Ask my files

Most search boxes only match a file's name. "Ask my files" also looks at what's actually written inside your text files, notes, code, and documents - including anything synced in from Google Drive or another connected storage provider - so you can find something by what it says, even when you don't remember what you called it.

Everything is indexed and searched right on your own device. Nothing is uploaded anywhere to make search work.

Opening it

• Press ⌘⇧F (or Ctrl+Shift+F) from anywhere to open the "Ask my files" overlay.
• In Finder, if a name search in the current folder comes up empty, you'll see an option to search everywhere instead.
• Ask your in-app assistant a question about your own files ("what did I write about the Q3 budget?") and it will search and cite the files it used automatically.

How it works

Type a few words and results appear as you type, each showing the file, the matching lines, and a short snippet - a citation you can jump from. Press ⌘Enter (or the Answer button) to have your assistant read the top matches and give you a written answer with the same citations, instead of just a list of files to open yourself.

Search understands both exact words and the general idea behind your query, so "renewal date" can still surface a file that only says "expires on." It gets better the more of your files it has seen - a file you just saved shows up within moments, without doing anything.

Managing the index

Head to Settings > General > Search index to:

• See how many files are indexed and how large the index is.
• Rebuild the index from scratch (useful after importing a lot of files at once).
• Exclude specific folders by name if there's somewhere you'd rather search skip entirely.
• Turn search off completely, if you'd rather it not run at all.

What's next

• Getting started for the basics of the file system search builds on.
• Agents and automations to see how your assistant uses search when you ask it a question.