Every document on your PC, one search away.
Find any PDF, Word, Excel or PowerPoint file by name, folder or the words inside it.
Fast, private, and it never touches your files.
Download for Windows · Features · Contribute
Documents pile up everywhere: Downloads, Desktop, project folders, old drives. You remember what a file was about, not where you saved it. Paperlight indexes them all once, keeps up as they change, and finds any of them in milliseconds.
- Search inside documents. Names, folders and the text of PDFs, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, typo-tolerant, with the matching passage highlighted.
- Buckets. One tile per document type: PDFs, Word documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, each with its own search.
- Quick search from anywhere. Alt+Space in any app, then Enter to open.
- Always current. New, renamed, moved and deleted files show up within a second.
- Organise without touching files. Favourites, tags, recently opened, previews.
- Duplicates and storage. Find byte-identical copies and see what takes space.
- You choose what's indexed. Pick the file formats and folders; skip the rest.
- Updates itself, if you want. New versions install from inside the app in a few seconds, keeping your index, favourites and tags. Paperlight works offline either way.
- At home on Windows. A native look, light and dark themes (title bar included) and a short welcome that sets everything up on first run.
| Search inside documents | Quick search (Alt+Space) |
|---|---|
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| Duplicates | Storage |
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| Settings: formats and folders | Dark theme |
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| Welcome on first run | Set up in a minute |
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Updates from inside the app
- Download
Paperlight_x.y.z_x64-setup.exefrom the latest release. - Run it. Windows 10/11, 64-bit; no admin rights needed. SmartScreen may warn because the installer isn't code-signed yet: More info → Run anyway.
- The welcome screens walk you through setup: pick the drives or folders to index, choose a few preferences and press Start indexing. Paperlight is usable while the first scan runs.
You only download the installer once. Updating is optional: when a new version with new features comes out, Paperlight tells you and installs it from inside the app (Update now), keeping your index, favourites and tags. If you don't, it keeps working as it is.
- Works offline. Paperlight never needs the internet to index, search or open your files. No telemetry, no account. It only goes online to check for a new version, and updating is optional: skip it, or turn the check off in Settings → About.
- Read-only. Your files are never modified, moved or deleted.
- Tiny. ~5 MB installer, ~6 MB of memory in the tray, zero CPU when idle.
Ctrl+K search · Enter open · Ctrl+Enter show in folder · Ctrl+D favourite · Ctrl+T tag · Ctrl+B sidebar · Ctrl+I details
npm install
npm run tauri dev # run
npm run tauri build -- --config '{"bundle":{"createUpdaterArtifacts":false}}'
# installer → src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsisOfficial releases are also signed for the in-app updater, which needs the project's private
key; the --config override above builds an unsigned installer without it.
Needs Node.js 20+, Rust (MSVC) and the Visual Studio C++ Build Tools. Built with Tauri 2, Rust, SQLite FTS5 and React.
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md and look for good first issues. If Paperlight saves you time, a star helps others find it.
Made by webKing021 and Opus 5.5. Screenshots show made-up sample documents. MIT licensed.