---
title: "Search networks – full-text search for network drives and file servers | Lookeen"
url: https://lookeen.com/solutions/enterprise-search/search-networks
lang: en
description: "Search network drives, shares and file servers in full text: Lookeen finds documents by content, shows a preview and respects access rights."
published: 2018-12-21T13:07:18+00:00
modified: 2026-10-23T09:00:00+00:00
---

# Search networks

Project folders, department drives, shares on several servers: Lookeen searches your entire network by file name and content – and shows results with a preview in seconds.

[Try it free](https://lookeen.com/get-started) [Lookeen Server](https://lookeen.com/solutions/enterprise-search/lookeen-server)

## At the workplace or centrally

Search network drives individually on the PC or centrally for everyone.

### With Lookeen Desktop

Pick the network drives and folders Lookeen should index in the settings. On slow connections, indexing pauses automatically.

[Learn more](https://lookeen.com/solutions/desktop-search/desktop-search)

### With Lookeen Server

The server indexes shares centrally, follows links if you want it to and checks file permissions on every search. No workplace has to index on its own.

[Learn more](https://lookeen.com/solutions/enterprise-search/lookeen-server)

## Find instead of click

Lookeen makes large drives searchable by content.

### Full text in almost 100 formats

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, LibreOffice, text files, images, CAD and archives.

### Filters for large collections

Narrow down by file type, size, date, path or tag – also combined.

### Preview with highlights

Matches are highlighted in the document without opening the file.

### Open folders directly

From a result to the file, its folder, or send it as a ZIP by email.

### Scanned paperwork

With OCR, scanned PDFs and images on the drive become searchable too.

### Load under control

You set indexing times and speed, so the network stays free during the day.

## Frequently asked questions

What happens to your files and permissions when you search file servers and network drives.

Are the files on the server changed?

No. Lookeen only reads the files and builds its own search index. The originals stay untouched.

Do all users see all files?

With Lookeen Server, only the files they can access in the file system. Lookeen Desktop only searches what the signed-in person can open anyway.

How many files can Lookeen search?

Lookeen is built for millions of documents. For Lookeen Server, plan about 60 GB of index storage per million documents.

Related: [File server search](https://lookeen.com/use-cases/file-server-search) · [File search](https://lookeen.com/solutions/desktop-search/file-search) · [OCR for scanned documents](https://lookeen.com/use-cases/ocr-scanned-documents)

## Try it free, no strings attached

Test the full feature set of Lookeen for 14 days – with your own data.

[Get started](https://lookeen.com/get-started) [Talk to us](https://lookeen.com/contact)