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DTSearch and Archivarius again
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Posted by Ike Washington
Jan 4, 2007 at 10:08 AM
My New Year’s resolution is to stick with software which works for me. So, Graham, thanks for the tip to Woody’s Search engine guide, but I think I’ll be giving it a miss and sticking with DTSearch.
Which isn’t to say that X1 and Copernic do a bad job. Both are much better than nothing ie the dismal search functions you get out of the XP box. And, since both are free, both are great value for money.
However, they both lack features which I find important.
Neither provide info about a file’s contents in the results pane. Many of my files have non-descriptive titles. It’s a nuisance to have to click on each one to see what it’s about.
And neither sort according to relevancy. Once I’ve narrowed my search down to a bunch of files, I want to know how they measure up against each other.
DT Search’s indexer saves on cpu wear by only running at scheduled times.
Jack, I don’t think DTSearch’s UI is at all bad. In terms of usability, it’s excellent, I think. And it’s pretty easy to customise the fonts used, the highlight colors etc.
What I’ve become accustomed to, I suppose.
Posted by Jack Crawford
Jan 4, 2007 at 10:49 AM
Ike Washington wrote:
>Neither provide info about a file’s contents in
>the results pane. Many of my files have non-descriptive titles. It’s a nuisance to
>have to click on each one to see what it’s about.
>
>And neither sort according to
>relevancy. Once I’ve narrowed my search down to a bunch of files, I want to know how they
>measure up against each other.
>
>DT Search’s indexer saves on cpu wear by only running
>at scheduled times.
>
>Jack, I don’t think DTSearch’s UI is at all bad. In terms of
>usability, it’s excellent, I think. And it’s pretty easy to customise the fonts used,
>the highlight colors etc.
Ike, I was probably overstating DT’s UI. My search requirements are not sophisticated, so relevancy and sophisticated search terms are not required. I just need something to crunch about 80,000 files.
The way I use X1 is that I have the window split vertically with the search results on one side and the preview pane on the other. When clicking on a result, the preview pane positions the selected document at the point in which the search result occurs. The search term is highlighted so you can see the result in its original context and even formatting.
I find this works especially well when searching through Outlook emails, which X1 handles well - it looks inside both .msg and .pst files.
I guess it’s horses for courses.
Jack
Posted by Graham Smith
Jan 4, 2007 at 12:34 PM
Ike
>My New Year’s resolution is to stick with software which works for me.
An excellent approach, which I hope you stick with. I wish I could !!
>thanks for the tip to Woody’s Search engine guide, but I think I’ll be giving it a miss
>and sticking with DTSearch.
I only suggested it because you said you were going to have a look at Copernic. I wasn’t actively looking for a replacement for DTSearch, just got seduced into trying Archivarius, and found it very good. Particulalry for the simple searches I was performing in DTSearch.
However, you have made me look afresh at DTearch and I can see it playing a much more important role in my new workflow that I am working on.
Graham