Fluent Search Window

Fluent Search is a powerful search and productivity tool for Windows that helps you navigate your computer without breaking your flow. Launch apps, find files, search browser history and bookmarks, run commands, search the web, switch between windows, interact with on-screen elements, perform quick calculations, and much more — all from a single, fast keyboard-driven interface.

This guide covers the quickest way to become productive with Fluent Search, plus the core concepts that make it feel intuitive and predictable.

Quick start (2 minutes)

  1. Open Fluent Search with the default hotkey: Ctrl + Alt.
  2. Start typing. Results update instantly as you type.
  3. Use ↑ / ↓ to move between results.
  4. Press Enter to open or activate the selected result.
  5. Press Esc to close Fluent Search.

Tip: If you want to narrow your search (for example, "only files" or "only browser history"), use a Search Tag — type its name and press Tab.

For installation instructions (Stable, Nightly, Installer/APPX/Portable): see Installation.

Core concepts

Search Apps

Fluent Search is powered by multiple Search Apps. Each one specializes in a type of content and contributes results to your searches:

Search App What it does
Apps Find and launch installed applications
Files Search files and folders using fast indexing
Browser Search browser history, bookmarks, and saved search engines
Commands Run commands via your preferred command-line interface
Web Search the web with configurable search engines
Windows Find open windows, switch between them, and optionally search inside app content (tabs, buttons, links)
Settings Quickly open Windows system settings or Fluent Search settings
Calculator Perform quick math, unit conversions, and hex/binary calculations
Screen Search Navigate your screen with keyboard-only interaction (Vimium-style overlays)
Shortcuts Search keyboard shortcuts for the current app or the OS
To Do Search and manage Microsoft To Do tasks

You can enable, disable, and configure each Search App in Settings → Apps. Setting a Search App to Search Tag Only means it will only contribute results when you explicitly use its tag — a great way to keep everyday results focused.

Search Tags

Search Tags are filters you add to your query to narrow results to a specific type or scope. Common examples:

  • Files — search only files and folders
  • Browser / History / Bookmark — search browser data
  • Run — open a path or run a command (like the Windows Run dialog)
  • .pdf, .docx, .png — filter by file extension
  • A folder path like C:\Projects — search inside a specific folder
  • Google, Bing, Translate — perform a web search with a specific engine
  • todo — search your Microsoft To Do tasks

To insert a tag:

  1. Type the tag name (for example, Files)
  2. Press Tab — the tag locks in and your typing now filters within that scope

You can combine multiple tags to refine further (for example, a folder path + a file extension).

To jump focus to the Search Tags area, press Alt + T (default).

Preview

Preview lets you inspect a result without fully opening it — view documents, images, web pages, audio files, folder contents, and more right inside Fluent Search.

  • Toggle inline preview: Alt + P (default)
  • Open preview in a separate window: Shift + Enter

Quick Menu

The Quick Menu provides fast access to pinned search tags and recent results through a compact popup — useful when you want to jump to frequent actions without typing.

AI Features

Fluent Search includes optional, fully-local AI capabilities:

  • AI Search — Semantic, meaning-based search across all your results using the AI tag.
  • AI Summarization — Get quick summaries of files and web pages directly in results.
  • All AI processing happens on your device. You can disable all AI features with a single toggle in Settings.

Everyday workflows

Launch an app

  1. Open Fluent Search (Ctrl + Alt)
  2. Type the app name (for example, Visual Studio)
  3. Press Enter

Tip: You can also run as administrator with Ctrl + Shift + Enter, or open the app's folder with Ctrl + 2.

Find a file

  1. Open Fluent Search (Ctrl + Alt)
  2. Type Files and press Tab
  3. Type part of the file name
  4. Press Enter to open, or Ctrl + 2 to open the parent folder

Power tip: Fuzzy search is enabled by default — typing mcd can find "My Cool Document". You can also type file extensions like .pdf as a tag to filter by type.

Search inside a specific folder

  1. Type or paste a folder path (for example, C:\Projects)
  2. Press Tab
  3. Type your search terms

You can combine folder tags with file extension tags for precise results.

Search browser history and bookmarks

  1. Open Fluent Search (Ctrl + Alt)
  2. Type History or Bookmark and press Tab
  3. Type your search terms
  4. Press Enter to open the page in your default browser

Fluent Search automatically detects Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera) and Firefox profiles.

Run a command

  1. Type Run and press Tab
  2. Type a command (cmd, powershell, notepad) or any executable path
  3. Press Enter

You can also use the Powershell or Cmd tags to run commands directly in those shells.

Search the web

  1. Open Fluent Search
  2. Type Google (or any configured search engine) and press Tab
  3. Type your search query
  4. Press Enter — it opens in your default browser

You can set up custom search engines for internal wikis, documentation sites, or issue trackers.

Switch to an open window

  1. Open Fluent Search (Ctrl + Alt)
  2. Type part of the window title or app name
  3. Press Enter to switch to it

Enable Search in app content in the Windows Search App to also search browser tabs, buttons, and other UI elements inside open applications.

Do a quick calculation

  1. Open Fluent Search (Ctrl + Alt)
  2. Type a math expression (for example, 15% of 2499 or 0xFF * 2)
  3. The result appears instantly — press Enter to copy it
  1. Press your Screen Search hotkey (default: Ctrl + M)
  2. Character labels appear over clickable elements
  3. Type the label characters to click the element
  4. Use number keys for different click actions: 2 = double click, 3 = select text, 4 = right click

If results are missing

Use this checklist:

  • Check Settings → Apps and confirm the relevant Search App is enabled (not disabled or set to tag-only when you need it in general search).
  • For file search: confirm your file indexer is configured in Settings → Apps → Files → File Indexer. Choose between Fluent Search's built-in indexer, Windows Search, or Everything by Voidtools.
  • For browser search: confirm your browser profiles are detected and enabled in Settings → Apps → Browser → Profiles.
  • For window/tab search: enable Search in app content in Settings → Apps → Windows.
  • Fuzzy search: if results seem too loose or too strict, toggle fuzzy search in Settings → Search → Experience.

Keyboard reference (defaults)

Action Shortcut
Open Fluent Search Ctrl + Alt
In-window search Ctrl + Alt + Shift
Screen search Ctrl + M
Close / Cancel Esc
Navigate results ↑ / ↓
Open / Activate result Enter
Insert search tag Tab
Focus search tags area Alt + T
Toggle preview Alt + P
Open preview window Shift + Enter
Pin/unpin result Ctrl + Alt + P
Run as administrator Ctrl + Shift + Enter

All hotkeys are fully configurable in Settings → Hotkeys.

Support and community

  • Website: https://fluentsearch.net/
  • GitHub: https://github.com/adirh3/Fluent-Search
  • Discord: https://discord.com/invite/fluentsearch