Organizing and Searching Personal Documents

Question

I have my documents (pdfs, text files, source code, markdown, google docs etc.) strewn across local drives, Google drive and GitHub.I struggle to search for my pdfs, Google docs and sometimes source code (although grep works decent)What do you use to help organize and search your personal content?

97-109-107 · Accepted Answer

A few approaches combined make for a very "shallow" search whenever I need something
- Johnny Decimal (https://johnnydecimal.com/) to structure folders
- agkozak/zsh-z: Jump quickly to directories that you have visited "frecently." A native Zsh port of z.sh with added features. (https://github.com/agkozak/zsh-z)
- catfish for searching (https://docs.xfce.org/apps/catfish/start)
The 2nd and 3rd component have many alternatives across platforms.

runjake · Answer

Alfred/Spotlight on macOS.Albert and GNOME Search or whatever, on Linux.Windows Search on Windows. (Windows Search doesn't work very well for me, but it's something.)https://www.alfredapp.com/https://albertlauncher.github.io/https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/files-search....

zigzag312 · Answer

On Windows I use:- Voidtools Everything for search by name/metadata.- DocFetcher (open-source version) for search by file contents.Everything is excellent, but DocFetcher could be improved.

anon2020dot00 · Answer

&ldquo;They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.&rdquo; &ndash; Tom Bodett

tacostakohashi · Answer

I use directories to organize my files.

Organizing and Searching Personal Documents

I have my documents (pdfs, text files, source code, markdown, google docs etc.) strewn across local drives, Google drive and GitHub.
I struggle to search for my pdfs, Google docs and sometimes source code (although grep works decent)
What do you use to help organize and search your personal content?

Alfred/Spotlight on macOS.
Albert and GNOME Search or whatever, on Linux.
Windows Search on Windows. (Windows Search doesn't work very well for me, but it's something.)
https://www.alfredapp.com/
https://albertlauncher.github.io/
https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/files-search....

On Windows I use:
- Voidtools Everything for search by name/metadata.
- DocFetcher (open-source version) for search by file contents.
Everything is excellent, but DocFetcher could be improved.

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” – Tom Bodett

I use directories to organize my files.