If you want to search for files inside your mobile phone from your PC, here is how you can do that. Instead of using your mobile screen, you can connect your phone to your Windows 11/10 computer and search for files to get a better view and use various filters to find a specific file. Here is how you can use MobileFileSearch to get the job done.
NirSoft is known for making various useful software to make one’s life easier. This software is made available to the users for free and without any advertisements. The latest offering from NirSoft is MobileFileSearch.
This is a tool for Windows 11/10 that allows a user to search files inside of a mobile device no matter it is a smartphone or a tablet while it is plugged into the computer via USB. This is enabled by using the MTP or Media Transfer Protocol on the mobile device. It can then be sorted or filtered on the basis of the filename, full path, object name, object ID, created time, modified time and more. After finding the files on your Smartphone / Tablet, you can optionally delete them, copy them to a folder on your computer, or export the files list to CSV/tab-delimited/HTML/XML/JSON file.
Search files inside a mobile phone from your PC
Run the downloaded executable file while your phone is connected via USB and the list of the contents of your phone will be populated. This tool will work only if the mobile device is connected in the MTP mode. If it is connected in Mass Storage, this tool would be of no use.
Once the list is populated, a user can always search for a particular file. Under the Search Options window, the following options are available:
- Device.
- Base Folders.
- Subfolders Depth.
- Wildcard.
- File size is at least.
- File size is at most.
- Created Time.
- Modified Time.
If you have multiple devices connected to your computer and used in the MobileFileSearch software, this will help you narrow down the search to a particular device and make it faster.
In case the Base folders are not specified, it will search throughout the device. Wildcards help in the search for a file with a particular name attribute or particular extensions.
Let us look at its features.
1] Device
OK, so if you have only a single smartphone o tablet plugged in via USB, then it would make sense to leave the option at ‘Search in all devices’. However, if you have multiple devices, then change the option to Search only in specified devices.
From our experience, the tool should have no problems noticing all smartphones and tablets plugged into your computer.
2] Base folders
In this field, you will need to add the name of the folder you want to search from within. Now, leaving it black only means the program will search within all folders located on your mobile. Please note the ability is there to add multiple folders instead of just a single one.
3] Subfolders depth
When it comes down to searching subfolders, this section allows the user to search from a specified depth or none at all. Choose either Infinite, or 0 – 15, and that’s it for that.
4] File size
There are two types of file sizes here. One is “least”, and the other is “most”. At least, the user can, for example, search for files 50MB or larger. With most, then, the user can search for files 1000-bytes or smaller. It’s not a bad feature to have, to be honest, so make the most of it.
5] Search for files
When it comes down to searching for files, the task is pretty simple once you’ve used the options we’ve spoken about above. Once that is done, select the box, Find Files, Find Folders, or just select both, and from there, hit the Search button.
All content should now appear is another window, and from there, folks can view files, delete, copy, and more.
MobileFileSearch for Windows PC
You can download MobileFileSearch from Nirsoft.net. This software can be used with the help of the Command line as well.
How do I view files on my phone from my computer?
The easiest way to view files on your phone from your computer is by connecting it to the PC via a USB cable. After connecting, you can open This PC or File Explorer to navigate to various folders’ paths and obtain the file you are looking for. However, if you want to search for files on your mobile phone from your computer, you need to use a third-party tool called MobileFileSearch.
How do I explore Android files on my PC?
In order to explore Android mobile files on your PC, you can try the MobileFileSearch app. It lets you use various filters and conditions to search for files from your PC. It is free and compatible with Windows 11, Windows 10, and some other older versions of Windows.
That’s it! Hope it helped you.
