Indexing Management

The Indexing settings page controls indexing scopes, refresh schedules, and exclusion rules across local hard drives, network shares, WSL distributions, and standalone folders. Top tabs include: Local Drives, Network Drives, WSL (shown only when distributions are detected), Folders, and Exclusions.

1. Local Drives

• Top Status Card: Displays total indexed physical drives and item counts, with a global Rebuild Index button.
• Drive Row Items:
  • Enable / Disable Checkbox: Toggles indexing for each individual partition.
  • Filesystem & Status: Displays underlying filesystem (NTFS, ReFS, FAT32, exFAT), health state, and indexed count.
  • Per-Drive Actions: Individual Rebuild and Remove buttons; displays a dynamic Stop button during active scans.
• Real-Time Tracking: NTFS / ReFS volumes sync incrementally via Windows USN Change Journals; FAT32 / exFAT volumes monitor filesystem change events.
• Uninterrupted Rebuilds: While a drive is rebuilding, its existing index answers user queries until the new index completes, swapping seamlessly. If interrupted, scanning resumes from the last checkpoint on the next launch.

2. Network Drives

• Network Storage Support: Lists all mapped Windows network drives (SMB / NAS).
• Refresh Mode: Network shares lack local USN journals and rely on scheduled polling:
  • Manual — Refreshes only when "Rebuild Index" is clicked.
  • Every 15 Minutes — Recommended for active collaborative shares.
  • Hourly — Balanced schedule.
  • Daily — Ideal for static archival storage.
• Symlink Loop Protection: Built-in cycle detection and ancestor stack algorithms automatically prevent infinite traversal caused by circular symbolic links or reparse points.

3. WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Appears automatically whenever at least one WSL distribution is installed:

• Auto-Discovery: Automatically recognizes Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, and other WSL distros.
• Status & Schedules: Identical status cards and Refresh Mode options (Manual / 15 Min / Hourly / Daily).
• Zero-I/O Queries: WSL searches read the in-memory tree directly without waking or blocking the Linux subsystem.

4. Folders

Use standalone folder indexing when you want to target specific working directories instead of entire volumes or NAS shares:

• Multi-Select Addition: Click Add Folder to open a native picker supporting Ctrl / Shift batch selection.
• UNC Path Support: Add network UNC share paths directly (e.g. \\server\share\projects).
• Independent Schedules: Each folder has its own toggle, item counter, and Refresh Mode dropdown.

5. Exclusions

Exclusion rules apply globally across local drives, network storage, and custom folders, organized into three sub-tabs:

Path Exclusions

• Matching Logic: Prefix matching against absolute physical paths.
• Environment Variables: Accepts %ProgramData%, %APPDATA%, or D:\Cache.

Glob Rules

• Syntax:
  • *: Matches characters within a single folder level (e.g. *.tmp, *.log).
  • **: Matches recursively across subdirectories (e.g. **/node_modules/**, **/bin/**, **/obj/**).

Regex Rules

• Advanced Filtering: Regular expression matching against paths and filenames (e.g. ^\. for hidden dotfiles, ~\$ for temporary Office locks).

TIP

Exclusions support both single entry additions and batch editing: click Generate from List to export rules to text, edit, and click Apply to List to update in bulk. Modified exclusion rules automatically trigger index filtering.