What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

[Armando]

so i can concentrate on using all this stuff instead of forever changing things, actually do something with it lol

-Grorgy (May 20, 2007, 05:00 AM)

Right. I know exactly what you mean.

[Armando]

If you want the final free version (5.6.3) grab it quick from http://www.snapfiles.com/get/x1.html

-Carol Haynes (May 20, 2007, 05:24 AM)

That's really kind of you!
Thanks.

[Carol Haynes]

You're welcome

It is strange that they changed their policy like that. I can understand charging business users but home users have so many other free choices these days who would pay $50 when you can use dozens of other apps for free. For me X1 is ideal because I have about 10 archived PST files from MS Outlook and it is great to be able to search my entire email archive instantly without having Outlook waste time opening all the PST files every time.

[Grorgy]

i dont know if its still true but gizmos list says that the yahoo desktop search uses the same X1 engine so you can probably get it for free that way if you want it, you get the rest of the stuff yahoo put in to but, well beggars cant be choosers

[Darwin]

I'm still confused about what's happening with X1. Following the Yahoo Desktop Search download link takes you to www.x1.com/yahoo and this message:

Your free desktop search tool should begin downloading immediately. As a preferred partner of Yahoo!, we now offer the free version of our award-winning desktop search product to all Yahoo! users (X1 Professional Client v5.6.4 Build 3470 ).

So it *looks* like X1 will remain free. What I *think* is happening is that they're simplifying things and going with one installer for all versions. From reading their forums, it *looks* like they are going to make the indexing of network drives an option available to home users for $50, and are simplifying things by using one installer so that when you first install X1 this feature will function as a 30 day trial before the installation reverts to the Desktop client version (which will remain free)...

[Carol Haynes]

Strange - I took the chance and updated "X1 Enterprise Desktop Client" to "X1 Professional Client" from the Yahoo users link above.

It updates fine to the latest build of X1 and no signs of '30 day trial' version or anything like that. There is a link, however, at the top left of the screen to "Buy X1 Professional Client" which doesn't bode well.

I went to the main website and look at the trial/buy version and here is what it says:

During the 30 day trial period, all features and functions are enabled; including support for the following advanced capabilities:

      Lotus Notes Email and Contacts
      Uncached Exchange Folders
      Exchange Public Folders
      Archived PST Files
      Network File Servers

After 30 days, the above features will be disabled, although basic free client functionality will remain.

Complete and submit the form to download the X1 Professional Client 30 day trial or Buy Now for full, unlimited access to all features, upgrades, and access to X1 Standard Support for 1 full year.

The 'free functionality' is:

• Search Outlook & Thunderbird Email     
• Search Outlook Contacts, Tasks & Calendar    
• Search Local Files (over 400 formats)    
• Full Fidelity Preview & Print w/Highlighting    
• Robust Post Search Actions

but excluded are:

• Search Lotus Notes Email & Contacts
• Search Uncached Exchange Folders
• Search Exchange Public Folders
• Search Archived PST Files
• Search Network File Servers
• Manageable via Group Policy
• Support & Maintenance

The only thing that may affect me is the "Search Archived PST Files" - in which case I will revert to the last free build.

I'll keep it installed until 30 days have passed and see if anything different happens. If so I will post again.

[Darwin]

Dang - the archived pst files is a deal breaker for me, too. My wife still uses X1 (as noted above, I've gone with Archivarius) and she needs to have her archived pst's available to her as well. One hopes that they realize that this is a bit of a stupid limitation and remove it. Might warrant a posting on the forum.

[Armando]

Dang - the archived pst files is a deal breaker for me, too.

-Darwin (May 20, 2007, 10:23 AM)

Ditto.

[Armando]

It is strange that they changed their policy like that. I can understand charging business users but home users have so many other free choices these days who would pay $50 when you can use dozens of other apps for free.

-Carol Haynes (May 20, 2007, 05:29 AM)

Strange indeed.

For me X1 is ideal because I have about 10 archived PST files from MS Outlook and it is great to be able to search my entire email archive instantly without having Outlook waste time opening all the PST files every time.

-Carol Haynes (May 20, 2007, 05:29 AM)

Yes, I like that too.
I also like X1 because -- apart from WDS -- it's the only one I know that will properly index Word "Comments" (I make an extensive use of comments to insert notes as I read OCRed papers in MS word format, without destroying the layout).

[Darwin]

Armando - I really miss X1 for this reason, but find that the length of time it takes to open up and then to preview hits on my searches render it almost unusable. This problem got worse with each build that I tried and was compounded in the PIA factor by the issue that I note above WRT setting a notebook to standby or hibernate with Outlook 2003 minimized to tray. The latter problem seems to hold regardless of hardware while the former isn't really an issue on my wife's newer notebook (AMD Athlon 64 3500+ with a gig of RAM and dedicated graphics memory).

[Armando]

Armando - I really miss X1 for this reason, but find that the length of time it takes to open up and then to preview hits on my searches render it almost unusable. This problem got worse with each build that I tried and was compounded in the PIA factor by the issue that I note above WRT setting a notebook to standby or hibernate with Outlook 2003 minimized to tray. The latter problem seems to hold regardless of hardware while the former isn't really an issue on my wife's newer notebook (AMD Athlon 64 3500+ with a gig of RAM and dedicated graphics memory).

-Darwin (May 20, 2007, 03:55 PM)

Armando - I really miss X1 for this reason, but find that the length of time it takes to open up and then to preview hits on my searches render it almost unusable. This problem got worse with each build that I tried and was compounded in the PIA factor by the issue that I note above WRT setting a notebook to standby or hibernate with Outlook 2003 minimized to tray. The latter problem seems to hold regardless of hardware while the former isn't really an issue on my wife's newer notebook (AMD Athlon 64 3500+ with a gig of RAM and dedicated graphics memory).

-Darwin (May 20, 2007, 03:55 PM)

X1 often crashes when my notebook wakes up from hibernation or standby.
But I don't care anymore -- I just open it again, and it starts where it stopped…

As for the time it takes to open up… yes... I guess it depends on how much documents you index, and how much RAM and CPU power you have available, etc.  Copernic is much faster, but not as accurate (doesn't index MS Word "comments").

I've decided I don't mind waiting abit for X1. It's the only one which shows me everything I need. And it's not that slow. I might have a much smaller index than you.

You could probably use X1 to index a small part of your drive(s) (or only *.DOC fand PST files) and use something like Archivarius for all the other things -- In my experience, DS softwares can coexist peacefully. But you -- being a PhDer -- probably already have your own strategy! 

(edit : tried to make my English more English)

[Darwin]

(edit : tried to make my English more English)

Gulp! I had no idea that English is not your first language... We native English speakers are a spoiled lot - we can communicate with most of the planet in our own language yet few of us need to/bother to learn another language.

As for X1 - your suggestion is tempting - however, the combination of Archivarius (and its speed) and using DOpus 9 to view documents with Stellent viewers accomplishes everything that I need (albeit with the additional need to have two programmes open instead of one. However, if I run with two or more indexers I'd be in much the same boat). Anyway, I'm watching X1 closely and might switch back in the future.

[Darwin]

One of the reps from X1 posted this in response to a query about archived Outlook pst files in the latest build of X1 Enterprise Client (or whatever they're calling it today):

Re: v5.6.4 X1 Professional Client - Free Version

Any PST file that has been added directly to your default Outlook profile will continue to be indexed and searchable via X1.

However, the free client will not index any PST files that have been added using the X1 [Tools > Options > Emails > Outlook > Select Folders To Scan > Add PST Files(s)] dialog.

So... this will still work for my wife (and for me, if they ever fix the hibernate/standby problem) - hope it will work for others here.

[Carol Haynes]

Bum  - going back to the previous build. That is precisely what I didn't want.

To have them in your default Outlook profile means that every time you start Outlook all the files have to be loaded up into Outlook. With well over a Gb of indexed data that will make Outlook intolerably slow.

[Darwin]

That's too bad. If it's any consolation, even one of the most prolific and helpful of the posters on their forums (and a longtime paid up user to boot) is miffed at this latest change in direction (though not specifically about the archived pst indexing issue). I've never seen him say anything so forceful or negative about X1 (not that he hasn't criticised in the past...).

I'm still delighted with Archivarius - the longer I use it/get accustomed to the way things are done in it the more I appreciate how quick and light on its feet it is and the less I miss X1. If the author can make the switch from using OLE to COM to access the pst files this will be an unbeatable app. Actually, now that my Outlook files are indexed and set to update once a day while I eat dinner, as far as I'm concerned, it is!

[Darwin]

Ha ha, just noticed that the link in the "X1 is already dead" posting points to a thread started by our very own Zaine Ridling! He called it two years ago...

[Armando]

I'm still delighted with Archivarius - the longer I use it/get accustomed to the way things are done in it the more I appreciate how quick and light on its feet it is and the less I miss X1.

-Darwin (May 23, 2007, 04:17 PM)

Darwin, I think you "acknowledged" the fact that Archivarius doesn't index MS word "comments"... Or does it ? I might give Archivarius another trial, after all... But only if it does index my beloved comments...

[Darwin]

Hi Armando - archivarius indexes all office docs (with the exception of Access files). Just tried it out...

Here's a list from the website:

Support for popular documents
Archivarius 3000 understands the following document formats:


1C:Enterprise, External Reports (.ert)
1C:Enterprise, Moxcel Spreadsheets (.mxl)
Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf)
Adobe PageMaker 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 6.5 (.pm4, .pm5, pm6, .p65, .pmd)
ChiWriter (.chi)
Comma Separated Values (.csv)
Compressed HTML (.chm)
Corel Word Perfect (.wpd)
DjVu book with text layer (.djv, .djvu)
Embiid Reader book (.ubk, .ebk)
Hangul Word Processor (.hwp)
Help files (.hlp)
HieBook book (.kml)
Hyper Text Markup Language (.htm, .html)
IBM Final Form Text (.fft)
IBM Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheets (.wk1, .wk2, .wk3, .wk4, .wks)
IBM Lotus Ami Pro (.sam)
IBM Revisable Form Text (.rft)
InfoSelect data file (.wd)
Internet Location (.url)
Microsoft Excel 2/3/4/5/95/97/2000/XP/2003 (.xls, .xlw)
Microsoft InkWriter (.pwi)
Microsoft Power Point (.ppt)
Microsoft Word (.doc)
Microsoft Word for Macintosh (.mcw)
Microsoft Word templates (.dot)
Microsoft Works databases (.wdb)
Microsoft Works documents (.wps)
Microsoft Works spreadsheets (.wks, .xlr)
Microsoft Write (.wri)
MIME HTML (.mht)
MIME mail (.eml)
Mirabilis ICQ Chat (.cht)
Norton Guide database (.ng)
Outlook message (.msg)
Palm Database (.pdb)
Plain Text (.txt, .asc, .lex)
PROMPT translator (.std)
Psion TCR book (.tcr)
Psion ZVR book (.zvr)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
Squish message base (.sqd)
StarWriter documents (3.0/4.0/5.0) (.sdw)
The Bat! mail archive (.tbk)
TRichView documents (.rvf)
WinOrganizer databases (.gso)
Wizissoft CyberArticle book (.book)
Wjjsoft Mybase database (.nyf)
Word and Deed (.w&d)
XML Extensible Markup Language (.xml)
Zinio Reader magazine (.zno)

Support for popular e-mail formats
Archivarius 3000 understands the following e-mail messages:


IBM Lotus Notes/Domino (.nsf)
Microsoft Exchange 95/97/98/2000/2001/2002/2003 (.ost)
Microsoft Outlook 97/98/2000/2002(XP)/2003 (.pst)
Microsoft Outlook Express (.dbx)
The Bat! (.msb, .tbb, .tbk)
Opera 5/6/7/8 (.mbs)
Netscape mailbox
Mozilla mailbox
Firebird mailbox
Firefox mailbox
Thunderbird mailbox
PocoMail mailbox
Unix mailbox (.mbx, .mbs)
E-mail message (.eml, .msg)

Searching in e-mail messages attachments is also supported.

Support for popular Internet messenger formats

Mirabilis ICQ
Miranda IM
Odigo IM

Search in popular archives
Archivarius 3000 supports searches in the following type of archives:


ACE (.ace)
ALZ ALZip by ESTsoft (.alz)
ARC PKARC by PKWARE (.arc)
ARJ by ARJ Software (.arj)
BH (.bh)
CAB Cabinet by Microsoft (.cab)
CPIO package (.cpio)
DEB Debian Software Package (.deb)
GZIP (.gz)
HA by Harri Hirvola (.ha)
IMA floppy disk image (.ima, .img, .vfd, .dsk)
IMP by Technelysium Pty (.imp)
ISO 9660 disk image (.iso, .img, .nrg, .bin, .cue)
JAR by ARJ Software (.jar)
LHA by H. Yoshizaki (.lha)
LZH by H. Yoshizaki (.lzh)
RAR by E. Roshal (.rar)
RPM package (.rpm)
TAR Tape ARchive (.tar)
ZIP PKZIP by PKWARE (.zip)
ZOO (.zoo)

Thus Archivarius 3000 contains own module for unpacking all archives. This means that presence of external archivers is not required.

[Armando]

Thanks Darwin.
The reason why I'm asking is that some desktop search softwares (like Copernic) won't index everything in MS Word Documents ("comments" seem to be one thing that's left on the side...). But I'll download Archivarius and see...

[Darwin]

I just checked Armando and Archivarius has indexed the comments in a word document on my harddrive. It's not very pretty in terms of formatting but it's there!

Here's the comment I searched for in word:

What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

And here is the result in Archivarisu:

What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

[Goebel Group]

A handy list of some of the best desktop search tools

http://www.goebelgro...om/desktopmatrix.htm

[Armando]

I just checked Armando and Archivarius has indexed the comments in a word document on my harddrive. It's not very pretty in terms of formatting but it's there!

Here's the comment I searched for in word:

-Darwin (May 24, 2007, 01:57 AM)

Wow, thanks Darwin.

That's great news! I have so many "comments" everywhere in my docs and only X1 can find them... BUT, X1 doesn't work well for my biggest books (more then 300 p. -- Copernic is Okay, but won't find my comments...  ), and even if X1 detects the comments, it will not actually show them! So, all in all, Archivarius is probably the best solution.

I'll have to try it in the Weekend.

[Armando]

A handy list of some of the best desktop search tools

http://www.goebelgro...om/desktopmatrix.htm

-Goebel Group (May 24, 2007, 09:22 AM)

Thanks for the info ! Good to know!

A.

[Armando]

Anybody uses  SearchInform and would like to comment?

http://www.searchinform.com/index.html

Looks like a nice Desktop Search software.

[Armando]

Ken?? where's your post?