Get to the file, then get back to work.

Getting started

GrimDex is a single Windows executable. The same file can run portable or install itself for your user account, without administrator access.

Run portable

Unzip the portable package and run grimdex.exe. Portable mode does not copy files, create shortcuts, or register GrimDex as the default folder handler. It leaves your system untouched.

Install for your user

Run grimdex.exe --install, or choose Install on the first-run screen. This copies the app into %LocalAppData%\GrimDex and creates Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts for your account. The first-run screen offers separate choices for a Desktop shortcut, Explorer right-click integration, default folder handling, and PATH integration, and lets you edit the install location. Nothing there is forced.

To pin GrimDex to the Start menu or taskbar, right-click its Start Menu shortcut and choose Pin to Start or Pin to taskbar.

Uninstall, and what is kept

Uninstall from the top-left menu, from Windows Settings under Apps, or with grimdex.exe --uninstall. All three remove the app files, shortcuts, and any folder-handler registration GrimDex added, and restore the previous default handler when one was replaced. Your settings and license stay on the machine, so a reinstall picks up where you left off.

Search across the whole disk

GrimDex reads the file table that NTFS keeps for each drive and follows the volume's change journal, so its index stays current while you work. Search runs against that live index instead of walking folders, which is why results appear as you type.

A partial index is built automatically at normal integrity, with no prompt. To index every drive in full, press Ctrl+R; Windows asks once for permission to read the drives that need it. Press Ctrl+P to open the whole-disk file palette and search from anywhere.

Search syntax

Combine terms with AND, OR, and NOT, and group them with parentheses to build a precise query. Results are streamed as a sorted window, so memory stays flat no matter how many files match.

Views

Each pane can show its listing as Details, Icons at extra-large, large, or medium size, Columns, or List. The view is per pane, so you can read one folder as a Details table while browsing another as large icons.

In Details view, selecting a text or image file opens a preview beside the listing. Text and images both preview in place, images can be zoomed, and each pane keeps its own preview target.

Tabs and panes

Every pane has its own tab strip. Split the focused pane side by side with Ctrl+\, or use the Split Side by Side and Split Stacked commands to divide it horizontally or vertically. Splits nest, so you can build a grid of panes, and dragging a divider resizes the panes on either side.

Each pane keeps its own path, tabs, search, type filter, view, and file preview, and none of them leak into the others. Move focus between panes with Ctrl+Alt and an arrow key, or click a pane.

Drag selected files or folders onto another open folder pane to copy them there. Hold Shift before releasing to move instead; the label beside the pointer names the destination and operation before anything changes.

Drag a tab and a compass appears over the pane under the cursor: drop on an edge to split the pane there, drop on the center to move the tab into that pane, or drop outside every pane to tear the tab off into a new window.

GrimDex only adds a split when both new panes keep a usable size, which depends on the window and display scale. When there is not enough room it declines and shows "Not enough room to split this pane" without changing your layout.

Layout profiles

A profile saves a set of pinned folders together with the split layout that holds them. Pin a tab with its star to mark it for saving; unpinned tabs are scratch and are never stored. Up to five profiles live on numbered chips, and the last one you used is restored at startup.

Loading a profile replaces the current scratch tabs with its pinned set. Nothing saves or reverts on its own: you save, reload, rename, or clear a profile explicitly, and if a slot has unsaved changes it asks before switching. If a saved folder is missing when a profile loads, that tab shows a Locate folder and Remove tab choice in place, so one offline drive never blocks the rest of the layout.

Keyboard and command palette

These shortcuts are part of the current build:

• Ctrl+P opens the whole-disk file palette.
• Ctrl+R requests the full whole-disk index for drives that need permission.
• Ctrl+\ splits the focused pane side by side.
• Ctrl+Alt and an arrow key move focus between panes.

The command palette runs named commands, including Split Side by Side, Split Stacked, and Check for Updates. Navigation, keyboard-driven selection, and the shell menus below cover the rest of day-to-day file work.

Windows integration

GrimDex uses the real Windows shell rather than lookalikes. Right-click menus come from the same IContextMenu handlers Explorer uses, so archive tools, version control, and other installed extensions appear on your files. Drag and drop works into and out of the app, and file and folder icons are the system icons.

Optional integrations are yours to choose during install or on the first-run screen: an Explorer right-click entry to open a folder in GrimDex, setting GrimDex as the default folder handler for your account, and adding it to PATH. Default-handler changes are per user and are backed up, so uninstall restores whatever opened folders before. GrimDex never replaces explorer.exe as the shell.

Licensing and activation

The public build is a full 14-day evaluation with no account, card, or internet required. It is the complete product, not a limited demo. After 14 days it keeps working with nothing locked and no work blocked; it shows a dismissible activation screen and an Evaluation Mode reminder until you buy.

To activate, open the license screen and paste the key from your delivery email. Verification is offline and takes seconds, so no connection is needed. A paid Personal or Lifetime Updates license runs its installed version forever, including offline. A Personal update window that ends does not lock or downgrade the app; it only stops installing feature releases published after it, and you can renew later without losing your installed version. You can activate the same key on the machines you personally own and operate.

There is no online activation server and no remote switch that can turn off a copy you own. If you lose your key, use license recovery with your purchase email. A verified paid license is sent only to that same address, at most once every 24 hours. Seed rotation preserves the original ownership and update entitlement under the current signer. See the pricing page for editions and terms.

Limitations

Honest boundaries of the current product, so you know what to expect before you rely on it.

Updates and recovery

Run Check for Updates from the command palette. GrimDex verifies the signed update information before downloading and checks the download again before applying it, so a tampered or incomplete update is refused.

An update replaces the app only after the new version starts and shows its result. If a replacement cannot finish, GrimDex keeps the previous version and reports what happened on the next launch, so a failed update never leaves you without a working app.

Getting help

Email support@grimdex.dev with the exact steps, your GrimDex version, your Windows version, and a screenshot with personal paths hidden. If it helps, attach the newest log from %LocalAppData%\GrimDex\logs. Please remove personal file names from anything you send, and never disable your antivirus to make something work.