How do you search a bunch of word and pdf files?
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 181
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From: Surrey
How do you search a bunch of word and pdf files?
Hello gurus, two questions please if I may be so bold!
1. I've got a couple of thousand word (.doc and .docx) and pdf files and I need to search them for key phrases. Is it possible, can it be done?
2. Also these files are currently stored as attachments to emails - is there a way of saving them all into a folder at the same time rather than downloading them one at a time? (I'm using "squirrelmail" but maybe my webhost will allow me to view those in Microsoft Outlook).
Many thanks!
MrS
1. I've got a couple of thousand word (.doc and .docx) and pdf files and I need to search them for key phrases. Is it possible, can it be done?
2. Also these files are currently stored as attachments to emails - is there a way of saving them all into a folder at the same time rather than downloading them one at a time? (I'm using "squirrelmail" but maybe my webhost will allow me to view those in Microsoft Outlook).
Many thanks!
MrS
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,825
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From: is everything
For the PDFs, download Adobe's iFilter, which is free. It's bundled with Adobe's own PDF products but you may not be using them to create or read PDFs.
iFilter integrates with Windows Desktop Search and Microsoft's other indexing clients. Once installed, if you're already indexing Microsoft docs, then PDFs will be automagically added to the indexes.
Re Squirrelmail, dunno.
iFilter integrates with Windows Desktop Search and Microsoft's other indexing clients. Once installed, if you're already indexing Microsoft docs, then PDFs will be automagically added to the indexes.
Re Squirrelmail, dunno.
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
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From: Twickenham, home of rugby
Try searching for "bulk save email attachments" -
e.g. Save Email Attachments: Manage/Upload MS Outlook email attachments; Automatically save attachments from Outlook.
SD
e.g. Save Email Attachments: Manage/Upload MS Outlook email attachments; Automatically save attachments from Outlook.
SD
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 755
Likes: 26
From: Dublin, Ireland. (No, I just live here.)
Adobe Reader has a "search multiple files" option, but for that to work, the files need to be in PDF form already, on disk. Ditto for the iFilter, with the files in a location that gets indexed e.g. under "(My) Documents". I don't know much about SqurrelMail itself, so let me have a look ...
Can I assume you're a SquirrelMail user, not an Administrator running a SquirrelMail server? If so, the manual makes it appear very simple when it comes to attachment handling, with no "download all" options. Your best bet might be to access the mail through another mail program, such as Outlook or Eudora, thus bypassing SquirrelMail. Your ISP must have details on how to set that up - the makers of SquirrelMail have no way of knowing those settings.
Can I assume you're a SquirrelMail user, not an Administrator running a SquirrelMail server? If so, the manual makes it appear very simple when it comes to attachment handling, with no "download all" options. Your best bet might be to access the mail through another mail program, such as Outlook or Eudora, thus bypassing SquirrelMail. Your ISP must have details on how to set that up - the makers of SquirrelMail have no way of knowing those settings.
Plastic PPRuNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,902
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From: Rochechouart, France
Grep for Windows
Us UNIX folk have been using grep since the flood, but there's hope for you poor Windows folk.
Grep for Windows
Get ready for a whole new free finding experience!
Mac
PS: BareGREP - Bare Metal Software > BareGrep - Free grep for Windows - offer a free GUI version if you don't mind a splash-screen. JGSoft's PowerGREP - Powerful Windows GREP - is the best, but you have to pay for it...
Grep for Windows
Get ready for a whole new free finding experience!
Mac
PS: BareGREP - Bare Metal Software > BareGrep - Free grep for Windows - offer a free GUI version if you don't mind a splash-screen. JGSoft's PowerGREP - Powerful Windows GREP - is the best, but you have to pay for it...
Last edited by Mac the Knife; 24th August 2009 at 18:15.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 16
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From: Orlando, Florida
try X1
I use a program called X1. Once it has indexed your hard drive it will very quickly find every document that contains the keyword or phrase you are looking for. It will also show you a preview of the document when you select it and highlight everywhere in teh document that contains the searched for word or phrase.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 525
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From: LONDON
Us UNIX folk have been using grep since the flood, but there's hope for you poor Windows folk.
Grep for Windows
Get ready for a whole new free finding experience!
Grep for Windows
Get ready for a whole new free finding experience!
grep is only really useful on text files or at least files where you can rely on a pattern match which the two suggested formats dont.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 181
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From: Surrey
Wow - thanks for the information everyone - I shall experiment and report back in due course. Maybe I should email a link to the thread to all chief pilots out there staring at a 3 foot pile of CVs!
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1
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From: italy
Desktop Search
An alternative to Google Desktop can be Windows Desktop Search.
There is also a free tool to tag your files by author, item, time etc. and provides a web form to search by tags and content calling automatically WDS (see Tag-it and Find-it - Local Archive and its help section)
There is also a free tool to tag your files by author, item, time etc. and provides a web form to search by tags and content calling automatically WDS (see Tag-it and Find-it - Local Archive and its help section)
