Findra is a search tool that runs on your computer. Your files, their names, their contents and your searches stay on that computer. There is no account, no cloud service, no analytics, no crash reporting and no telemetry of any kind.
This page says exactly what the desktop app stores, where it stores it, and the single thing it sends anywhere. The separate marketing website has optional analytics, described below.
The one request Findra makes on its own
Findra checks whether a newer version has been released. That is the only time Findra reaches the network without being asked. The other times it goes out at all are when you ask: pressing Check now, which makes the same request; pressing Update now, which downloads the new installer; and choosing a capability and telling it to download the models. All three are described below.
- It is an anonymous HTTPS GET to the GitHub releases API. A copy installed with winget asks the winget catalogue's listing on GitHub instead, because that is what
winget upgradecan install; it is the same single request to the same host. - It happens at most once every 24 hours, on startup, in the background.
- It carries no query parameters, no machine identifier, no install identifier, and nothing about your files or your searches.
- It never blocks anything. A failure is a line in the log, not a dialog.
- It is disclosed on the first-run screen and can be switched off. Off stops the daily check; pressing Check now still asks, once, because you asked.
- A copy installed from the Microsoft Store never makes it. The Store updates that copy, and Check for updates only opens Findra's page in the Store.
Findra downloads and installs an update only when you press Update now. It downloads the installer from the release page on GitHub and checks it against the checksum GitHub publishes for it before running it; a copy installed with winget runs the winget upgrade instead. The installer or winget replaces the files, never Findra itself. The download is a plain file request and sends nothing about you.
Downloading a capability's model files is the other time Findra uses the network, and it happens only when you choose a capability and ask for it. Those requests fetch model files and send nothing about you. If you never choose a capability, they never happen.
What Findra stores, and where
| Location | What is in it |
|---|---|
%APPDATA%\Findra\ | Your settings and any palettes you added. No file data. |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Findra\index\ | The search index. See below, because this one matters. |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Findra\models\ | Model files you chose to download. Nothing personal. |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Findra\logs\ | Daily log files. See below. |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Findra\opened.json | The files you opened from Findra, and how often. See below. |
One more file sits in Findra's own program folder rather than in either of those. The installer writes a single word there - winget or installer - so that when a newer version exists the advice matches the way you actually installed Findra. A copy built from source has no such file, which is itself the answer. It records nothing else, and nothing about you.
The index deserves a straight answer
If you turn on content indexing, the index contains the text of the documents you indexed, not merely their names. That is how searching inside files works. It also holds the full path of every file it knows about. Later, if you enable those capabilities, it holds numeric representations of what your photos look like and the transcripts of your recordings.
That file is stored in your own user profile and is protected by the same Windows permissions as everything else there. It is not encrypted. If someone can read your user profile, they can read your index. Anyone using full-disk encryption already covers this; anyone who shares a computer should know it before turning content indexing on.
Content indexing is off until you turn it on, for this reason among others.
What Findra remembers about what you open
So that the files you use come first, Findra keeps a list of the last 200 files you opened or revealed from its search window, with how many times and when. The empty search window shows the most recent of them. It is the paths and nothing else: never what you typed to find them. It stays in that one file on your machine. Settings > Opening it > "Put what I open first" turns it off, and turning it off deletes the file.
What the logs contain
The logs record what Findra did, so that a problem can be diagnosed. They include the names of files you opened from Findra, the name of a file the indexer was working on when it was slow or failed, and error messages. They do not contain the contents of your files, and they do not contain your search queries.
Logs stay on your machine. Findra never uploads them. If you send one to report a problem, you are choosing to share whatever it contains, so it is worth reading first.
Settings > About > Details for a bug report copies a few lines to your clipboard: the Findra version, Windows, the processor, memory, graphics and which add-ons are installed. Nothing about your files or searches, and it goes nowhere unless you paste it somewhere.
Deleting it
Uninstalling Findra removes the application, the scheduled task it registered and any autostart entry.
It keeps your index, your downloaded models and your settings by default, because re-downloading gigabytes and re-indexing a disk is expensive and most people who uninstall are reinstalling. Deleting them is a checkbox in the uninstaller and a flag on the command line, and findra.exe --uninstall --purge removes everything.
You can also just delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Findra\ and %APPDATA%\Findra\ yourself, which removes everything Findra stored. Two things live outside those folders, and deleting the folders by hand does not remove them: the scheduled task that starts the name helper at sign-in, and the start-at-sign-in entry if you turned it on. Run findra.exe --uninstall to remove those, or use the uninstaller. Nothing else on your machine is touched.
Children
Findra is a general-purpose tool and is not directed at children. It collects nothing about anybody.
The marketing website, not the desktop app
The rules above describe the Findra desktop app. The website at https://findra-search.netlify.app is separate. Installing or using Findra does not enable website analytics, and this website setup adds no analytics or telemetry to the app.
No Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity script loads until you choose "Allow analytics and recordings" in the website banner. Rejecting optional analytics leaves both tools off. Your choice is stored in your browser's local storage on this website.
If you opt in, Google Analytics 4 measures page visits, traffic sources, device and browser information, approximate location, time on pages and scrolling. Microsoft Clarity collects website interactions, including clicks, scrolling and session recordings, to help improve this website. These services process technical information such as IP addresses and can set analytics cookies, including _ga, _clck and _clsk. We do not use Google signals, ad personalization or advertising consent. Inputs, forms and editable fields are masked for Clarity. URL query parameters are excluded from the Google page URL except campaign attribution parameters. Do not enter private information into this website's URLs.
Google and Microsoft process the information on their services, potentially outside your country. Their policies explain their handling of this information: Google privacy policy and Microsoft privacy statement. Recordings describe your use of this website, never your desktop files or Findra searches.
Use Privacy preferences in this policy to change your choice. The floating button hides five seconds after acceptance and stays visible if you have not accepted. Choosing "Reject optional analytics" withdraws consent, removes the Google Analytics and Clarity cookies accessible to this website and reloads the page to stop the loaded tools. It does not erase information already sent to Google or Microsoft, or cookies on other domains. You can also clear this website's storage in your browser. Rejecting analytics does not limit access to this website or to Findra.
Changes to this page
Findra is open source. Any change to this page is a commit in the public repository, with its history visible to anyone.
Contact
Questions or a problem: https://github.com/blakazulu/findra/issues