You choose the folders
Find Text searches only the Mac folders you select. You can keep the scope focused on a project, archive, or document collection.
Privacy
Your files stay on your Mac.
Find Text searches only folders you choose. Local indexes and search settings are stored on your device, and cloud-synced folders are searched when they are available on this Mac.
Local-first by design
No file data leaves your Mac
How it works
Everything runs on your device.
From choosing folders to searching and previewing results, the workflow is designed to stay on your Mac. Your files, search terms, and search data are not uploaded by Find Text.
Search data stays local
The searchable data is stored on your Mac so results can be found quickly without sending your documents elsewhere.
Local search
Searches run on your device. Results appear in the app, and you decide which file to open.
Cloud-synced folders
Search cloud files that are already on your Mac.
Find Text can search cloud-synced folders that are available locally through Finder, such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox folders that sync to your Mac.
Works with local copies
When a cloud provider has downloaded files to your Mac, Find Text can search those local copies like other Finder folders.
Availability depends on sync
Cloud-synced files must be downloaded to your Mac before they can be indexed. Files that are online-only or evicted will not have their content available for full-text search.
OCR privacy
Text recognition stays on your device.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) helps Find Text search scanned PDFs and image files. Your scanned pages and recognized text stay in the local workflow.
Useful for scans
OCR is useful for English newspapers, old books, photographed documents, screenshots, receipts, and other printed material saved as images.
No upload-focused workflow
Find Text is designed for selected folders on your Mac, so scanned documents can become searchable without turning the product into an upload service.