and powefull tool to find text in pdf and other documents files." (Johnnie Zan)
"Invaluable for finding old files with arcane labels containing wanted information." (RobLVT)
"Very usable software. It helped me to simplify many tasks, very effective!" (Revaz)
"Long needed app. Very smooth installation, without any registration hassle. Thumb-up for that! Hope it performs as good." (Abraham)
Elsewhere
On AlternativeTo, user TBayAreaPat (April 2026) named it among the tools that pull text from PDFs without OCR: "Tools like VovSoft Search Text In Files and UltraSearch extract text from PDFs without OCR", adding that this works for digital PDFs with a text layer, which the comment put at "80%+ of modern files".
Vovsoft as a company holds a Trustpilot TrustScore of about 4.6 from roughly 410 reviews across all its programs and support.
The short version: the few people who've written about it like that it's small, quick to install and good at digging up old documents by content. There aren't enough reviews to say much about speed on very large folders, so test that on your own data with the trial.
Comparisons
Search Text In Files vs Windows Explorer search
Windows' own search is free and fast in indexed locations, but content search in folders outside the index is slow and hard to control. Search Text In Files gives you an explicit folder, filename filter, ignore text, "text missing" mode, found lines and export to CSV or Excel, and it reads Outlook PST/OST and MBOX files. It costs $19 and doesn't keep an index.
Editions and Pricing
| Option | Price | License term | What you get |
|---|
| Free trial | $0 | No time limit | All search features, with a nag screen; personal use only |
| Search Text In Files license | $19 | One-time payment, lifetime, free updates | No nag screen, commercial use allowed; installer and portable |
Vovsoft also sells a $99 Universal License covering all of its 115+ programs.
FAQs
Is Search Text In Files a one-time purchase?
Yes. Search Text In Files costs $19 once, the license never expires and future updates are included. The order page shows no auto-renewal.
Can Search Text In Files search inside Outlook PST files?
Yes. Search Text In Files reads Outlook PST, OST, MSG and OFT files, plus EML and MBOX mail files, since version 5.1 added PST/OST/OFT decoding in January 2026.
Can Search Text In Files find text in scanned PDFs?
No. Search Text In Files reads the text layer of a PDF. A scanned PDF is an image, so it has to go through an OCR program first.
Does Search Text In Files run from a USB stick?
Yes. Search Text In Files has a portable edition that runs without installation, and the same license key works for it.
Can I use Search Text In Files from the command line?
Only in a limited way. Search Text In Files opens a saved .stif operation file passed to it on the command line, which loads that search, so a shortcut can start a saved search. There's no separate console version.
Can I install Search Text In Files on my work and home PCs with one license?
If you're the only user, yes: Vovsoft's license covers one person on one or more of their own computers. Several people sharing it need one license each, unless they share a single workstation.
System Requirements
- Windows 11, 10, 8/8.1, 7 or Vista, 32-bit or 64-bit
- About 6 MB of disk space (6.13 MB installer, 5.84 MB portable)
Conclusion
Search Text In Files is worth $19 if you regularly need to find which documents, spreadsheets or mail files in a folder contain (or lack) a phrase: it reads Office, PDF and Outlook files, shows the matching lines and exports the list, and the license is yours for good. It's not an instant whole-drive search, and it can't read scans. Since the free trial has every search feature, run it on your own folders before paying.
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