User Guide

Welcome to the official Lertaro User Guide! Lertaro is an ultra-fast file search launcher and productivity powerhouse built specifically for Windows. By maintaining an in-memory index tree in the background (via NTFS/ReFS USN change journals and realtime filesystem event listeners), it delivers sub-millisecond query responses across millions of items.

This guide systematically covers all core features and advanced capabilities needed for daily workflows:

• Getting Started —— Installation, portable usage, architecture overview, three window modes (Quick / Full / Inline), and essential operations.
• Search Syntax —— Fuzzy matching, operators (! exclude, ' exact, ^ prefix, $ suffix, | OR), drive prefixes, path mode, and multilingual pinyin aliases.
• Hotkeys & Gestures —— Global hotkeys cheat sheet, search box logo drag/reset gestures, mouse Quick Navigation cascading menus, and hardcoded keys.
• Actions & Preview —— Context action menu (Ctrl+O), Full Window results list, built-in QuickLook media/document previews, and interactive plugin cards.
• Space Analyzer —— Zero-I/O Treemap visualization and sorted size breakdown for effortless storage cleanup.
• Instant Answers & Keyword Features —— Always-active calculator, environment variables, commands, and keyword plugins like Process Manager (ps), Window Switcher (win), Browser Bookmarks (bb), Browser History (bh), and Settings Search (set).
• CLI Search (lff) —— Terminal companion tool for interactive fuzzy finding, sharing the memory index with pipeline and shell integration.
• URI Protocol (lertaro://) —— Deep-linking from browsers, shortcuts, and scripts to searches, settings pages, and LocalSend transfers.
• Supported File Managers —— Integration with Windows dialogs, Directory Opus, Total Commander, XYplorer, Files, and One Commander.
• Settings Reference —— Comprehensive walkthrough of Service Status, Indexing, General, Appearance, Hotkeys, and Plugin options.
• Troubleshooting —— Step-by-step diagnostic guide for hotkeys, indexing, IMEs, and live log inspection.
• Donate & Support —— Support the ongoing development and open-source maintenance of Lertaro.

TIP

If you are new to Lertaro, we recommend starting with Getting Started.