Replies

Klinkehoffen asked how to
>…search all “doc” files in a folder, not search the folders underneath, and look for a particular word in the .doc; all at the same time

Try this:
file:*.doc in:yourfoldername content:foo

You can abbreviate yourfoldername to any unique phrase e.g. in:yourf

“foo” is whatever search word you want to find.

You do not really need the “content:” keyword but it restricts that part of the search to looking inside the file
and ignores “foo” in filenames.

Note that the search word in the file must start a word, that is, it must be preceded by space or other punctuation.
But it can be followed by anything, e.g. content:foo would find fooxxx but not xxfoo.

To find either the word foo or bar inside of files use content:(foo OR bar)
Note that OR must be all-caps.

content:(foo bar) is the same as content:(foo AND bar) and requires that both words be in the file (they need not be adjacent).
Put it in quotes to find the exact phrase, e.g. content:”foo bar”

Go nuts:
content: (“foo bar” AND NOT Robert)

-Rob

I’ve used the free version of PDF-XChange Viewer for years, and I like it a lot. (So much so that I recently purchased the PRO version when I caught a 40% off sale at bitsdujour.com)
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/pdf-xchange-viewer-pro/
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/pdf-xchange-pro/

The free version is all most people will need. It will:
Fill and save forms to disk.
Has a typewriter mode to ‘fill in’ any pdf even when it does not have form fields defined.
Has OCR.
Has a Portable version that I think is green to registry. But I now use the full install so it hooks into IE and Windows Explorer.
Loads fast.

It has a signature stamp too (scan in an image of your signature and make it a PDF-XChange “stamp” then stamp it anywhere in any PDF file. Visit their FAQ for details:
http://www.tracker-software.com/knowledgebase/225-How-do-I-create-a-transparent-signtaure-stamp

Sadly it cannot select columns in pdfs that do not define the columns properly (ie no select this square area).

I agree that their web site and their product naming conventions are confusing, e.g.
“PDF-XChange Pro” and “PDF-XChange Viewer Pro” are very different.
You probably want the free version: “PDF-XChange Viewer” or
the modestly priced “PDF-XChange Viewer Pro” version (about $38).
The “PDF-XChange Pro” is a more expensive package (but still only about $75).
I suggest you try the free version, and sign up at bitsdujour to be notified of any 40% off sales (they are rare).

The Pro adds things like insert a blank page, delete pages, and directly scan in images. All nice but not essential.

The Pro version also comes with a nice PDF printer driver, altnough the free Bullzip pdf printer driver is excellent.

The article suggests using: system.filename:~=”secrets” for a search to find secrets anywhere in a filename.

A shortcut for this is filename:*secrets
or simply file:*secrets

which is a lot easier to type and remember –
although you will need to use a question mark to match a space, eg file:*windows?secrets

The filter file:*.doc works pretty much as you would expect, except it also matches stuff like foo.docx.
You can use file:*.doc AND NOT file:*.docx to limit it more.

Sometimes you need the opposite – to find a word in the contents of files while ignoring the word in file names.
A search for content:secrets will search for the word secrets in the contents of files (ignoring if it is in the file name or not).

Note that any search term in a file (e.g. secrets) must begin a word, that is, it must be preceded by a space or other punctuation even if the search phrase has a *.

—

The article also had a small error…it states “As soon as Win7 sees the *, it doesn’t bother looking inside files. You could have the text *doc inside a Word document, and Windows won’t find it.” Opps, that’s not right. My test (with Win 7) does find *doc inside of a file. Try putting “docxxx” (or “*docxxx” ) in a word document and searching for *docxxx. The “docxxx” in the file must begin a word i.e. be preceded by a space or punctuation – but Windows will find it inside of a document and not just in a file name.

Keep up the great articles (and don’t fret the occasional glitch!).

-Rob