When Windows users ask me about document management software, I almost always point them to FileCenter by Lucion. I can’t think of one person who hasn’t liked it.
It can be simple to use and it can be extremely powerful, and searching for files in FileCenter is a perfect example. I get questions from time to time on how to do it, so here is a primer.
Which Search Are You Using?
FileCenter can use either the built-in Windows Search or its own custom search. FileCenter search may be a bit more powerful, but in my opinion it is generally easiest to use Windows Search.
To see and choose which search you are using, click on the Search tab.

Then click the Settings button.

Then in the Search menu, see what you have set in Default Search Engine.

Problems Using Windows Search?
If you have it set to Windows Search but you can’t find any words, you may have a problem with the PDF indexing on your computer. It is very common.
See this blog post about fixing Windows PDF Search, which will likely help.
Set Up FileCenter Advanced Search
If you want more power than what Windows Search provides, you need to do some setup.
First follow the instructions above but set Default Search Engine to Advanced Search.
Enable Indexing
The first thing to do is turn on Indexing for your Cabinets. This may have already been done, but it is good to check.
In FileCenter, click on Tools and then Settings.

Next, click on Advanced Indexing on the left and make sure the following is set:
- Enable Auto Indexer is checked
- Run indexer every n hours is selected
- Run every has a reasonable number of hours set. Maybe 1–3?
- All your relevant cabinets are selected in the Cabinets to be Auto Indexed box. If you want FileCenter to be able to find documents in your Inbox, check Inbox. If not, leave it unchecked.
Hit OK
Do An Initial Index
An index is an internal FileCenter thing where it keeps track of your documents and their contents. Since we have enabled auto-indexing, it should take care of it for you, but to kick it off, let’s do an initial run.
Click on the Tools near the top, and then choose Advanced Indexing Options….
Then check the Cabinets you want to index and hit Start Indexer. Once you do this, search should be ready to roll.
Searching For Documents
To find a document in FileCenter, you want to click the Search tab at the top.
The options that you have to search with depends on which search engine you are using (Windows Search or Advanced Search), and you can choose which method you want at the time of searching.
You can enter a keyword in the Search for box, and it will search by file name or contents. You can control what types of files are searched for and which Cabinets are used to search.
Remember, if you are using Advanced Search, FileCenter will only search the cabinets that you have selected to be indexed. If it is not finding something that you think it should, that is the first place to check.
You can also search for files in a specific folder. When you are looking at a folder in the Manage view, click the Search button in the top-right corner of the folder pane. You can then do a quick search.
That is probably more than you ever wanted to know about Search in FileCenter.
As with many things in technology, it can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Check the Help for more tricks you can do such as “fuzzy search”, stemming, and having a centralized search index for your whole company.
