TextTrace is a modern Windows desktop tool for searching text and regex patterns across multiple file types.
It is built with PowerShell and XAML, and is designed for fast inspection of logs, scripts, configuration files, documentation, SQL files, JSON, XML, and other text-based files.
- some buggfixes.
- HTML report got more funcstions and is more self contained
- Added Firefox, Chrome/Edge Extensions
- Filetypes loades from a file-typ.json
Must have PowerShell 7.4.0 or later (Core)
Stop button added
Better code in the man script
1.2 : Added support for exporting search results to JSON and HTML formats, in addition to CSV, providing users with more options for analyzing and sharing their findings.
1.1 : Added support for searching within the Windows Registry and Certificate Stores, allowing users to find specific keys, values, or certificates based on their search criteria.
| Requirement | Detail |
|-------------|--------|
| PowerShell | 7.4.0 or later (Core).
- Browser addons
- Choose a search scope: Files, Windows Registry, or Certificate store
- Search inside multiple text-based file formats
- Select one, many, or all predefined file types
- Add custom file extensions
- Plain text search
- Regular expression search
- Case-sensitive search option
- Recursive folder scanning
- Result table with file name, line number, preview, and full path
- Right-click context menu for result actions / Not in browsers
- Report export
- Search statistics
One tool, three builds: Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox. No install wizard, no indexing, no server. The folder you pick never leaves your machine.
Search text and regex patterns across your local files. Pick a folder, and the whole tree is searched. Results can be exported to CSV, JSON, or HTML.
- File size — why big files are skipped Searching a file in a browser means loading it into the tab's memory. A 400 MB log dropped into a page doesn't just make the search slow — it can freeze the tab or take the whole browser down with it.
- You must pick the folder yourself, in the browser's own dialog. The extension cannot reach arbitrary paths, the registry, certificate stores, or anything you didn't select.
- The grant lasts one session. Close the tab or the browser and you reselect the folder next time. Nothing keeps standing access to your disk.
Requires Firefox 115 or newer.
- Open
about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox. - Click Load Temporary Add-on….
- Select the
manifest.jsonfile inside theFirefoxfolder
- Open
chrome://extensions. - Turn on Developer mode — toggle in the top-right corner.
- Click Load unpacked and select the
Chromefolder. - Click the TextTrace icon in the toolbar → Open TextTrace.
- Open
edge://extensions. - Turn on Developer mode — toggle at the bottom left.
- Click Load unpacked and point it at the
Edgefolder. - Click the TextTrace icon in the toolbar — the app opens in its own tab (and reuses that tab
Each browser has its own self-contained folder. Every file in a build must stay flat in that folder — or at the root of the ZIP when packaging — because manifest paths resolve from there.
Chrome/ Edge/ Firefox/
├── manifest.json MV3 ├── manifest.json MV3 ├── manifest.json MV3 (Gecko, 115+)
├── popup.html toolbar ├── background.js opens the ├── background.js opens the
├── popup.js popup │ app in a tab │ searcher in a tab
├── app.html main UI ├── app.html main UI ├── index.html main UI
├── app.css dark theme ├── app.css dark theme ├── index.css dark theme
├── app.js search ├── app.js search ├── app.js search
├── filetypes.json defaults ├── filetypes.json defaults ├── filetypes.json defaults
└── icons/ └── icons/ └── icons/
-
Click the toolbar icon to open TextTrace.
-
Choose folder… and grant access in the dialog. The folder name appears next to the button.
-
Type your search term in the big field.
-
Set the options:
Option Effect Regex Treat the query as a JavaScript regular expression instead of literal text. Case-sensitive Errorno longer matcheserror.Include subfolders Walk the whole tree (on by default). Off = only files directly in the chosen folder. File types Tick the extensions to scan. Select all / Clear are shortcuts; All files ignores the filter entirely. Custom Comma-separated extras, e.g. cs, js, properties.
When matches are found, TextTrace exports the results to a CSV file.
Default location: Files\Reports\Report.csv
- UTF-8 encoding
- Semicolon delimiter
- No type information
Report columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| FileName | Name of the matched file |
| LineNumber | Line number where the match was found |
| Line | Full matching line |
| Path | Full path to the matched file |
---
TextTrace includes these file patterns by default:
*.xml
*.txt
*.log
*.csv
*.json
*.ini
*.config
*.html
*.htm
*.ps1
*.psm1
*.bat
*.cmd
*.md
*.yaml
*.yml
*.sql
You can also add custom file patterns in the application.
Example: *.cs,*.js,*.vbs,*.properties
Right-click a result row to access available actions:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Open File | Opens the matched file with the default application |
| Open Containing Folder | Opens File Explorer and selects the matched file |
| Open in Notepad | Opens the matched file in Notepad |
| Open in Registry Editor | (Registry scope) Opens regedit at the matched key |
| View Certificate | (Certificate scope) Opens the matched certificate |
| Copy Path | Copies the full file path / key path to the clipboard |
| Open Reports Folder | Opens the report output folder |
Enable **Use Regex** before using regex patterns.
Make sure the pattern is valid .NET regular expression syntax.
Examples :
Find the word `test` anywhere in a line: test
Find the exact word `test`: \btest\b
Find either `error` or `warning`: error|warning
Find lines that start with `ERROR`: ^ERROR
Find an IPv4 address: \b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b
Find PowerShell variables: \$[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*
Find XML-like tags: <[^>]+>
Find email addresses:\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,}\b
TextTrace creates transcript logs for troubleshooting.
TextTrace automatically creates missing `Logs` and `Files\Reports` folders.
TextTrace works best with text-based files.
Very large folders or very large files may take longer to scan.