Forum Posts Feed
Outliners indexing external links
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Anthony
Apr 20, 2024 at 10:11 AM
In recent days, I’ve experimented with several outliners that, to my knowledge, were capable of indexing files. However, I only tested them with external links. The concept was to connect my ebooks and articles (mainly PDFs and ePubs) to the outliner and search their contents within it.
The testing was limited to a few programs using a PDF file. It’s possible that I overlooked some features in the options. Therefore, please correct me if I’m mistaken, and please suggest additional outliners capable of this function.
Here are my findings:
MyInfo: no indexing
RightNote: no indexing
MyBase: no indexing
OneNote Desktop: no indexing (In the latest versions, Microsoft even removed the ‘link to file’ pop-up option when a PDF is dragged and dropped into OneNote).”
Posted by Anthony
Apr 20, 2024 at 12:02 PM
Let me partially correct, and complete the outocome on:
RightNote: No indexing if a link is placed inside another note. Yes indexing (as an option) if the note is created directly from an external link. The RightNote search captures the presence of the searched word in the linked file, but not its precise place within the file.
Posted by Robin
Apr 20, 2024 at 12:07 PM
Hi, super interesting topic. Isn’t this related conceptually to the idea of providing a preview of linked URLs, for example in messenger apps? I.e., the outliner would fetch some data from the (local or remote) URL and include it inside the document, for example to provide preview or for search. Could imagine several ways of exposing or using such indexed information.
Posted by Cyganet
Apr 20, 2024 at 01:30 PM
What an interesting question! I decided to check with the outliners that I have access to. My assumptions about your use case
- you’re on Windows
- you would like to find a PDF that is linked (not embedded) in the outliner
- you would like to have a highlight of the matching text inside the PDF
Here are my findings:
Yes
===
Zotero: will find text inside a PDF that is linked to a Zotero item. Will not show you the matching text
UltraRecall: if you drag a PDF into it, it turns it into plain text (all lowercase) note that is searchable and the search term is highlighted. UR retains a shortcut to the original PDF in its URL field
No
===
UpNote
InfoQube
ConnectedText
Zim-wiki
The Journal
TheBrain
CherryTree
Trilium Notes
Obsidian
Non-outliners
===========
Windows explorer (search file contents) - will show the PDF but not highlight content
OneDrive search (on both web and Android) - will find the PDF but not highlight content
I hope this is useful for your search.
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Apr 20, 2024 at 02:55 PM
Hi cyganet,
InfoQube can index web pages and PDF both local and online, do Item > Index linked file to perform indexing
but it seems broken in the current version. This will be fixed for the next release
Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer