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Chatda — User Guide

Chatda is a free search app that quickly finds files on your PC, external drives and network folders (NAS) by name and by what's inside the document.

💡 For installation, see the instructions on the download page. This guide is for people who already have Chatda installed.

Contents

  1. At a glance
  2. Basic search
  3. Search modes — Name + content / Name only / Content only
  4. Filters — sort · date · file type · folder
  5. Wildcards · search syntax
  6. Working with results
  7. Preview
  8. Copy — many files at once
  9. Favorites
  10. Saved searches
  11. Managing folders
  12. Keyboard shortcuts
  13. Search tips
  14. FAQ
  15. Troubleshooting

At a glance

This is what you see the first time you open Chatda.

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [Search box ] [All locations▾] [Sort▾][Date▾][Search in▾][Types▾] ⋯ ? ⚙ │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Search results                                                │
│ — Click: preview                                              │
│ — Double-click: open file                                     │
│ — Right-click: more actions                                   │
│                                                               │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1,234 results                         (progress while indexing) │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Search box: type your search here. Press Ctrl+K from anywhere to jump to it. Search syntax such as quotes and wildcards is listed under ? Help.
  • All locations ▾: opens a small panel with your folders, favorites, saved searches, Add folder and Connect network folder. Once you pick a folder, its name shows on the button.
  • Filter bar: dropdowns next to the search box — sort, date, search in and file type. Click ⋯ for grouping, Select all, Save search, Export and Copy.
  • ? · ⚙: Help and Settings.
  • Result list: your search results. It scrolls smoothly even with thousands of results.
  • Status bar at the bottom: the result count. While indexing, it also shows progress and time left.

💡 To change the display language, go to ⚙ Settings → Language and pick Auto (system), 한국어 or English.

💡 On Windows, Chatda indexes every fixed drive (C:\, D:\ …) right away, without you picking a folder. Folders show up in results too, and English names match in the middle of a word (port → report). For a whole drive, only file names, sizes and dates are searchable. To search inside documents in a folder (for example Documents or Desktop), add it with + Add folder → Managing folders

Search: report

→ Results appear within 0.2 seconds.

Chatda searches as you type. No need to press Enter. While you're composing characters with an input method (e.g. Korean), it waits until each character is complete.

2) Reading the results

Results are a table, one file per line:

Name                          Path                 Content                         Size    Date modified
📊 2024_Q3_summary.xlsx       …\docs\quarterly    …Q3 summary report completed…    84 KB   2024-10-15 09:12
  • Name: the file type icon (📊 Excel, 📄 Word, and so on) and the file name, with your search words highlighted.
  • Path: the folder the file is in.
  • Content: where your search words appear in the document. Empty means the file matched by name only.
  • Size · Date modified
  • Click a column header to sort by it; click again to reverse. Clicking «Content» sorts by best match.
  • Drag a header border to resize a column. Chatda remembers the widths.

3) What clicking does

Action Result
Click Opens the preview panel (text or image preview)
Double-click Opens the file in its default app (e.g. Excel for spreadsheets)
Ctrl+click / Shift+click Pick several files / pick a range (⌘+click on Mac)
Ctrl+Enter Shows the file in Explorer/Finder
Drag and drop Drag results into a folder, the desktop, an email or a chat to copy the files (all picked items)
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+Shift+C Copy the picked files to paste into a folder / copy their paths as text
F2 Rename (opens with the name before the extension selected) · Ctrl+Z to undo (also brings back items you moved to the trash)
Ctrl+D Save the current search (including sort)
Del (⌘⌫ on Mac) Move to trash — asks first, and you can restore it from the trash
Shift+right-click (Windows) The real Explorer context menu (Open with, Send to, compress, Properties, and so on)
Right-click Copy path · copy share link · add to favorites, and more

Search modes

Pick a mode from the Search in dropdown in the filter bar. The default is "Name + content".

Mode What it searches When to use it
Name + content File names and contents Everyday searching (default)
Name only File names and paths only Fastest. Use it when you know the file name
Content only Content only (name matches left out) Finding files by what's inside — the word is in the document but not in its name

Example

Searching for budget: - Name + content: budget_review.xlsx (name) and project_notes.md (has "budget" inside) both show up. - Name only: just budget_review.xlsx. - Content only: just project_notes.md (files without "budget" in the name).

💡 To find files where a word is inside the document but not in the name, use Content only. Contents are indexed only for TXT · MD · CSV · DOCX · XLSX · PPTX · PDF · HWPX (other formats match by name only). Places added as a whole drive (C:\ and so on) are searched by name only.

Filters

Once you type a search, the filter bar appears below the search box. Each item is a dropdown, and anything not at its default is highlighted.

File type filter (All types ▾)

Click All types ▾ to open a checklist of file types:

☐ PDF   ☐ DOCX   ☐ XLSX   ☐ HWP   ☐ TXT   ...

Tick a type to show only that format. You can select several at once. Once you pick some, the button reads 2 types, and Clear all at the top of the list turns them all off.

Date filter

Date ▾   Any time / Today / Past week / Past month / Past year

Shows only files modified within the selected period. Past year means the last 365 days, not since January 1.

Folder filter

Click All locations ▾ and pick a folder to search only inside it. Click All folders at the top of the same panel to go back to searching all folders.

Grouping

Group ▾   No grouping / By folder / By type / By version
  • No grouping: a flat list (default).
  • By folder: results grouped by folder.
  • By type: results grouped by file type.
  • By version: versions of the same file grouped together (e.g. report_v1.docx, report_v2.docx).

Sorting

Sort ▾   Best match / Recently modified / Oldest modified / Recently created / Oldest created / Name A→Z / Name Z→A
  • Best match (default): by match score. Files that mention your words more often come first.
  • Recently modified · Recently created: newest changes or newest files first.
  • Name A→Z: alphabetical.

The reverse orders (oldest first, Z→A) are separate items in the list.

Wildcards

Operators

Syntax Meaning
contract 2026 Every word must appear
apple OR pear Either word (see below)
contract !draft · contract -draft Leave out results with that word
"payment statement" Words in quotes must appear together, in order
report_final.pdf Include the extension to match that exact name

A vertical bar works instead of OR: apple | pear

* and ? — wildcards

Search: report*2024

→ Names that start with "report" and end with "2024", whatever is in between.

Search: v?.docx

→ "v" + any one character + ".docx". % works the same as *.

A word with a wildcard matches the file name (including the extension), and you can mix it with other words, | and ! (report*2024 !draft). If the word contains \ or /, it matches the full path (projects\*.pdf). In Name only mode the whole search is matched against the path as one pattern.

Extensions — *.xlsx

Search: *.xlsx
Search: *.{xlsx,docx,pdf}
Search: report *.xlsx

→ All xlsx files / several extensions at once / only xlsx files containing "report".

Functions

Add these after your search words to narrow the results.

Syntax Meaning
ext:pdf;docx Extension is pdf or docx
file: · folder: Files only · folders only
path:projects The full path contains that text (case-insensitive, no spaces; use several to require all)
size:… Size — see the table below
dm:… (or datemodified:) Date modified — see the table below

File types

Syntax Meaning
doc: Documents (pdf, docx, xlsx, pptx, hwp, txt, md, csv…)
pic: (or image:) Pictures (jpg, png, gif, heic, psd…)
video: · audio: Videos · audio
zip: (or archive:) Archives (zip, 7z, rar, alz, egg…)
exe: Programs (exe, msi, bat, cmd, ps1)

Size

Syntax Meaning
size:>1mb · size:<=500kb · size:2mb Operators > >= < <= =, units b, kb, mb, gb, tb
size:1mb..5mb Range (inclusive)
size:empty 0 bytes
size:tiny · small · medium Up to 10 KB · 10–100 KB · 100 KB–1 MB
size:large · huge · gigantic 1–16 MB · 16–128 MB · over 128 MB

Dates (local time)

Syntax Meaning
dm:today · dm:yesterday Today · yesterday
dm:thisweek · dm:thismonth · dm:thisyear This week (from Monday) · this month · this year
dm:2026 · dm:2026-03 · dm:2026-03-15 That year · month · day
dm:>2025-12-31 · dm:<=2026-02 After · up to
dm:2025..2026-02 Range 
Search: quote ext:xlsx dm:thismonth path:clients

→ xlsx files under a "clients" folder, changed this month, that contain "quote".

Results

Result count

Shown in the status bar at the bottom: - 1,234 results — all results are loaded. - 300+ results — only some are loaded. Scroll down and Chatda fetches more automatically. - When you select results, a count such as · 3 selected appears next to it.

Loading more — infinite scroll

When there are many results, Chatda shows the first 300. Scroll down and more load automatically.

When nothing matches

No matching files

Try this
- Check whether the file type (▾) filter at the top is on
- Set "Search in" to Name + content ("Content only" skips file name matches)
- Wildcards: * (any characters), ? (one character). Example: report*2024
- Search by file type only: *.xlsx or report *.xlsx
- Try shorter words or fragments

Chatda shows these tips right in the result list. Following them usually turns up the file.

Preview

Images (jpg, png, gif, heic, …) are shown as pictures. On Windows, videos and PDFs show a thumbnail too.

Click a search result once to open the preview panel on the right.

File type What the preview shows
Text files such as TXT, MD, CSV, log The beginning of the text (search words highlighted)
PDF Document text (up to 30 MB)
Word · Excel · PowerPoint · Hangul (hwpx) Extracted document text (up to 300 MB)
Other files (photos, videos, etc.) No preview — double-click to open

To close the preview, press Esc or click another result.

Copy

Copying one file

Right-click → "Copy path", or drag the result.

Copying selected files

Pick files with Ctrl+click (⌘+click on Mac) or Shift+click → click Copy at the right of the filter bar. The button shows how many you picked, like Copy (3).

Copying all results on screen

Click Select all, then Copy. Clicking Copy with nothing selected also copies every result shown.

Copy options

When you copy, you choose: - Destination folder: where the files go. - Save as: - Folder: a regular folder copy. - ZIP: a single archive file. - Structure: - All in one folder: every file goes into one folder. - Keep original folder structure: recreates the original folder tree. - Sort by file type: one folder per file type.

Favorites

Add files you open often to your favorites and get to them in a second, no search needed.

Adding

Right-click a result → "Add to favorites".

Viewing

Click All locations ▾ → "★ Favorites" to list only your favorite files.

Removing

Right-click again → "Remove from favorites".

Saved searches

Save a search you run often — the search words and filters together.

Example

  • Search words: meeting notes
  • Mode: Content only
  • File types: docx, md
  • Date: Past month

Save this as "This month's meeting notes" and bring it back with one click under All locations ▾.

Saving

Set up your search and filters, click ⋯ in the filter bar → Save this search (Ctrl+D), and enter a name.

Using

Click the name under All locations ▾ → "Saved searches". Right-click a name to delete it.

Managing folders

Adding a folder

All locations ▾ → "+ Add folder" → choose a folder → indexing starts automatically.

Adding a network folder

All locations ▾ → "Connect network folder" → enter the NAS address and your username and password.

Whole drives (Windows)

If you add a whole drive such as C:\, Chatda indexes only file names, sizes and dates. - Fixed NTFS drives (C:\, D:\ …) are added automatically and indexed one after another. Remove a drive you don't need with Remove from list in the folder menu and it won't come back. Removable drives such as USB sticks aren't added. - If you click Yes in the administrator prompt, Chatda reads the NTFS file table directly; a drive with 2 million files is done in about 10–20 seconds. If you click No, it walks the folders one by one, which takes a few minutes. - While indexing, the status bar shows Reading disk list NN% · time left. The list is saved, so the next launch loads it again in a second or two. - By default, whole-drive indexing skips developer folders (node_modules, .git…) and files starting with «.». To include them, turn on ⚙ Settings → Exclude from index → Include developer folders … (all files). Folders you added yourself aren't affected. - If approving every time gets tedious, install ⚙ Settings → Fast drive indexing (service). It indexes quickly without the prompt and catches up on files that changed while Chatda was closed. Once the service is installed, everyone who signs in to that PC can search the names of files on the drive.

Folder menu

In the All locations ▾ panel, hover over a folder and a ⋯ button appears on the right. Click it, or right-click the folder, to open the menu.

Menu item What it does
Re-index Rebuilds the index. Use it when a folder has changed a lot.
Remove missing files Removes files that no longer exist from the index
Remove from list Removes the folder from the list and the index (your actual files are not deleted)

Marks in front of a folder name:

Mark Meaning
↻ Indexing right now
⚠ Indexing didn't finish — re-indexing recommended
🌐 Network share

To see whether a NAS cache is in use, hover over the folder and read its tooltip.

Reset index

At the bottom of ⚙ Settings, Reset index removes all added folders and the whole index. Add your folders again afterwards; Chatda then indexes them from scratch.

Automatic updates

Chatda notices automatically when files in a folder are added, changed or deleted: - Local folders: reflected in search within about 0.5 seconds. - NAS folders: reflected within about 5 minutes.

To refresh by hand, choose Re-index from the folder menu (⋯ or right-click).

Shortcuts

Key Action
Ctrl + K Focus the search box from anywhere
Tab Autocomplete from recent searches (dropdown appears when you click the search box)
↑ / ↓ Move up and down the result list
Enter Open the selected result (same as double-click)
Esc Clear the search / close the preview
Right-click More actions (copy path, show location, etc.)
Ctrl + Shift + Space (⌘ + ⇧ + Space on Mac) Bring up Chatda from anywhere · press again to hide it

Recent and frequently opened files

  • Clear the search box to list every indexed file, most recently modified first — handy for "where did the file I just saved go?". Date, type and folder filters still apply.
  • Files you open through Chatda get an open count and rise in Best match results. Sort by Most opened to see them together; right-click → «Clear open count» to reset.

Export

Export ▾ in the filter bar → CSV (Excel) or TXT. Saves all results that match the current search, not just the loaded pages. CSV files open in Excel without garbled Korean.

Columns and active filters

  • Right-click the table header to show or hide the Path, Content, Size and Date modified columns.
  • Active date, type, folder and search-in filters appear as chips in the status bar at the bottom. Click a chip to clear it.
  • At the top of the type filter (All types ▾), Documents · Images · Videos · Audio · Archives pick a whole group at once.

Exclude from index

⚙ Settings → Exclude from index: folders and name patterns (*.tmp, ~$*, one per line) Chatda shouldn't index, plus an option to skip hidden and system files (Windows). Saving removes matching items from the index right away.

Tray and start at login

Closing the window doesn't quit Chatda. It stays in the tray (the menu bar on Mac) and keeps indexing. Press Ctrl + Shift + Space while using another app and the window pops up with the cursor in the search box. Click the tray icon to open the window, or choose Quit from its menu to exit completely.

You can change this in ⚙ Settings: - When closing the window: «Keep in tray» or «Quit» - Show window shortcut: pick one of a few combinations, or turn it off. If another app already uses it, Chatda tells you - Start at login: when on, Chatda starts in the tray, without a window, when you log in

Search tips

1) Start short

3Q summary finds more than project_2024_Q3_operations_summary_report.

2) Spacing doesn't matter much

meetingnotes, meeting notes and meeting notes 2024 all behave about the same.

3) Mix languages freely

Ctrl 단축키, Excel VLOOKUP, python manual — anything goes.

4) Can't find something by its contents?

  • Switch the mode to Content only.
  • Check that the file is TXT/MD/CSV/DOCX/XLSX/PPTX/PDF/HWPX (other formats aren't indexed for contents).
  • If the file is only covered by a whole-drive entry (C:), its contents aren't searched → add its folder separately.
  • Try a more general word (bottleneck instead of approval bottleneck).

5) Too many results?

  • Add a file type filter (just xlsx, for example).
  • Add a date filter (Past month, for example).
  • Narrow down to a folder under All locations ▾.
  • Use more specific search words.

6) Seeing several versions of the same file?

Set grouping to By version → v1, v2 and v3 of the same file are grouped on one line.

7) Try different sorting

  • To see what you worked on most recently, sort by Recently modified.
  • To list things alphabetically, sort by Name A→Z.

FAQ

Q. The same file shows up several times. Often the same file really does exist in several folders on the NAS. Set grouping to By folder or By version to tidy things up.

Q. I don't see an excerpt. - The file's format may not support content indexing (e.g. images, ZIP files). - If you see the Name badge, its contents aren't indexed. - Supported formats: TXT · MD · CSV · DOCX · XLSX · PPTX · PDF · HWPX. - Files covered only by a whole-drive entry (C:) are indexed by name only. Add their folder separately to search their contents too.

Q. I just created a file and it doesn't show up. - In a local folder, wait about 0.5 seconds. Chatda picks it up automatically. - On a NAS, it can take up to 5 minutes. In a hurry? Choose Re-index from the folder menu.

Q. Search is slow. - Switch the mode to Name only (fastest). - Narrow the search with a file type filter. - Use the folder filter to search one folder.

Q. How do I get updates? When a new version is out, a banner like "Version v0.X.X is available [Install]" appears at the top when Chatda starts. Click it and the rest is automatic.

Q. Do favorites and recent searches sync between PCs? No. Each PC keeps its own.

Q. I changed my NAS password. What now? Reconnect with the new password from All locations ▾ → "Connect network folder".

Troubleshooting

No results

  1. Check whether the file type (▾) filter is on → clear it.
  2. Set "Search in" to Name + content ("Content only" skips file name matches).
  3. Click All locations ▾ → All folders at the top (so you're not limited to one folder).
  4. Make sure the date filter is set to "Any time".
  5. Use shorter, simpler search words.

A NAS folder shows up empty

  • Right-click the folder under All locations ▾ (or click ⋯) → Re-index.
  • Check the NAS connection (can you open the NAS address in Explorer/Finder?).
  • If you use a work NAS from outside the office, check that your VPN is connected.

The app uses too much memory

  • ⚙ Settings → Reset index at the bottom → add your folders again (rebuilding the index takes a while).
  • Remove folders you don't use.

Can't add a folder

  • Check folder permissions (for a NAS, check your username and password and that you have access to that folder).

Still stuck?

Please open an issue under Issues on the download page. Including the following helps us fix it faster: - Your operating system (Windows / Mac) - What you did on which screen, and what happened - A screenshot, if you can

In one line

Type a word or two in the search box → click a result → preview it or double-click to open. Nothing found? Try Content only mode or the * wildcard. Too many results? Narrow them with the file type / date filters or grouping.

As of v0.9