Find any File for $2: New BundleHunt Sneak Peek

The spring sale for Bundle Hunt doesn't officially open until tomorrow, but I have some inside info on what's coming this time around for the bargain hunters out there. One of my favorite apps for over two decades is going on sale for $2.

Mac users have a wide range of file search tools, from the built-in Spotlight to professional options like Foxtrot that cost north of $100. The right choice depends on how you actually search.

I tend to run the same kinds of queries repeatedly, so saved searches and reusable templates matter. I also frequently need to locate a specific file quickly, which means I care about a clean interface and fast launch.

My go-to for day-to-day work is Find Any File (FAF). It’s currently on sale at BundleHunt for $2, which is almost absurd given what it does. More importantly, it finds files that Spotlight simply won’t.

Spotlight is fast. It’s convenient. It’s also quietly omitting large parts of your filesystem.

FAF searches everywhere Spotlight skips: system and Library folders, hidden files, package contents, network volumes, and external disks. Most tools avoid these areas. FAF doesn’t.

Hold ⌥ in the search window and the Find button changes to Find All. Enter your admin password, and FAF relaunches with elevated privileges, allowing it to search other users’ home directories on the same Mac. That sounds niche until you actually need it.

Spotlight only indexes what Apple chooses to include. System folders, many Library paths, network volumes, other users’ home directories, and files buried inside app bundles are often excluded. If you’ve ever tried to track down a preference file, cache, or config in /Library, you’ve probably hit this wall: no results, no explanation, and no confidence the file is even there.

What It Is

Find Any File, developed by Thomas Templeton, has been around for over two decades. The current version is 2.6.

Its core approach is straightforward: it searches the filesystem directly via BSD APIs instead of relying on Spotlight’s index. No index means no blind spots. If the file exists and your permissions allow it, FAF will find it.

This isn’t a full replacement for Spotlight. It’s the tool you reach for when Spotlight comes up empty.

Key Features That Actually Matter

Precise search rules
The search builder supports stacked criteria: filename (including wildcards and regex), extension, size, date ranges, file type, visibility, Trash status, and even Finder comments.

Real-world example: in a large ~/Music library, you can find every file that isn’t MP3 or AAC and is larger than 1 MB. That’s a simple three-condition query here; Spotlight can’t express it cleanly.

Content search
FAF can search inside plain text files and compressed archives, including .docx and .xlsx. With optional Spotlight integration enabled, you can also pull in PDF content results alongside FAF’s direct matches.

Hierarchical results view
Flat lists break down quickly with large result sets. Switch to tree view (⌘2) and results are grouped by folder hierarchy, which makes triage and cleanup work much faster.

Saved searches
Save any query as a .faf file and rerun it with a double-click. This is where FAF becomes a workflow tool, not just a utility.

Example use case: auditing an Obsidian vault for non-markdown files (anything that isn’t .md, an image, or a PDF).

Automation hooks
FAF exposes a URL scheme and integrates cleanly with tools like Keyboard Maestro, PopClip, Default Folder X, and BBEdit. If your workflow is hotkey-driven, this is where it starts to compound.

A Little Reality

FAF isn’t instant. It performs a live filesystem scan rather than querying an index.

On a fast SSD with a narrow scope, it’s quick enough. On a large spinning disk or wide search scope, it takes longer. That’s the tradeoff: completeness vs. speed.

For the situations where you reach for FAF, completeness usually wins.

The UI is functional and very macOS-native. It uses the same criteria-building pattern as Finder searches and Smart Mailboxes, so there’s almost no learning curve if you’ve used those.

Pricing & Availability

You can grab it via BundleHunt during sales, or buy it outright on the Mac App Store as a one-time purchase. There’s also a direct download from the developer that runs as shareware: try it, pay if you keep using it.

If you already purchased the App Store version, you can run the direct version on the same Mac without buying it again. That’s a small detail, but it says a lot about the developer.

Who It’s For

Anyone who has run into Spotlight’s invisible boundaries:

• developers tracking down config files
• power users auditing disk contents
• admins who need full visibility
• anyone who’s ever thought: “this file exists, why can’t I find it?”

FAF isn’t flashy. It’s a precision tool for when Spotlight stops being honest about what’s on your disk.