By releasing version 0.1, the GTK+3 file search tool FSearch finally goes stable after 5 years of development.

FSearch is a free and open-source file search utility, inspired by Everything Search Engine. It’s super fast that you get instant result as you type. The app supports wildcard and RegEx, so users can use * and a series of characters to define filters.

It by default uses traditional UI with menu bar. However, it provides option to enable client-side decorations so to look modern in GNOME desktop (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc). And “dark mode” is supported for those working at night.

Users may specify which directories to be indexed, and certain files/folders to be excluded. And double-clicking a search result will open with the default app. By right-clicking on a result, it allows to open with selected app, open folder, copy / cut, move to trash, and view the file properties.

How to Install FSearch in Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, 21.10

The app has an official Ubuntu PPA contains the packages for all current Ubuntu releases, including the old Ubuntu 16.04 and upcoming Ubuntu 21.10.

1. Add FSearch PPA

Firstly, either search for and open terminal from the Activities overview screen or press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit run to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:christian-boxdoerfer/fsearch-stable

sudo command need authentication, type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Update system package cache:

For old Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 16.04, users need to manually refresh the package cache by running command in terminal. For Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, this is done automatically while adding PPA.

sudo apt update

3. Install FSearch

Finally install the file search utility via command:

sudo apt install fsearch

Once installed, launch it by searching from the overview screen and enjoy!

Uninstall FSearch:

To remove the tool, also open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove fsearch

And remove PPA either via “Software & Updates -> Other Software” or by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:christian-boxdoerfer/fsearch-stable

In addition, FSearch provides official AUR for Arch Linux and Copr repository for Fedora. As well, there are unofficial packages for NixOS and openSUSE. See them in the project page.