I’ve had a NAS since mid-2000s, over that time I’ve built up a few thousand files and folders. One thing I’ve always hated was trying to search UNC network paths on Windows, sure windows search works, but it can be quite slow, and sometimes I don’t want files, I just want a list of folders as results. Previously, I would have just looked for an app or a script that would allow me to achieve what I needed. Apps like Listary exist, look quite good and are feature packed, but in 2026, we’ve got AI, so I thought I’d put my Cursor subscription to good use and see if I (it) could build me what I wanted. Quick search for network share folders, showing folders only (for now), and looking like a real Windows native app.
So, after about 15 mins of thought on features, and 2 hours of back and forth on UI, interactions and some additional features I didn’t think I wanted or needed initially, I’ve built a small Windows app called Network Share Quick Search, or NSQS. It sits in the system tray and lets you find folders on network shares, then open them in File Explorer.
It’s a pretty specific thing to build an app for, but if you work with shared folders, you’ll probably recognise the situation it’s useful for. You know the name of the project or client you’re looking for, but getting to its folder means remembering which share it’s on and working your way through the folders above it.
NSQS gives you a search box for that. Add the network locations you want it to search, let it build an index, and then use a keyboard shortcut to bring up the search window when you need it.
The default shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + Space. Start typing a folder name, use the arrow keys to choose a result, and press Enter to open it in Explorer. Escape closes the search window. You can also open it by clicking the tray icon, and change the shortcut in Settings if something else is already using it.
If you’ve used the Command Palette on PowerToys, or Spotlight on a Mac, the little search window will be a familiar idea. In this case, it’s focused on folders on your network shares.
You can add more than one share and search them together, or filter the results to particular shares. So, for example, if you’ve got separate locations for current projects and archived work, you can narrow the search to the one you need.
The index is what makes this approach useful. NSQS goes through the folders in the background and stores their names and locations in an SQLite database on your PC. When you type a search, it searches that local database, without having to walk through the network folders again for each query.
It indexes folder names, so searching for a sentence inside a Word document isn’t something it does. The job here is getting you to the folder. Once you’re there, you’re back in Explorer with your files as usual.
Of course, folders get added, renamed and deleted. While NSQS is running, it watches the configured shares for those changes and updates the index. Network notifications can miss things, so there’s also a full rebuild you can run manually or schedule daily or weekly. If your PC was off when a scheduled rebuild was due, there’s an option to catch up when the app next starts.
You’ll still need access to the network share to open a folder. Having its location saved in the index doesn’t give you an offline copy of what’s inside it.
There are a few other options, including starting with Windows and exporting search results, or the full index, to CSV.
As mentioned earlier, I used Cursor to help build it, and I think this is a pretty useful kind of project for AI-assisted development: a small app with a job you can describe in a sentence. In this case, helping you find a shared folder and open it. There’s still plenty going on behind that search box, particularly around keeping the index up to date, but the part you interact with is straightforward.
The NSQS source code and build instructions are on GitHub. The project includes tooling to build an installer or a portable executable, with both standard builds requiring the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime for Windows x64.