The programs 'find' or 'locate' could be used to fetch search results, but that would need to be done in a separate process to prevent blocking the UI. Or a search action could be added to run 'catfish' with the search string to find files.
Also would be nice if this feature could be disabled somewhere in settings for low-end computers.
I personally despise searching for files and folders in application menus, and I only summarized this feature request from GitHub because it is so popular. If I do add it (not very likely, to be honest), there would definitely be the option to disable it.
There's still no recursive search function for files or directories in `thunar`. Using `catfish` turns out to be not overly efficient since it uses `locate` which doesn't have an option to limit the search to a subdirectory; the UI doesn't appear overly innovative (freezes during search so that they're not cancelable (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/catfish/+bug/1704133 for issue report) which can be fixed, but creates dependencies on third parties). Other file managers, like `nautilus`, are much more efficient in their recursive file or directory search.
My two cents here ... I think a feature like that is for thunar and not for whisker menu.
I have never felt that searching for files and folders belongs in menus. I am closing this as I haven't changed my mind the entire time I have been maintaining Whisker Menu.