---
title: "Alternatives to Google Desktop Search"
url: https://lookeen.com/blog/alternatives-to-google-desktop-search
lang: en
description: "File management is unnecessary – use Lookeen, the powerful alternative to Google Desktop Search, and find all your files in no time!"
author: "Fiona Allan"
published: 2015-03-26T14:47:34+00:00
modified: 2026-11-11T06:45:37+00:00
---

# Alternatives to Google Desktop Search

In an era of emails instead of letters, MP3s instead of vinyl records, and digital images instead of photo albums, we all try to manage our files in a meaningful way. Over time, each user develops a personal folder structure to cope with the growing volume of data. As a result, people spend an incredible amount of time creating folders and sorting files—although this is actually unnecessary. Because with professional desktop search software, such as Google Desktop Search, this hard work becomes obsolete: Google Desktop Search quickly and easily finds the file you are looking for, without requiring you to click through individual folders.

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[All features and functionalities of Lookeen – Learn more about them here!](https://lookeen.com/product/overview)

**A desktop search saves time and money**

Especially for companies, searching for information without a desktop search becomes a lengthy and therefore costly endeavor, as employees waste enormous amounts of working time looking for files. With a search tool like Google Desktop, you can find emails, documents, and other files with just one click. An IBM study concludes, for example, that you can find a relevant email via the search function in just a few seconds, whereas searching through individual folders takes almost a minute. If you extrapolate these figures to the number of searches per employee per day, it adds up to several hours of working time that could be saved by using a desktop search.

**The Google Desktop Search Alternative**

Anyone who has already used Google Desktop Search knows this: development of the search tool was discontinued in September 2011. Support for users has also not been available since then. But there’s no need to panic – other search tools, such as Lookeen, offer the familiar features of Google Desktop.

Anyone who particularly appreciated the user-friendly operation will not be disappointed with Lookeen either: The search tool integrates into the user interface and is just as easy to use as you are accustomed to from common online search engines.

**Simple Operation and High Search Speed**

Just like with Google Desktop Search, Lookeen can be started by pressing the CTRL key twice – regardless of which program you are currently using. Then simply enter a keyword into the search bar and Lookeen immediately delivers the searched results. This high search speed is made possible because Lookeen works with an index: Real-time indexing allows you to search all your local folders and network paths in the shortest amount of time and guarantees that you always find the most current version of a file.

Anyone who was less than convinced by the display of search results in Google Desktop will find the perfect solution with Lookeen: An integrated quick view in the search results window provides a preview of the files, and the color-coded highlighting of search terms enables a clear overview.

| Features | Lookeen Desktop Search | Google Desktop | | Interface | Standalone software, integrated into Outlook | Browser | | Search filters | More than 25 filters and categories | Not available | | File indexing | Entire file | Only the first 10,000 characters | | Index size | Unlimited number of files | Up to 10,000 files | | Email attachments | All attachments in Outlook | Not supported | | Preview | Full preview for Office documents, PDFs, images, and more | Not supported | | Document editing | All text documents, e.g., .docx, .xlsx, .txt | Not supported | | Technical support | Free technical support within 3 business days | No longer available | | Data privacy and security | Your data stays on your computer and is not shared | Records your search queries and stores your index in the cache | | Software | Regular updates | Discontinued |