A Desktop Search Tool for your USB Drive

You like to carry all your important files and documents on a USB drive but when you plug that drive into another computer, you are unable to search the contents of that external disk through the built-in Windows search as the files have not been indexed yet.

Rather than wait for Windows to index your files for searching, what you may do is carry a desktop search utility in the USB disk itself that knows everything about your existing files and thus you can use search as soon as you plug the drive.

One such utility that you may want to give a try is Dropout – this is a portable Windows search tool that requires no configuration or installation. You just need to copy the Dropout.exe file to your USB disk’s root folder (home directory) and it will let you instantly search all the files in the current directory and those inside sub-folders.

When you first run Dropout, it creates its own search index inside an hidden sub-directory and thus it won’t have to re-index files when you use the USB stick on a different computer. The search index updates itself in an incremental manner whenever you run Dropout next so your new / updated files are automatically included.

And Dropout just doesn’t let search files based on their names or extensions, it even lets you find files based on their content (full text search) just like the real Windows search. Get it!

usb desktop search

Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

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Awards & Titles

Digital Inspiration has won several awards since it's launch in 2004.

Google Developer Expert

Google Developer Expert

Google awarded us the Google Developer Expert award recogizing our work in Google Workspace.

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

Our Gmail tool won the Lifehack of the Year award at ProductHunt Golden Kitty Awards in 2017.

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft awarded us the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) title for 5 years in a row.

Google Cloud Champion

Google Cloud Champion

Google awarded us the Champion Innovator title recognizing our technical skill and expertise.

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