FlexTk's built-in search engine provides a rich set of features allowing one to define very sophisticated and focused search queries. The purpose of this tutorial is to pass over all the currently existing search capabilities and to show the user helpful techniques and usage models. First of all let's begin with file matching rules. An unlimited number of file matching rules may be defined for each search query. To add a file matching rule click on the 'Add' button on the advanced search dialog.

The advanced search criteria displays the list of existing file matching rules and a number of parameters required for the currently selected rule. The set of search parameters is unique for each file matching rule and the dialog is changing dynamically as the user selects a specific file matching rule. For example, when the user selects the file size matching rule, the dialog will display a list of controls allowing one to specify the comparison operator, the expected file size and size units.

The category file matching rule searches files related to a specific file class or class group. This is very useful and generic file matching rule allowing one to find a broad or more focused group of files depending on specific needs. For example, if you need to find all textual files on your computer, you can select the category 'Documents, Books and Text Files' from the default file hierarchy. A category may contain a large number of sub-categories and file classes and there is no need to know or remember extensions of all the required files to perform the search operation.

On the other hand, if you need to perform a more focused search operation, you can select a sub-category. For example, the sub-category 'Documents' from the default file hierarchy will find all document files, but not books, presentations or spreadsheets. Even more focused search operations may be performed by selecting a specific file class. For example, select 'MS Word Documents' to find Microsoft Word documents only. The category file matching rule allows one to perform very flexible search operations while providing a truly simple usage model for regular computer users without specific knowledge about file types and extensions.

Another useful file matching rule is the text pattern rule. This rule searches for specific text patterns inside files. The text matching rule may be very useful when combined with the category matching rule. For example, you can search for all types of documents containing specific text keywords.

One of the most frequently used search operations is to find recently modified or created files. The FlexTk's search engine provides three time matching search rules allowing one to search files by the creation time, the last modification time and the last access time. Sometimes, there is a need to find very specific files requiring search queries with numerous file matching rules. For example, in order to find documents containing a specific text that were modified today, you need to define a search query with three file matching rules. The first one will match files categorized as documents. The second rule will search for specific text inside files. And the last one will match files that were modified today.

In order to keep you hard disk in good shape, it may be useful to periodically clean unused files and reclaim wasted storage space. The most efficient way to do that is to find large files that have not been accessed for a long time. Use the file size matching rule in conjunction with the access time matching rules to find large files that have not been accessed for months or years. Also it may be useful to mix these rules with the file category matching rule. For example, you can define a search query that will find all large pictures, songs or movies that have not been accessed for a while.

Advanced computer users may be interested to find files by file attributes such as 'System', 'Hidden', 'Read-Only', etc. In order to do that, the FlexTk's search engine provides the file attribute matching rule. Select the rule in the rule list and press the 'Select Attributes' button to see all the file attributes that may be selected. The attributes selection dialog displays the list of all the file attributes supported by the operating system and may be significantly different depending on the used platform.

In some situations we need to look inside a file to make the final decision whether the file is what we are looking for. Two files may have identical file names and extensions, but that does not mean that these files are of the same file type. Various types of files have specific headers, patterns and codes located on designated positions and the only way to make a guaranteed decision about the type of a file is to check the file's content for the type's specific binary patterns. In order to do that, FlexTk provides the binary pattern matching rule, which is capable of checking binary patterns located on specific positions inside files. This file matching rule allows one to resolve ambiguous situations when no other rules can help or when you need to discover files with intentionally changed file names or extensions.

Typically, users search by entering all or a part of the file name they are looking for. This approach works perfectly most of the time, but sometimes there is a need for more flexible and precise file name matching capabilities. The file name matching rule allows one to specify the file name pattern and the exact location where in the file name the pattern should be found. The user is provided with the ability to find file name patterns in the beginning, the end or in any place of the file name.

Flexible search queries are very helpful, but it may be very daunting to define a complex search query each time you need to use it. A better idea is to save frequently used search queries in a predefined search list. FlexTk allows one to save queries in the predefined search list and execute a previously saved search query in a single mouse click. To save a search query just press the 'Save Search' button on the advanced search dialog and enter a unique search name. All saved search queries are displayed in the 'Search' button menu and in the 'Search' menu located on the main menu bar. In order to execute a saved query, select one or more disks, directories or files and click on the required search menu item.

The search results dialog displays the search status, the number of files found, the total amount of storage space occupied by matching files and the total number of files processed during the search process. FlexTk allows one to perform numerous operations with search results including copy, move or delete. To perform an operation select one or more files in the results view and press an appropriate button. In addition, the user is provided with the ability to export search results into a number of standard formats such as HTML, Excel CSV and ASCII text.