Flow.Launcher
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Flow-Launcher
"Explorer" plugin can't search some folders
Hi there,
Thanks for this great app. It really changed my life.
I have an issue with "Explorer" plugin. When I search folders in C:, it doesn't find them. In indexing options, there are always excludes in search that I can't get rid of them. Can those exclude be the cause of this issue??
Window 10 [Version 10.0.19044.1526]
Hi. Are the things you are searching for located in the excluded directories?
To change what is and isn't excluded click the Modify button and next to the displayed drive/folder checkbox, just to the right, you should see a greater than sign >. Click that and it expands the sub directories and you can change as needed (it's not easy to see unless you are looking for iti)
I know how to chick folders to be searched, but I can't find those exclude folders. The folders I want to search are located in AppData folder. I think AppData is a hidden folder. Can Explorer plugin search in those hidden files??
I installed "Everything" plugin and it's so good in search, but it doesn't have a great feature in "Explorer". Explorer can show the files and folders inside the searched folder, but Everything open the folder directly. If there is a way to make Everything make the same thing, it'll be perfect.
Just to confirm:
I do have Windows Explorer set to show hidden files and directories and I don't know if this affects what you see in the Indexing options.
I'm not sure what the Data and CSC folders are from your original screenshot. They don't seem to be standard Windows folders but I could be wrong.
I also made Windows Explorer to show hidden files, but nothing happened. It still can't search those folders.
Yeah I can confirm - I enabled the AppData folder, did a full reindex, restarted Flow and can't search for anything in the AppData folder. @jjw24 @taooceros is this expected behaviour?
Yeah I can confirm - I enabled the AppData folder, did a full reindex, restarted Flow and can't search for anything in the AppData folder. @jjw24 @taooceros is this expected behaviour?
Possible that some of the folder inside appdata is under windows index, while the other are not. I remember the behavior is to use index as much as possible?
Possible that some of the folder inside appdata is under windows index, while the other are not. I remember the behavior is to use index as much as possible?
How can I use index?? And is this a solution for the issue??
Possible that some of the folder inside appdata is under windows index, while the other are not. I remember the behavior is to use index as much as possible?
How can I use index?? And is this a solution for the issue??
One alternate is to index the whole folder, or exclude the whole folder in windows index. I think we will need to adjust the behavior for this.
One alternate is to index the whole folder, or exclude the whole folder in windows index. I think we will need to adjust the behavior for this.
As above screenshot, I indexed the whole "C" except the "Data" folder, I can't find it. Or is there another way to index the whole folder??
Huh then just remove the exclusion of the Data folder in the index? It should be able to index everything except network folder (onedrive etc.).
I installed "Everything" plugin and it's so good in search, but it doesn't have a great feature in "Explorer". Explorer can show the files and folders inside the searched folder, but Everything open the folder directly. If there is a way to make Everything make the same thing, it'll be perfect.
I am thinking about this before, but probably it will need some new api, which seems not easy to be done due to the current implementation because Plugins are separate from each other.
Huh then just remove the exclusion of the Data folder in the index? It should be able to index everything except network folder (onedrive etc.).
I can't remove "Data" from exclusion. I can't find it.
check here
I made this, and it removed the exclusion from index, but still have the same issue. I can't search some folders in AppData and other folders.
AppData should be shown, the indexer from windows can sometimes get a bit frustrating. You need to make sure you check the two areas where paths can be excluded:
- Explorer plugin setting also has an option to exclude paths, I am assuming you just started using flow and havent set anything yet.
- https://github.com/Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher/issues/1064#issuecomment-1058887774
- https://github.com/Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher/issues/1064#issuecomment-1059451536 Then make sure you update the index database after making the change, otherwise the indexing won't update, option is in windows indexer see 1. comment
It's a bit of trial and error with 1. to make sure the paths is correctly indexed. Worst case scenario, index everything as a baseline and make sure you then update the index database, check that the AppData path works, then start unticking the paths you don't want.
I installed "Everything" plugin and it's so good in search, but it doesn't have a great feature in "Explorer". Explorer can show the files and folders inside the searched folder, but Everything open the folder directly. If there is a way to make Everything make the same thing, it'll be perfect.
Agree, I think it will be a good feature to add. @taooceros maybe potentially copy and paste the code that iterates through the folders if the Everything API returns the path? Maybe no need to expose this via flow's API.
I tried checking the first and second settings and both have no excludes. But, I don't know how to update the index database?? It stills search for some folders in AppData and doesn't search for other folders.
@jjw24 I rebuilt the index again, but still the same issue. When I search AppData, it searches Local only, not Roaming. And I don't know if this issue can occur at other folders or not?
So you removed all exclusions and rebuilt index, still not showing up?
Could you show me what your indexing looks like, expand AppData, Local and Roaming locations (blur out any personal directories you don't want to show).
Does Roaming come up when you search via the windows start menu's search? (Window's own search should return the same files/folder as Flow's Explorer).
If you just want to traverse the folder paths like Roaming, you can actually exclude it from Index Search by going to the plugin's setting and add the path to the exclude index search option, e.g. add C:\ will allow you to traverse through entire location without worrying about the index. Then if you want to search for a particular folder/file, use Everything plugin. This is a workaround to your issue, but do let me know if Window's Start Menu search actually brings up results like the Roaming folder, so we can determine if it's an issue with plugin or some windows misconfiguration.
I think we needs to have a better check for whether using index, since path search should not exclude path that is excluded in index search.
The windows start search doesn't show the roaming, local or even AppData folders.
I installed "Everything" plugin and it's so good in search, but it doesn't have a great feature in "Explorer". Explorer can show the files and folders inside the searched folder, but Everything open the folder directly. If there is a way to make Everything make the same thing, it'll be perfect.
And for this, can it be done??
Regarding the integration of everything and the Explorer plugin, we will need to develop a integration api, which may takes a while.
Regarding the integration of everything and the Explorer plugin, we will need to develop a integration api, which may takes a while.
So, it's possible, but will take some time?
@minawaheed9697 are you able to get by with using both Explorer (for showing files and folders inside the searched path) and Everything (for searching directly the files or folder, replacing index search)?
@minawaheed9697 are you able to get by with using both Explorer (for showing files and folders inside the searched path) and Everything (for searching directly the files or folder, replacing index search)?
@jjw24 Unfortunately, I can't as it doubles the same folders and files and makes me confused. E.g. if I search for any folder, there will be 2 of it and I can't differentiate which is Explorer and Everything.