FOLDER SPACE DETECTIVE - QUICK START
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Folder Space Detective is a Windows utility for finding what is using space inside a folder or drive, drilling into large folders, searching recursively, and cleaning selected files/folders with guarded actions.

EDITION / LICENSING
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New installations begin with a 14-day Folder Space Detective Pro trial. When the trial ends, the app continues in Free mode; core scanning, analysis, drill-down, recursive views, Storage Overview, search and safe single-item Recycle Bin cleanup remain available.

Pro adds persistent indexing/background refresh, indexed folder autocomplete, Cleanup Rules, Rule Matches Only, advanced bulk cleanup workflows and custom size-color rules.

Use:
  Help > License & Upgrade...

to buy, activate, validate or deactivate Pro. Folder Space Detective Pro is a one-time purchase and the license may be activated on up to 3 PCs.

QUICK START
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1. Run FolderSpaceDetective.exe.
2. Choose a folder with Browse, paste/type a path, or use the path autocomplete box.
3. Click Scan.
4. Sort by Size, drill into folders with double-click, or change Type/View to search a complete subtree.
5. Use Delete to move selected items to the Windows Recycle Bin.
6. Use Shift+Delete only when you intentionally want permanent deletion.

SEARCH
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Find terms are ANDed together. Prefix a term with ! to exclude it.

Examples:
  .mkv \test !.lnk
  name:"final render" !path:\cache
  ext:zip path:\Downloads

Supported prefixes: name:, path:, ext:, type:file, type:folder
Wildcards * and ? are supported.

INDEXING (PRO)
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Indexing is optional. No folder is indexed until you add it under:
  Tools > Indexing & Background Scanning...

Saved indexes can make repeat scans and folder-path autocomplete much faster. Background refresh is also optional and only runs while Folder Space Detective is running.

CLEANUP SAFETY
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- Delete sends selected items to the Windows Recycle Bin.
- Shift+Delete permanently deletes selected items after confirmation.
- Protected Windows/Program Files locations and drive roots are guarded.
- Reparse points/junctions are skipped during scanning to avoid loops/double counting.
- Review rule matches before using rule-based cleanup.

LOCAL DATA
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Settings, rules, optional indexes and licensing state are stored under:
  %LocalAppData%\FolderSpaceDetective

PRIVACY
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Folder Space Detective does not contain telemetry, analytics, advertising or cloud storage. Internet access is used only for Lemon Squeezy checkout/licensing actions. Scan contents, paths, rules and indexes are not uploaded.

HELP
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Press F1 in the application for the full built-in Help. Several dialogs also open Help directly at the relevant section.
