MobileFileSearch is a Windows application that helps you search for files located on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. It works through the MTP protocol which allows transfer of data between a mobile device and a Windows PC.
When we connect an Android smartphone to a Windows PC using a USB data cable, it is usually connected through the MTP protocol (media transfer protocol). MTP is very useful for this sort of file transfer as it prevents any system files or configuration files to be read or modified. We can access only media files or other non-critical files through the MTP. But it also gives limited functionality when we access files on a mobile device from within Windows File Explorer.
If we want to search for files on a mobile device’s storage while that device is connected through the MTP, then we cannot do so through Windows File Explorer. For searching files over MTP, we need a special tool called MobileFileSearch created by Nir Sofer of Nirsoft.
MobileFileSearch has the familiar user interface we see in Nirsoft tools. We should launch it after connected the mobile device to the Windows PC through a USB cable and allowing the connection to use MTP (when asked on the mobile device screen).
After launching MobileFileSearch, we can choose the mobile device from the drop-down list. We can choose a number of search criteria such as file sizes, file modification times, wildcards in name search, folders, and which folders to exclude etc.
In the search results, we can see the file name, full path, object name, object ID, created time and more. We can sort the list of the search results alphabetically. We can right-click on the selected items to delete them, copy them or view them using the default file handler. We can also export the search results into CSV, JSON, HTML or TXT files.
You can download MobileFileSearch from https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mobile_device_file_search.html.