WizFile Quick Start Guide

How to use WizFile

Basic Functionality

Just start typing into the search box and files matching the search text will appear in the results list. While WizFile is active it will monitor your hard drives for file changes. Any changes that affect the current search results will update on screen as they occur.


Right click on a file to bring up the file's context menu. Click on a file name, pause slightly, then click again to rename it (or press F2). Double click on a file name to open it using the default Windows method. Double click on the path name to open an explorer window at the file's location. Hold down ALT while double clicking on the file path to open a command prompt at that location.


Global Hotkey

If WizFile is running in the background, press Ctrl+Win+W to activate it from any other application.


Wildcards

Use a * (asterisk) to match and one or more characters. Use a ? (question mark) to match any single character. For example, to search for all files that start with the letters "da", type in:
da*

To find all files starting with the letter a with "d" as the 3rd letter, type in:
a?d*

To file all files with a particular extension, e.g. all mp3 files:
*.mp3


Multiple Search Items (AND/OR)

Separate multiple search terms with a space. The space acts like an "AND" operator. For example to seach for files of type ".mp3" that also contain the word "dance", type in:
*.mp3 dance

If your search term has a space in it use double quotes around it, e.g.:
*.mp3 "dance hits"

Use the vertical pipe (|) symbol as an "OR" operator for multiple search items. E.g. to find all .mp3 and .wav files:
*.mp3|*.wav

To find all .mp3 and .wav files that contain the word "dance":
*.mp3|*.wav dance

Do not put spaces between the vertical pipe character and the search terms.


Searching by File Size and Date

Use operators "=", ">", ">=", "<", "<=" to filter files based on size or modified date. NB: Don't put any spaces between operators and values!
e.g. to find files less than 100 bytes in size:
<100
Append a 'k', 'm', 'g', or 't' to the number to search in Kb, Mb, Gb, Tb
e.g. to find files between 500MB and 1Gb:
>=500m <=1g
'kb', 'mb', 'gb', 'tb' can also be used, e.g.:
>=500mb <=1gb

To filter by "allocated" size, use "a=", "a>", etc.
e.g. To find files with allocated size between 100MB and 200MB:
a>=100m a<=200m
e.g. to find files with 0 allocated size and greater than zero file size:
a=0 >0

To filter by date, specify a date in the format: yyyy/mm/dd
e.g. Filter files modified before 2020/01/01:
<2020/01/01

Use the constant "today" to reference today's date. Optionally add or subtract a number of days from this constant.
e.g. to find files modified in the last 7 days:
>=today-7

e.g. to find all files larger than 1gb that were modified in the last month (last 30 days):
>=1gb >=today-30

Place the search item in quotes to force a file name search.
e.g. to find file names that contain "=0" instead of displaying files with zero size:
"=0"


NOT (!) Operator

Start the search expression with an exclamation mark (!) to find files that don't match the expression.
e.g. to find files that don't contain "windows":
!windows

e.g. to find all files that contain "music" but are not of type mp3:
music !*.mp3

e.g. to find files that are between 1 and 100 bytes in size, but not 50:
>=1 <=100 !=50

If using quotes, put the exclamation mark before the quotes:
!"dance music"



Searching for Files or Folders only

By default WizFile returns both matching files and folders. To search for folders only, use:
=folder

to search for files only, use:
=file


Searching by File Name Length and File Path Length

Use search terms "namelen" and "pathlen" along with operators "=", ">", ">=", "<", "<=" to search for files based on name or path length.

e.g. to find files with path length (includes filename) larger than 200:
pathlen>200

e.g. to find files with path length (includes filename) between 100 and 180:
pathlen>=100 pathlen<=180

e.g. to find files with file name of 1 character:
namelen=1


Regular Expression Search (regex)

WizFile 3.09 and later supports regular expression search.


Type in a forward slash (/) followed directly by the regular expression you wish to use, e.g.:
/[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}\.csv$

If the regular expression contains spaces, enclose it in double quotes, like this:
/"[0-9]{4} [0-9]{2} [0-9]{2}\.csv$"

Match File Name Only

If this option is selected the search will only be applied to the file name (the path is not searched)


Match Entire Path

If this option is selected the search will be applied to the entire path. If the search term contains a "\" (backslash) then the search will be performed on the entire path regardless of the current "match" setting.


Closing WizFile

The "close" and "minimize" buttons at the top right of the WizFile window will minimize WizFile to the system tray where it will remain active. Double click on the WizFile tray icon to restore WizFile.

To close and exit use the "File->Exit" menu option or press Alt+F4. You can also right click on the tray icon and select "exit".


Start With Windows

Enabled this option to have WizFile start automatically when you log into windows. It will start minimized to the system tray. This option is on by default in the non-portable version. If you're using the portable version and you enable this option please remember to disable it once you're done.


Launch applications as administrator

If enabled, applications launched by WizFile will have administrator rights. It's recommended to keep this option disabled.