DwgSearch Documentation
DwgSearch is a single window: index a folder once, then search it instantly. It never writes back to a DWG — search, browse attributes, locate an entity in AutoCAD, or export to Excel, that's the whole feature set.
Getting started
Screenshots reflect a recent release — minor visual details may differ from the version you have installed.
Indexing
Indexing a folder
Choose Folder… builds (or updates) a searchable index of everything under it.
- Choose Folder… always recurses into every subfolder — there's no toggle to limit it to the top level.
- The first visit builds a full index; a later visit on the same folder only re-extracts files whose modified time or size actually changed, and drops entries for files that no longer exist — reported as "Index updated: {n} file(s) changed, {n} removed." (plus ", {n} failed" if any file errored). If nothing changed at all, it instead reports "Index already up to date — {n} file(s) indexed."
- An index summary line — "{n} file(s) · {n} entries · last verified {time}" — stays on screen so it's clear whether you're looking at a fresh or reused index.
- DwgSearch reopens the last folder you indexed automatically on launch and refreshes it incrementally, so you don't need to re-pick it every time.
- Free tier caps indexing at 100 DWGs per folder — indexing itself isn't blocked past that (the index still builds), but an upgrade prompt appears naming the limit.
Searching
Searching
Type a keyword, get results across every indexed file instantly.
- Search in: Text / MText / Block attributes limits which entity kinds a search looks at — at least one has to stay checked, so unchecking the last one re-checks itself automatically.
- As you type, a dropdown under the search box suggests up to 12 values that actually exist in the index — so searching isn't a guess at what might be in there. Up/Down cycles the highlighted suggestion, Enter or a click accepts it and runs the search immediately, Escape dismisses the dropdown without touching what you typed.
- Results list File, Layout, Block, Kind and the matched Content, with the search term highlighted. Kind is one of DBText, MText or AttributeValue.
- Search (and the suggestion dropdown) only matches entity content — block names appear in the Block column for context, but a keyword never matches a block name itself.
- Keywords of 3+ characters (with no wildcard) use the fast indexed phrase search; shorter keywords (1–2 characters) and anything using * as a wildcard fall back to a slower plain scan — expect that to take longer on a large folder.
- Refresh Index re-scans the current folder on demand, e.g. right after files changed outside DwgSearch — it's the same incremental update described above, not a full rebuild.
Working with results
Viewing a block instance's attributes
See every attribute already captured for a matched block instance, without reopening AutoCAD.
- Attributes is enabled on any result that belongs to a block instance. The popup lists every attribute (Tag and Value) captured for that same instance at index time — it's a lookup against the index, not a fresh read of the DWG.
- Copy value on a row copies that one Tag/Value pair; Copy All copies every row, tab-separated, one per line.
Locating a result in AutoCAD
Jump straight to the matched entity, from a result row.
- Locate copies a ready-to-paste AutoCAD command to the clipboard. Switch to AutoCAD, paste into the command line and press Enter.
- It doesn't require the drawing to already be open — if it's not, AutoCAD opens it as part of running the command; if it's already open (even in a different window), DwgSearch switches to that document instead of opening a second copy.
- For a specific entity (with a handle), it selects that entity and zooms to it. For a result that's only text inside a block's static definition (no handle), it instead selects every reference of that block in the drawing and zooms to fit all of them.
- If the target file is slow to open, AutoCAD may pause or show its own dialog while it loads — that's AutoCAD opening the file, not DwgSearch hanging.
Export to Excel
Turn a search result set into a workbook BlockSync/TextSync can read directly.
- Export to Excel is enabled once there are results on screen.
- Block-instance and attribute results are written into the same sheet layout BlockSync itself would write (a B_<blockname> sheet per block name plus a _BlockSync metadata sheet); DBText/MText results are written into TextSync's own layout (Text sheet plus _TextSync metadata sheet) — both in the same workbook, so it can feed straight into either tool's write-back workflow without that tool needing to know DwgSearch produced it.
- Text found only inside a block's static definition (no per-instance handle) is excluded from export, since it can't be represented in either format. If every result on screen is like that, exporting reports "Nothing to export" instead of writing an empty file.
- Free tier caps a single export at 300 rows total across both sheet groups — going over blocks the export entirely with an upgrade prompt naming the limit, rather than writing a truncated file.
Settings
Opened from the gear icon in the title bar. Every field saves immediately — there's no separate Save button.
English / 日本語 / 简体中文. Restart the app for a language change to take effect.
Default: English
System / Light / Dark. Restart the app for a theme change to take effect.
Default: Match system
Which installed AutoCAD version to use first. If it fails to load, the app falls back to another installed version automatically.
Default: Auto (newest installed)
How many drawings AutoCAD can process in the background at once (choices: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16). Higher is faster but uses more CPU and memory — turn this down on a lower-spec machine.
Default: 8
How many drawings AutoCAD can process in the background at once while (re)building the index. Higher is faster but uses more CPU and memory. Free tier is hard-capped to 1 regardless of this value.
Default: 8
| Setting | Location | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Settings → General | English | English / 日本語 / 简体中文. Restart the app for a language change to take effect. |
| Theme | Settings → General | Match system | System / Light / Dark. Restart the app for a theme change to take effect. |
| AutoCAD version | Settings → AutoCAD | Auto (newest installed) | Which installed AutoCAD version to use first. If it fails to load, the app falls back to another installed version automatically. |
| Max parallel AutoCAD instances | Settings → AutoCAD | 8 | How many drawings AutoCAD can process in the background at once (choices: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16). Higher is faster but uses more CPU and memory — turn this down on a lower-spec machine. |
| Max Parallel AutoCAD Instances | Settings → AutoCAD | 8 | How many drawings AutoCAD can process in the background at once while (re)building the index. Higher is faster but uses more CPU and memory. Free tier is hard-capped to 1 regardless of this value. |
Licensing
Your license status shows in the title bar as Free, Pro, Pro (offline), or Expired, and in full on Settings → License.
To activate: paste your license key into Settings → License → "License key" and click Activate. To move a license to a new machine, click "Deactivate this machine" on the old one first, then activate on the new one.
If the app can't reach the license server (no internet), a previously-activated Pro license keeps working for 14 days as "Pro (offline)". Reconnect within that window to revalidate — past 14 days without a successful check, the license shows as Expired until it can revalidate.
Troubleshooting
"AutoCAD not found" or a plugin trust error when the app starts a job
The app drives AutoCAD in the background to open and process each drawing, so it needs a full, licensed AutoCAD 2021–2027 install — AutoCAD LT is not supported. If AutoCAD is installed but this error still appears, that AutoCAD version has likely never been launched on this machine: open it once (even just to the drawing screen), close it, and try again — AutoCAD only trusts a plugin location after it has run interactively at least once.
Searching a short keyword (1–2 characters) returns odd results
Keywords of 3+ characters use a fast indexed phrase search; shorter keywords (and anything using * as a wildcard) fall back to a slower plain scan — expect that to take longer on a large folder.
Want to rebuild the index from scratch
Delete the folder's index file (see Files below) and click Refresh Index, or simply Choose Folder… again — DwgSearch rebuilds automatically if its index is missing.
Locate seems to hang after pasting the command into AutoCAD
If the target drawing wasn't already open, AutoCAD is opening it as part of running the command — a large file can take a moment, and AutoCAD may show its own dialog during that time. This is normal, not a DwgSearch freeze.
Files on disk
Settings → Diagnostics → Open Log Folder gets you straight to the logs if something needs troubleshooting.
| Settings | %LocalAppData%\CADXChange\DwgSearch\settings.json |
| Logs | %LocalAppData%\CADXChange\DwgSearch\Logs\ |
| Search index (one file per indexed folder) | %LocalAppData%\CADXChange\DwgSearch\Index\ |