Indexly Usage Guide

Practical Indexly usage guide for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Covers indexing, search, regex, tagging, analysis, organizing, backup/restore, and common troubleshooting.
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What This Guide Covers

This guide is for everyday usage of Indexly on local files and folders. You will learn the most common workflows:

  • Index and re-index files quickly
  • Search with full-text and regex
  • Tag and organize content
  • Analyze CSV and other structured files
  • Compare, back up, and restore safely

If you have not installed Indexly yet, start with Install Indexly.

Quick Start 

indexly --help
indexly index /path/to/folder
indexly search "invoice"
indexly regex "[A-Z]{3}-\\d{4}"

Use indexly show-help for a compact overview of all commands.

Install And Optional Packs

For full platform-specific setup, use Install Indexly.

Indexly has a lightweight core install. Optional capability packs are installed only when needed:

python -m pip install "indexly[documents]"
python -m pip install "indexly[analysis]"
python -m pip install "indexly[visualization]"
python -m pip install "indexly[pdf_export]"

Install all optional packs at once:

python -m pip install "indexly[documents,analysis,visualization,pdf_export]"

1) Index Files

Index a folder recursively:

indexly index /path/to/folder

Index only a specific extension:

indexly index /path/to/folder --filetype .pdf

Use a custom ignore file:

indexly index /path/to/folder --ignore /path/to/.indexlyignore

OCR control for PDFs:

indexly index /path/to/folder --ocr
indexly index /path/to/folder --no-ocr

See Indexing and Ignore Rules & Index Hygiene.

2) Search And Regex

Full-text search:

indexly search "invoice AND 2026"
indexly search "\"quarterly report\"" --context 80

Filter search results:

indexly search "report" --filetype .pdf .md --filter-tag finance
indexly search "contract" --date-from 2026-01-01 --date-to 2026-03-31
indexly search "meeting" --path-contains "/projects/client-a"

Fuzzy search:

indexly search "projetc plan" --fuzzy --fuzzy-threshold 85

Regex search:

indexly regex "\\bINV-\\d{6}\\b"

Save and reuse profiles:

indexly search "budget" --filetype .csv --save-profile budget_csv
indexly search "budget" --profile budget_csv

Export results:

indexly search "invoice" --export-format md --output invoice_results.md
indexly regex "\\bTODO\\b" --export-format json --output todo_hits.json

See Configuration and Tagging.

3) Tag And Organize

Tag files and folders:

indexly tag add --files "/path/to/file.txt" --tags urgent finance
indexly tag add --files "/path/to/folder" --tags archive --recursive
indexly tag list --file "/path/to/file.txt"
indexly tag remove --files "/path/to/file.txt" --tags urgent

Organize by date/name/extension:

indexly organize /path/to/downloads --sort-by date
indexly organize /path/to/downloads --sort-by extension --backup /path/to/backup --log-dir /path/to/logs

Query organizer logs with lister:

indexly lister /path/to/logs --ext .pdf
indexly lister /path/to/logs --duplicates

See Organizer, Organizer Profiler, and Lister.

4) Analyze Data

CSV analysis:

indexly analyze-csv sales.csv --show-summary
indexly analyze-csv sales.csv --auto-clean --show-summary
indexly analyze-csv sales.csv --show-chart ascii --chart-type bar

Analyze other formats with one command:

indexly analyze-file data.json --show-summary
indexly analyze-file dataset.xlsx --sheet-name Sheet1 --show-summary
indexly analyze-file metrics.parquet --show-summary

Run statistical inference on indexed CSV datasets:

indexly infer-csv sales_q1.csv sales_q2.csv --merge-on customer_id --test ttest --x group --y revenue

See Data Analysis Overview and Time-Series Visualization.

5) Compare, Back Up, And Restore

Compare files or folders:

indexly compare /path/a /path/b
indexly compare /path/a /path/b --extensions .py,.md --context 5
indexly compare /path/a /path/b --json

Back up data:

indexly backup /path/to/folder
indexly backup /path/to/folder --incremental
indexly backup /path/to/folder --encrypt "your-password"

Restore from backup:

indexly restore backup_name --target /path/to/restore
indexly restore backup_name --target /path/to/restore --decrypt "your-password"

See Backup & Restore and File/Folder Comparison.

6) Health, Maintenance, And Monitoring

Environment and database health checks:

indexly doctor
indexly doctor --json
indexly update-db
indexly migrate check

Semantic observers:

indexly observe run /path/to/folder
indexly observe audit

Live indexing:

indexly watch /path/to/folder

See Indexly Doctor, DB Migration Utility, and Observers.

Friendly Missing-Dependency Messages

When a feature needs an optional package group, Indexly prints a direct install hint.

Examples:

  • Analysis features: Feature requires: pip install indexly[analysis]
  • Document parsing features: Feature requires: pip install indexly[documents]
  • Visualization features: Feature requires: pip install indexly[visualization]
  • PDF export features: Feature requires: pip install indexly[pdf_export]

This lets core commands like indexly --help and indexly --version remain usable even when optional packs are not installed.

Practical Tips

  • Quote paths that contain spaces.
  • Start with indexly <command> --help before trying advanced flags.
  • Use indexly doctor when behavior seems inconsistent between environments.
  • Keep your index and backup workflows separate for easier recovery.