Magpie SearchGuides.
Practical, step-by-step help for finding files on Windows: text in pictures, PDFs, documents, notes, duplicates and private search.
How to search for text in images on Windows 11
What Windows can and can't do with text in pictures, and how to search all your images at once.
6 min readHow to find a screenshot by the text in it on Windows 10 and 11
Where Windows keeps your screenshots, and how to find one by a word you remember from it.
5 min readHow to search inside PDF files on Windows, even many PDFs at once
Search inside one PDF, a folder full of PDFs, and scanned PDFs that have no text layer.
5 min readHow to search the contents of Word, Excel and PowerPoint files without opening them
Find the document, spreadsheet or slide deck that contains a phrase, without opening them one by one.
5 min readWhy Windows Search doesn't find text inside your files, and how to fix it
The usual reasons Windows misses text inside files, with a fix for each one.
5 min readHow to copy text from a screenshot or picture on Windows
Four ways to get text out of a picture on Windows, from a quick snip to every screenshot you own.
5 min readHow to search scanned documents and receipts on your PC
Scan paper so it can be read, and find any letter, contract or receipt by a word or amount on it.
5 min readHow to find duplicate files on Windows 11 safely
Find true duplicates by content, not by name, and remove them without risking the wrong file.
5 min readHow to search all your Markdown and text notes across folders
Search .md, .txt and log files across many folders at once, with built-in commands or an instant index.
5 min readSemantic search explained: finding files by meaning, not keywords
How meaning-based search works, when it beats keywords, and how to run it privately on your own PC.
5 min readHow to read and search text in images in other languages on Windows
Add OCR languages to Windows, and search screenshots in Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and more.
5 min readPrivate, offline file search: keeping your documents off the cloud
What different search tools send online, which Windows settings to check, and how to keep search local.
4 min read