Ever wished for a way to cut through online clutter? A Google filetype search is your answer. It’s a search hack for investigators, ensuring they find the documents they need fast.
Filetype searches are probably one of my favorite search types. I just used it when looking for the P Diddy lawsuit. I’ll show you what I did.
“sean combs” 2024 lawsuit filetype:pdf
By adding filetype:pdf to the search, I was able to get results that are just pdf documents and nothing else. The first result was what I was looking for.
XLS | CSV
One search I really enjoy doing is the XLS or CSV search. This will allow you to find spreadsheets, which are great when it comes to employee directories. You can even combine these searches with a line break: |
massachusetts 2024 payroll filetype:csv | filetype:xls
With this search, I was able to get many different spreadsheets, including a list of over 17,000 police officers in the state of Massachusetts as of Jan 2024. There’s some results that came up.
PPT
PPT stands for PowerPoint Presentations. Most of these presentations are training guides. Let’s see what we can locate with the below search.
osint filetype:ppt
With a search like this, I can get tons of training slides on OSINT. With the right searches, you can even find company training manuals that are probably not meant to be public!
Conclusion
For those in the field of investigation, mastering the Google Boolean filetype search command is essential. It’s a simple yet powerful way to enhance research capabilities, ensuring you can find the specific documents you need, when you need them.
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