Guides · for everyone · updated August 2026
Find every contract on your PC, even the badly named ones.
One search on the client's name finds every document that mentions them (across every folder and drive), and Interlinked Files brings each file's companions with it: the quote sheet, the amendment, the email export, including files that never mention the client by name at all.
Why deal documents are the hardest files to find
A deal's paperwork accumulates over years and lands wherever it lands: signed PDFs in Downloads, a quote in a spreadsheet, notes in a text file, the email thread exported to an archive drive. Half the files carry names like final-v3 (2).pdf that will never match any search. Folder discipline was supposed to fix this; nobody's folders survive three years of real work.
Step 1: search the name as content
Type the client or matter name. Every PDF and text file containing it appears in milliseconds, each with the matching line shown, no matter which folder or drive it lives on.
Step 2: read the connections
Each result carries what belongs with it: files edited together over and over, saved in the same session, living in the same deal's orbit, with the reason stated (“worked on together ×12”). This is how the badly-named files surface: not by matching your search, but by their company.
Step 3: note it once, never re-hunt
You can pin a short note to a file or folder (“closed Aug 2025, renewal due Q3”), and it shows up on every future search that touches it. Six months from now, the context is already there. Your AI assistant sees the same notes through the same index, if you use one.
Scope: content search reads PDFs, plain text, and code. Spreadsheets and Word documents are found by name and by their connections. Everything runs on your computer. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Common questions
How do I find all documents related to one client or deal?
Search the client's name as content, not as a file name. Every PDF and text file containing the name appears at once, and with Interlinked Files, each result also carries its related files: the spreadsheet it was edited alongside, the documents saved in the same session (including files whose names and text never mention the client at all).
What about files that don't have the client's name anywhere?
That's what file relationships are for. A quote sheet named final-quote-v3.xlsx may never say the client's name, but it was worked on together with the contract a dozen times, and that connection is recorded. Finding the contract surfaces the quote alongside it, with the reason shown.
Do I have to organize my folders first?
No. The point of a whole-machine index is that folder structure stops mattering for findability. Files stay wherever they are (Downloads, email exports, an old archive drive), and one search covers all of it.
Is this useful for lawyers, accountants, and researchers, not just tech people?
Yes, anyone whose work produces many documents about the same matters. Interlinked Files is a search box: type a name or phrase, get every relevant file with its connections. There is nothing technical to learn, and nothing leaves your computer.
Everything local is free forever, no card. Download for Windows · related: find a file by a phrase inside it.