----- Original Message -----
From: "Freeman Mendell"
Subject: [PCSOFT] Document Search non-Internet
> I have electronic minutes of meetings that go back several years. There
> are many documents. Can anyone recommend a way to search for particular
> words or phrases besides making them into one document and using Word's
> search capability?
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Freeman Mendell, CISA, Certified Computer Crimes Investigator
-----------------------
I don't know about Win XP, but WinME Search feature allows for fairly precise phrase searches, with options to specify all
sorts of criteria. (I assume Win98 offers the same options). Here's a good example that should give the results you require
without returning too many results:
Start / Search
Rather than choosing "Search for files or folders named:", try some other options below. You can use multiple criteria for
your search
Containing Text: (type your phrase, which can include almost any keyboard character)
Look In: (Specify only the drive containing the folder rather than all hard drives)
Search Options: (Checkmark them to choose, then choose by Date, Type, Size, Advanced).
- Date will give all sorts of date ranges to include, which is handy if you know when a particular document was created.
- Type is the most powerful criteria choice if all the documents are of the same type (e.g.. .doc, .txt, etc.).
- Size is usually not relevant, but may be handy if the documents vary greatly in size.
- Advanced allows subfolder search and case sensitive results.
Using these options is really helpful for the text searching within multiple files. hth,
Al Thompson
The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech
support at our newest website:
http://freepctech.com
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