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Tools for finding related files

The problem, in plain words: “I need an app that can search my computer and gather all files related to a specific person or search term into one place.”

reverscan fits best, with 1 more that fits too.

You want a tool that searches your computer for a person name or any term and collects all matching files into a single view or collection.

Updated July 2026.

What fits

reverscanstrong · 88

reverscan is explicitly a local file search for Mac that indexes text, images, PDFs and documents and can search by keywords or even screenshots, then surface matching files from internal and external drives — matching your need to find and gather files tied to a person or search term.

Best for: Mac users who need system-wide, content-driven search across documents, images and external drives.

Caveat: Built for macOS users, so it will not run on Windows.

Fennstrong · 86

Fenn is a local macOS file search engine that finds content inside PDFs, audio and video as well as documents, designed as a deeper alternative to Spotlight — it directly supports searching by keywords and surfacing all matching files for review.

Best for: Mac power users and researchers who need deep, local search that includes multimedia and PDFs.

Caveat: Runs on macOS only, so it won't cover Windows machines.

Partly fits

Edit Mindpartial · 58

Designed to make large video libraries fully searchable locally by frame, audio transcription and scene, so it will reliably gather all matching video clips for a person or term.

Won’t cover: Focused primarily on video footage rather than general documents, emails, or images, so it won't collect non-video file types into one collection.

Freeterpartial · 50

Freeter gathers links, files and resources into project workspaces for quick access, which can help assemble relevant material around a person or topic.

Won’t cover: Organizes items into project workspaces but does not perform a system-wide content index of every file on your drives, so it may miss scattered files unless you add them.

Findrpartial · 48

Findr provides universal search across cloud apps and services to pull scattered information into one place, useful if your files live in online apps as well as locally.

Won’t cover: Targets cloud apps like Slack and Gmail rather than indexing your local disk, so it won't by itself gather files stored only on your computer into one collection.

Questions

What's the best tool for finding related files?

reverscan is the strongest match — reverscan is explicitly a local file search for Mac that indexes text, images, PDFs and documents and can search by keywords or even screenshots, then surface matching files from internal and external drives — matching your need to find and gather files tied to a person or search term. One caveat: built for macOS users, so it will not run on Windows.

Is there a tool that fully solves this?

2 products match this closely.

What won't these tools cover?

Focused primarily on video footage rather than general documents, emails, or images, so it won't collect non-video file types into one collection. · Organizes items into project workspaces but does not perform a system-wide content index of every file on your drives, so it may miss scattered files unless you add them. · Targets cloud apps like Slack and Gmail rather than indexing your local disk, so it won't by itself gather files stored only on your computer into one collection.

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Matched by Matchbox. Nothing here is sponsored and payment never affects ranking. Products link to their listings; some are auto-extracted and not yet maker-verified.