Shortcut to search in current folder

[Fraka]

Hi!
I feel a bit stupid at the moment, sorry if I just didn't see the option.

In Windows 8.1 I can right click a folder, click Search Everything... and Everything opens with the limiting search string already applied.
Example:

• I am at C:\
• right click on the folder temp and choose Everything
• Everything opens with "C:\temp\" in the search line and the cursor is at the right position to just start typing for a search in that folder.

What I am looking for is a shortcut to make a search in the currently active folder.

• So I am already in C:\temp\
• Press a hotkey / shortcut (key combination)
• Everything should open with "C:\temp\" applied to the search line

I mean that's such a basic function, that must be possible somehow. Maybe not in portable version, but at least in installed.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Fraka

[horst.epp]

Thake the following code into a filename.reg
Adapt to your path of Everything and double click to import into registry.
Be carefull to use \\ for path !
Then you have a context menu entry "Search FOLDER with Everything".

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Search FOLDER with Everything]
"Icon"="\"C:\\Tools\\Everything\\Everything.ico\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Search FOLDER with Everything\Command]
@="\"C:\\Tools\\Everything\\Everything.exe\" -path \"%1\""

[Fraka]

Sorry that's not what I'm looking for. Actually your registry entry does exactly the same as the default right click option?

I am looking for this:

• I am in C:\temp\ (active Window)
• I press a hotkey / shortcut (key combination like ctrl+F; no context menu)
• Everything should open with "C:\temp\" applied to the search line

[SuperDude]

Thake the following code into a filename.reg
Adapt to your path of Everything and double click to import into registry.
Be carefull to use \\ for path !
Then you have a context menu entry "Search FOLDER with Everything".

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Search FOLDER with Everything]
"Icon"="\"C:\\Tools\\Everything\\Everything.ico\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Search FOLDER with Everything\Command]
@="\"C:\\Tools\\Everything\\Everything.exe\" -path \"%1\""

I thought that slightly modified registry hack looked familiar

[Fraka]

I don't think that's a big copyright concern because of 5 lines of code...
horst.epp tried to provide quick help and that's commendable.

So where does the shortcut hide to directly search the folder you are currently in?
It's breaking my workflow to always switch one hand to the mouse and go up one folder, search the folder I was in, right click it, left click "everything", switch hand back to the keyboard and start typing my keywords instead of just ctrl+f and start typing.

[horst.epp]

I don't think that's a big copyright concern because of 5 lines of code...
horst.epp tried to provide quick help and that's commendable.

So where does the shortcut hide to directly search the folder you are currently in?
It's breaking my workflow to always switch one hand to the mouse and go up one folder, search the folder I was in, right click it, left click "everything", switch hand back to the keyboard and start typing my keywords instead of just ctrl+f and start typing.

Unfortunately there is no command line argument which would use the current path as search base.
Even a batch file with a shortcut wouldn't help because the file would not know to which explorer Windows it should refer.
I don't have this problem because I'm using Total Commander with Everything and there is no problem with this.

[froggie]

If you create a .cmd or .bat file with the line

Code: Select all

c:\Everything\Everything.exe -path %CD%

in it (adjusted appropriatly for your installation of Everything), and figure out how to trigger it with a hot key, it will open Everything in the current directory.

[SuperDude]

@froggie: I have been trying out your batch file:

Code: Select all

c:\Everything\Everything.exe -path %CD%

On my computer, I can assign a hotkey to call the batch file, but the Everything window only appears in the folder the batch file is in. If I go to a different folder, the Everything window still only opens in the folder the batch file is in.

If I move the batch file to another folder and run it, I occasionally get a "is not a valid file list..." error message, so something isn't working...

[Fraka]

@horst.epp
Unfortunately I'm not using total commander.

@frogger
thanks, nice suggestion.

@SuperDude
It fails when there is a space in the path of the current folder.

btw the path in the cmd needs apostrophes to work if there is a space in it:

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe" -path %CD%

If we get the batchfile to work, I will use foobar2000 (my audio player) to create the global hotkey, because it is open in the background most of the time anyway. First use the scheduler to create a new action (launch .bat) and an event to trigger the action and then you can assign the event to a shortcut. Sounds complicated but usually works well.

[Fraka]

Ok I made some tests and it looks like batch/cmd is not guilty of the "space-problem". But in my tests it had problems with special characters like äöü. So another source of failure...
At this point the workaround gets bigger and bigger an isn't worth the time in my opinion.

Conclusion: Everything can't open a search in the current folder with a shortcut.

[mapa4]

@Fraka,
Playing with AutoHotkey should resolve your problem.
I found your idea about shortcuts interesting, so I derived it into another useful hint, creating a Desktop shortcut based on the current Everything search, thanks for this.

MWSnap016.png (20.18 KiB) Viewed 41891 times

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force
EveryClass := "ahk_class EVERYTHING"
Everything := "C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe"

^e::
	If (WinExist(EveryClass))
	{
		ControlGet, parms, Line, 1, Edit1, % EveryClass
		If (parms <> "")
		{
			suffix := parms
			Loop, Parse, % chr(34) "\/:*?<>|"
				StringReplace, suffix, suffix, % A_LoopField, -, All
			FileCreateShortcut, "%Everything%", %A_Desktop%\_Ev_%suffix%.lnk,, -url "%parms%"
		}
	}
Return

Now, this below snippet should be the solution to your problem as well as the spaces in the folder name :

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force

^!e::	; -- Ctrl-Alt-E to launch Everything from current Explorer folder (v3)
	For w In ComObjCreate("Shell.Application").Windows
		If (WinActive("ahk_class CabinetWClass"))
			If (SubStr(w.document.folder.self.path, 1, 2) <> "::")
				Run, % Everything " -path " chr(34) w.document.folder.self.path chr(34)
Return

The 2 above snippets are usable as is, as soon as AutoHotkey is installed and up in your Windows and Everything in its default folder.

[Fraka]

mapa4, thank you for your answer.
I also already thought about AutoHotkey to be a reasonable tool to make a workaround, but unfortunately I have almost no knowlage about it's syntax and commands. I only used it for very simple tasks so far and never had to target a specific window or stuff like that. But clicking through several pages, there seems to be good documentation.
Nevertheless, learning AutoHotkey is a bit over the top for my task. So maybe I'll get it to work with your code snippet and a lot of botching from me or I could try to ask someone in the AutoHotkey forums. Shouldn't take too long for some nice person who is in practice.

/edit1
by the way, the Everything documentation says

-path <path>
Search for a path.

-parentpath <path>
Search for the parent of a path.

So -parentpath is searching C:\ when I am in C:\temp\ ? That could be useful for me, too! E.g. with a modified hotkey like Ctrl+Shift+F

/edit2
I was looking around a bit in this forum and decided to make a new post in the suggestions section about the topic, because I consider this to be a basic function (useful to everybody) which should be provided by default (compare the many shortcuts already present and even global shortcuts are already implemented). Don't know what you were used to in the past, but for me a search in the current folder was just a ctrl+F away.

/edit3
ok, forget about edit1, I think I was wrong concerning the functionality of -parentpath. But the documentation is not very detailed here

[therube]

It fails when there is a space in the path of the current folder.

Put the %CD% in parens, "%CD%".

it had problems with special characters like äöü

Not sure why?
At least from a batch file it should be working.

Everything_HERE.BAT:

Code: Select all

@ECHO  OFF
SET  DIR="%~f1%"

"{path_to_everything}\Everything.exe"  -path  %DIR%

Dropping to a M: prompt in this directory...
M:\Rammstein\Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (2009)\> Everything_HERE.BAT

Code: Select all

M:\Rammstein\Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (2009)\

Has no trouble passing that directory to Everything.

You could set, Everything_HERE.BAT, as a shortcut in "SendTo", then right-click any file in a directory, SendTo -> Everything_HERE.BAT, should send the directory path that the file is in to Everything.

(Hotkeys, I'm not familiar with, offhand.)

[Fraka]

@mapa4
Looks very good!
As I've seen your edit with the second code snippet, I immediately tested it. It failed, I tried to repair it, wrote a big answer... and then saw your new edit of the second snippet which is totally different

However, it still has some problems:

• The quotation marks chr(34) are not applied in the search string for me (and you should add a trailing space chr(32))
• Sometimes it doesn't choose the right current folder, but another (random?) folder that is open. My tests showed that in this case when multiple instances of Everything are allowed, two searches will pop up with only one hotkey activation.

[mapa4]

@Fraka, I modified the 2nd snippet to catch the active Explorer

[Fraka]

@therube
You are right and I can't remember what exactly I did to have trouble with special chars. It might have been just the parenthesis. I didn't know your "trick" with the %~f1% before, thank you for that, it's quite fancy

Your batchfiles work both and even the triggering through foobar2000 worked (I had problems doing it via Windows start menu --> make a link to batchfile in there --> right click on link --> properties, there you usually can define a hotkey which works with program starts but apparently not for my batchfile).
Unfortunately doing it like that does not pass the currently active window path from where it was triggered. After reading a lot of stackoverflow and superuser I'm not even sure that it is really possible without using a rightclick and send to.

As the autohotkey script by mapa4 also doesn't really work for me (see post above) - although I think it looks really good, at least as a pseudo-code (I don't know the exact syntax) - I will go to the autohotkey forums and ask for help. For me AHK looks like it was made for tasks like that.

Maybe a solution made of both approaches will work: An autohotkey script triggers the send-to in the current folder which then triggers the batchfile somewhere which triggers Everywhere

Nevertheless, many thanks to you guys so far, it's gradually becoming a more interesting task to me. Already put too much time into it to give up now

[Fraka]

@mapa4
Why do you use -url instead of -path?
I changed it and it looks like -path works better and already adds the quotation marks. Actually we want to open a path and not an URL.
With -path you also don't need to change the spaces to %20.

p.s.: Link to my suggestion post.

/edit: confused -url and -path in last sentence, corrected it.
/edit2: I really meant the last sentence as it is now with "-path". But apparently this is not true, you still need to replace spaces (see below).

[mapa4]

@mapa4
Why do you use -url instead of -path?
I changed it and it looks like -path works better and already adds the quotation marks. Actually we want to open a path and not an URL.
With -url you also don't need to change the spaces to %20.

p.s.: Link to my suggestion post.

Because it seems to be more universal, and thanks to the use of %20 you do not need to manage double quotes, I have no exception in my own usage.

[void]

I've added the ini option hotkey_explorer_path_search in Everything 845b.

When this option is enabled, pressing an Everything hotkey that shows an Everything search window from a Windows Explorer window will set the search to the current path in Windows Explorer.

To enable this option:

• In Everything, type in the following search and press ENTER:
  /hotkey_explorer_path_search=1

[mapa4]

@mapa4
Why do you use -url instead of -path?
I changed it and it looks like -path works better and already adds the quotation marks. Actually we want to open a path and not an URL.
With -url you also don't need to change the spaces to %20.

p.s.: Link to my suggestion post.

I investigated, you are right, thanks. So you have now plenty of different solutions for your problem, lucky you are ! Just rate the best one

[Fraka]

Ok guys, I am absolutely delighted how we managed to solve this with a lot of different approaches!
Thanks!

@mapa4
Like I said before, unfortunately your AHK script didn't work for me (Windows 8). But I got help in the AHK Forums and the result was
this fully working script (can be compiled as .exe for portability reasons):

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force

#If WinActive("ahk_class CabinetWClass")   ; contextual Hotkey, run only for active windows of class 'CabinetWClass'
F7::
   ActiveID := WinExist()   ; ID of the 'last found' window by #If
   For w In ComObjCreate("Shell.Application").Windows
   {
      If (w.HWND = ActiveID)   ; test if ID (HWND) of the explorer window equals the one of the currently active window
      {
         StringReplace, Folder, % w.document.folder.self.path, `%20, % A_Space, All
         Run, % "C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe -path " chr(34) Folder chr(34)
         Break
      }
   }
   w := ""   ; release object w.
Return
#If   ; end contextual hotkey

It is a little bit strange that the replacement of spaces is still needed (otherwise it will always use the path to your desktop as filter), but it works!
You can try it by yourself and just comment out the StringReplace line with a leading semicolon.

Now that I have a working solution, void already implemented a solution on his own and he/she was turbo fast! I didn't expect that and I am amazed - will test it immediately! Wow!


/edit:
Precompiled .exe ready to use for guys who don't want to install AHK:
down Mirror#1: (Uploaded.net) http://ul.to/axqbvi82
down Mirror#2: (file-upload.net) https://www.file-upload.net/download-12 ... 0.zip.html Caution, much advertising!
Mirror#3: (dropbox.com) https://www.dropbox.com/s/yeptxfd98sovh ... 0.exe?dl=1
Mirror#4: zipped and attatched here in the forum

EverythingSearchF7Win8-10.zip

(380.14 KiB) Downloaded 838 times

Instructions:
Unzip, then put the .exe in your autostart folder and you're done.
Beware that this only works if you have the standard install directory C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe and the hotkey is fixed to F7.
If you want customization, you need to download AHK and modify the script above.

Hashtable:

Code: Select all

Filename: EverythingSearchF7Win8-10.exe
MD5     : D1374284875FE06F810C2BE39ABFA32B
SHA-1   : 875CCB8C17E2CDE3377D8C2429905B91C82479D5
SHA-256 : 9511160FFB88FCA767AF211CE07F8885A2328C2C406D144E025B8A7DCD414BB5
SHA-512 : 0EF948391BCBEA777F133A541406A86A2069E78E1EA4058031C0E5B3AD967B974BC3F51CB20A19E6ABEFD4A29A64F07362E0F9AE47F2DB9BBBA903C77DD88CBB

[mapa4]

Ok guys, I am absolutely delighted how we managed to solve this with a lot of different approaches!
Thanks!

@mapa4
Like I said before, unfortunately your AHK script didn't work for me (Windows 8). But I got help in the AHK Forums and the result was this fully working script (can be compiled as .exe for portability reasons):

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force

#If WinActive("ahk_class CabinetWClass")   ; contextual Hotkey, run only for active windows of class 'CabinetWClass'
F7::
   ActiveID := WinExist()   ; ID of the 'last found' window by #If
   For w In ComObjCreate("Shell.Application").Windows
   {
      If (w.HWND = ActiveID)   ; test if ID (HWND) of the explorer window equals the one of the currently active window
      {
         StringReplace, Folder, % w.document.folder.self.path, `%20, % A_Space, All
         Run, % "C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe -path " chr(34) Folder chr(34)
         Break
      }
   }
   w := ""   ; release object w.
Return
#If   ; end contextual hotkey

It is a little bit strange that the replacement of spaces is still needed (otherwise it will always use the path to your desktop as filter), but it works!
You can try it by yourself and just comment out the StringReplace line with a leading semicolon.

Now that I have a working solution, void already implemented a solution on his own and he/she was turbo fast! I didn't expect that and I am amazed - will test it immediately! Wow!

Well done again Fraka, you never give up ! Now you know how the amazing AutoHotkey may help you in many circumstances and beyond !

[Fraka]

Thanks mapa4.
Actually I was already enthusiastic about AHK before, but never had the time to really learn it and only used it for more basic, easy stuff. Nevertheless they seem to have a dedicated, helpful community and good documentation which lets me reconsider learning it this year!

[mapa4]

Thanks mapa4.
Actually I was already enthusiastic about AHK before, but never had the time to really learn it and only used it for more basic, easy stuff. Nevertheless they seem to have a dedicated, helpful community and good documentation which lets me reconsider learning it this year!

This one was just to play, but I liked the idea. I use AutoHotkey for 4 years now and created about 40 compiled user applications with GUI, web services, scraping and other stuff. Everyday I learn something new with it

[nathan323]

Howdy all.

I came here looking for this solution, and ended up coming up with something different that works for me.

It uses a 3rd party prog that comes in handy for me, Classic Shell.
It contains a feature called Classic Explorer that allows you to add buttons to the toolbar of any open Explorer window.
This allows you to choose from many preset buttons like Cut/Copy/Paste, Refresh, etc. It also allows custom buttons, which you can program with a line of CMD. So in Everything's example, I have added a button to the toolbar with the Everything icon:

Untitled.png (79.53 KiB) Viewed 41727 times

This contains the registry code for the standard context menu entry:

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe" -path "%1"

This opens Everything in the current folder, from a button in the toolbar of every Explorer window.

[NotNull]

I use this:

Code: Select all

"C:\Tools\Everything\everything.exe" -search "%V\  "

Where %V = the foldername of the file (%1), also: if %1 = c:\temp\file.txt then %V = c:\temp


Notice there is an extra space after %V\ ..

[therube]

Thanks for that.

A feature of Altap Salamander that I have never used before.

1. Salamander has a "User Menu" feature
2. Configure the menu
3. User Menu is activated by the F9 key, pops up a dialog as shown
(you do have do arrow-key down, once, or use mouse...)
4. Which then opens Everything in the CWD (current working directory)
(Don't let "Norton" throw you. It's only a directory name. Other then Norton Commander 5.5 [for DOS], I don't use "Norton".)

(this is better, then the last shot)

[NotNull]

I saw Q-Dir in your list of filemanagers. Q-Dir also has this possibility:

2017-05-31 04_38_34-C__Tools_Everything [Q-Dir 6.51].png (32.07 KiB) Viewed 41716 times

(Open this Run-menu with mouse or Ctrl-S )

[therube]

From a command prompt, open a new Everything window, searching the current directory for an (optional) search term:

EGO.BAT:

Code: Select all

:: EGO.BAT (Everything Go)
:: From a command prompt, open a new Everything window, searching the current directory, for an (optional) search term:
:: 05/31/2017


C:\DEV\Locate\Everything.exe  -newwindow  -path "%cd%"  -search "%1"

[Janus]

Just saw this.
The solution is actually rather simple.

Put the following in a reg file and merge it.
If you have any subfolders, all you need to do is click on the new command.
Of course you can always use shift-F10 to open the context menu if you want to avoid the mouse.


This is for the 64 bit version of windows installing the 32 bit program.
Adjust paths according to your installation.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\SearchParent]
"Icon"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Everything\\Everything.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\SearchParent\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Everything\\Everything.exe\" -path \"%1\\..\""

Naturally you can change SearchParent to whatever you want.
The command is almost the same as the original.
The difference takes advantage of the way windows parses environmental variables.
By appending \\.. after %1, {two slashes followed by two dots}, it goes up one directory level just exactly as though it were a command line.
This happens before Everything gets the DIR name as a string.

Hope this helps.


Janus.

[void]

The hotkey_explorer_path_search search command is available in Everything 1.4.1.877.

When enabled and Windows Explorer currently has focus, pressing an Everything hotkey will bring Everything into focus with the search fill out with the current path from Windows Explorer.

To enable the hotkey_explorer_path_search option:

• In Everything, type in the following search and press ENTER:
  /hotkey_explorer_path_search=1

[Stamimail]

I'm not using this feature, but I think it would be better to make this hotkey, as a regular customizable hotkey assisnment.
In Explorer, sometimes you want to call Everything with the path, and sometimes you want Everything search edit clean.
Another suggestion, is to make the seacrh edit selected when opening the path in Everything window.

[Fraka]

Another suggestion, is to make the seacrh edit selected when opening the path in Everything window.

If anything, a separate hotkey makes sense. But selecting the path that it can immediately be deleted is an unnecessary extra step. Either it's optimised for clean search or for path search.

I use path search much more often and it would be a huge step back if the curser wasn't ready at the end of the line to type. If I need clean search I press ctrl+A and then start typing. Much more comfortable than searching and hitting the rightarrow key every time.

Clean search already is the normal status and if you have activated path search it should be optimized for path search.

[reelismism]

The hotkey_explorer_path_search search command is available in Everything 1.4.1.877.

When enabled and Windows Explorer currently has focus, pressing an Everything hotkey will bring Everything into focus with the search fill out with the current path from Windows Explorer.

To enable the hotkey_explorer_path_search option:

• In Everything, type in the following search and press ENTER:
  /hotkey_explorer_path_search=1

I just enabled this, and is perfect for searching current folder, yet I do want search:everything as default.
Till another solution exists (pls tell me if it does!), I thought i'd share my workaround.

I have a number of bookmarks in everything defined with keystrokes - similar keys close to each other.
I bring up Everything.exe : Shift+Alt+A
I can then choose another bookmark search directly after,
I.e. to search Portable Apps: Shift+Alt+W

So in effect I have one keystroke to search Portable Apps: Shift+Alt+A, W

I just created a Bookmark to search Everything: Shift+Alt+S , so : Shift+Alt+A, S searches everything.

EDIT: typing and entering /hotkey_explorer_path_search=1 did not change the .ini , had to make the change manually.