Sometimes you need to find a particular file or folder on your disks. It is very easy with ADC – use the Tools|Search menu item:
To make the query, enter the file name (or part of filename) in What window; wildcards can be used (‘?’ for any single character, ‘*’ for one or more characters). You can limit your search with file date and size; check the box Match case for case-sensitive search; use the Exact match option to find the files (folders) with the name exactly as you typed (otherwise, the ‘*’ will be added to the head and to the tail of your search string – so, it’ll be search for the sub-string). You can also search only for files/folders of a particular category.
If you search in comments (Where option), ADC also looks for the specified text in disk names and serial numbers. Using the ‘*’ mask (just the star), you can find all items with comments. Using the ‘ ‘ (just the space), all items without comments will be found.
To start searching, press the Search button; files/folders will be displayed immediately as they found. The status bar will display the total number of items found. During the search, Close button is not available, and Search button is replaced with Cancel (to terminate the search).
If the Search in compressed files option is enabled, ADC will also look in compressed files. If something will be found, the Name field will display the name of the file from archive, and the Location field will show you the full path to the compressed file.
You can also limit your search by Date – to find only those file which have been modified during last few days, months or years, or between two dates. If you use the Between option, you can leave the first and/or second field blank; the “magic” date (January 1, 1980) will be used as a starting date, and the current date as an upper limit. Please note that the year number can contain one, two or four (but not three!) digits; if it is from 0 to 37 (inclusive) – 2000 will be added, giving a year from 2000 to 2037 as a result. If the year number is from 38 to 99, then 1900 will be added (and so you’ll get a value from 1938 to 1999).
From this window, you’re able to generate the report, which will contain information of all found files (in common CSV data format): just press the Save button. The following fields are included into search report: file (or folder) name, disk name, location (path), size, date and time, category, type and comment (if the appropriate option is enabled in General Settings dialog).
The right mouse button is also usable in the search window. Select the file you’re interested in and right-click: you’ll see the same menu as in main window, but with Locate item: by, selecting it, you’ll switch to the main window, and the current selection will move to this file. The same action is performed when you double-click on the file.