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Use Quick Open when you know a filename. Use Search Files in Zen’s file panel when you want to find text inside files. These steps use desktop and web. Start by opening the project on the device containing its files, and confirm the checkout you want to search. A worktree has its own files and changes.

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Find a file by name

  1. Press Shift twice to open Quick Open. You can also press Cmd+Shift+P on macOS or Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows and Linux, then remove the leading > from the input.
  2. Type part of the filename, such as README.
  3. Check the path beside each result, especially when several folders contain the same name.
  4. Use the arrow keys and Enter, or select the result, to open it. If another panel remains in view, select the new file tab.
With an empty input, Quick Open can show recently viewed files. Those entries are history, so a file may have moved or been deleted since you viewed it. Typing a name searches for files in the current project. Quick Open also includes projects and commands. A leading > searches commands; a leading @ searches projects. Remove those prefixes when looking for a file.
Quick Open and text search do not use the same filters as the file tree. A file hidden from the explorer can still appear in search. Explorer visibility is not an access restriction.
If a partial path does not find the file, try its filename alone. Check the project and connection before treating an empty result list as proof that the file does not exist. Text search follows the selection in Browse Files: For example, select walks to search route notes inside that folder. To search from the project root, select a file directly under the root, such as the project’s README.md, before switching to Search Files. Merely opening the search panel does not reset a previous folder selection. Search reads saved files on the project’s device. Save edits you want included, using Cmd+S or Ctrl+S, and resolve any save error first. Unsaved editor text is not added to the search results.

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Search inside files

1

Open search

Open Files in Zen’s right panel. Use Browse Files to select the search folder, then choose the magnifying-glass control labeled Search Files.
2

Enter the text

Type into Search and wait for the result list to update. For a first search, use a simple word such as Moss and leave regular expressions off.
3

Narrow the matches

Choose the text options and file filters below. Review the displayed file paths after changing them.
4

Read a result

Expand a file’s result group if needed, then select a matching line. Check that the document has loaded before editing. See the recovery advice below if it remains on Loading.

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Text options

Case and whole-word matching can be enabled together. Turn regular expressions off when you want an ordinary word search. An invalid expression can produce no results without a useful error, so simplify the query when troubleshooting.

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File filters

Expand files to include or files to exclude to enter a pattern.
  • In files to include, use one pattern, such as *.txt, or a filename such as routes.txt. Do not enter *.txt, *.md expecting two file types to be combined.
  • In files to exclude, use a pattern such as **/archive/** to exclude nested archive folders. Multiple exclusions can be separated with commas.
Ordinary text search skips hidden and ignored files, but an explicit include pattern can bring them into the results. For example, *.txt can also match a hidden .txt file or one listed in .gitignore. Check the actual paths before replacing anything.

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Understand the count

Results are grouped by file and show line numbers. The result count normally counts matching lines, not every occurrence: a line containing Moss Moss can contribute one result even though it contains two matches. Treat the list as a navigation aid rather than a complete occurrence inventory. Search can return a reduced set of lines when it falls back to another search method or reaches a limit. Narrow a large search and inspect the files when completeness matters.

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Replace text in the returned files

Replace All changes saved files directly. It does not open a proposed-change review or create a backup first. Preserve the version you need before using it; in a Git project, a commit can provide a reference for tracked files.
1

Save and review the targets

Save open edits, run the search again, and wait for it to finish. Check the folder scope, text options, filters, and every returned file path. Start with one filename in files to include when testing a replacement.
2

Enter the replacement

Choose Show Replace, then type the new text into Replace. The desktop and web control requires a nonempty replacement; it cannot remove matches by leaving this field blank.
3

Apply and inspect

Choose Replace All. It applies the search pattern throughout each file represented in the results, including multiple occurrences on a displayed line. Open the changed files and, for a Git project, inspect Review.
For example, searching Moss with Match Case and Match Whole Word enabled, then replacing with Fern, changes Moss Moss to Fern Fern. It leaves moss and Mossy unchanged. Replacement is performed file by file. If it stops, files processed earlier may already have changed. Some read or write failures can skip a file, so an updated result list is not confirmation that every target was written. Inspect the actual contents before trying again.

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Recover from a search or replacement problem

If this is an untouched tab with no edits to preserve, close that file tab, choose Browse Files, and open the same file from the tree. Selecting the tree row while the loading tab is still open may only focus it again.Keep any editor containing unsaved work open until you have preserved its text. If a fresh open also fails, check the project device and connection. A loading document is not an empty file.
Check the project, checkout, and selected folder. Clear file filters, turn off case and whole-word restrictions, and try a simple word with regular expressions off. Save any unsaved text you expected to find.For a missing filename, try Quick Open with just the name. Explorer visibility and search filtering differ. Use Browse Files and Reload to inspect the current listing.
A target file has unsaved changes. Preserve and save the edits you want, then rerun the search and review its targets. Replacement may have changed earlier files before reaching this one; inspect those files too.
Stop editing the targets while you review them. Inspect the saved contents and any open buffers, then run a fresh search before choosing Replace All again. Do not assume the earlier attempt was rolled back.
Reconnect to the same project and device, inspect the files, and search again. A request may have written a file before the connection failed. Verify the returned paths as well as the count: fallback search can return fewer matching lines and handle filters differently.
For editing, saving, Markdown preview, and external-change notices, see Files and the editor. To change filenames or folder structure, see Organize files.