macOS Spotlight just returns files.
FoxTrot Search ranks, filters, and refines — then takes you straight to the exact excerpts, with preview and highlighting. Across your entire library, or focused collections of up to terabytes of PDF, Word and hundreds of other file formats.
Your document collection is your most valuable asset.
FoxTrot is used by professionals whose work depends on finding exactly the right document, in the right archive, with precision.
Search case files, contracts, and briefs across your entire firm archive. Find the exact clause in the exact document — in seconds.
Track sources, quotes, and citations across thousands of large PDFs. Proximity search finds the needle in the document haystack.
Index your research library. Find every reference to a concept across your entire collection — even across 1,500 years of source material.
Share a single searchable index across your team. FoxTrot Search Server handles tens of TB of content with encrypted access control.
PDF, Word, Pages, Excel, Numbers, PowerPoint, Keynote, email, HTML, database files, and 300+ more — including formats Spotlight ignores.
Whether 10,000 or 2,000,000 files — 10GB or 23TB — FoxTrot returns relevance-ranked results in seconds. Tested at publishing scale.
Find documents where two concepts appear near each other. Drag the slider to set the word-distance window. No other macOS search tool has this.
Create separate indices for active projects, archives, and client files. Search each independently or all at once. Index external drives, NAS and network drives.
Highlighted search terms in a live preview pane. Copy text directly from any found document — without launching Word, Preview, or any app.
FoxTrot Search Server lets your team search a shared index. Encrypted, per-user access rights, remote administration.
October 28th, 2025 - FoxTrot Search version 8.6 released - download
April 25th, 2025 - FoxTrot Search version 8.5 released - announcement
November 16th, 2023 - FoxTrot Search version 8.0 (Professional, Personal and Search Server) released
December 6th, 2022 - FoxTrot Search version 7.5.3 (Professional, Personal and Search Server) released
May 8th, 2022 — FoxTrot Attaché Search version 7.5 for iPadOS and iPhoneOS iPod touch supports 64-bit iOS 11 to 15x - now includes on-device secondary search within embedded PDF documents and dark mode support
May 8th, 2022 - FoxTrot Search version 7.5 (Professional, Personal and Search Server) released
January 20, 2022 - FoxTrot Search version 7.1.3 (Professional, Personal and Search Server) released
January 1st, 2021 - FoxTrot Search version 7.0.4 (Professional, Personal and Search Server) released, including native Apple Silicon support and full macOS Big Sur compatibility
April 28, 2020 - Brand new foxtrot-search.com website, new user forum, new help and FAQ
