iFilter not picking up all instances

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ParzivalRM
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iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by ParzivalRM »

The Windows search doesn't seem to be picking up all instances. For examples, I have Windows-searched a directory for "bol" (because of Bol constructions in geometry). This should have picked up all .pdf files containing the word "symbol", but it's only picked up about half of them, and some which contain "Bol" as a single word are missing. All these particular files were downloaded as .pdf from internet sites.

* Is this because I have 64-bit instead of 32-bit? (Apparently Windows has this problem.)
* Should I be installing some other iFilter for .pdf files? If so, how and which one?

In "Indexing Options", I have checked the box "Index Properties and File Contents", .pdf files are reported as included amongst the "Files Types" and handled by the PDF-XChange iFilter. "Indexing Options" also reports "Indexing complete", and that the particular directory is included in the directories to be indexed.

64-bit Desktop, HP Compaq Pro 6305 SFF, Windows 7 Professional, Kaspersky Total Security, Academic PDF-XChange and PDF-XChange Lite 2012, both version 5.5.312.1.
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Parzival,

Did you make sure that the shell extensions are installed? If they are - you should be able to find all your files.
Can you please send us a sample file that windows does not find (and another one that is found) so that I can run some test searches on them here at my end?

Regards,
Stefan
ParzivalRM
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by ParzivalRM »

Thanks, Stefan, for the quick reply.

Addressing your first question first about whether the Tracker PDF ifilter is installed or not:

I ran NirSoft's ShellExView.exe, their Shell Extension Viewer. After sorting on "Company", there were six entries with company "Tracker Software Company (Canada) Ltd.":
PDF-XChange PDF Preview Provider
PDF-XChange PDF Property Handler (Type: MetaData)
PDF-XChange PDF Property Handler (Type: Property Handler)
PDF-XChange PDF Thumbnail Provider
PXCInfoShlExt Class (Type: InfoTip Handler)
PXCInfoShlExt Class (Type: Column Handler)
None of these seems to be a PDF iFilter, and I couldn't find anything else resembling an ifilter by searching around the list.

On the other hand,
Indexing Options - - > Advanced - - > File Types - - > pdf
shows a ticked checkbox with Filter Description "PDF-XChange PDF IFilter Handler". I can't work out from all this whether Tracker's PDF iFilter is installed or not — the whole business of shell extensions seems a little obscure to the non-techie.

. . . and I ran the PDF-XChange installer file again up to just before it performed the actual installation, and there seemed to be no mention in any of the screens of any iFilter that one could turn on or turn off.
ParzivalRM
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by ParzivalRM »

. . . and here are the two sample files that you requested. They are both .pdf files from an 11-file geometry course at Macquarie University, so presumably all 11 files were identically produced. When I Windows-searched in their folder for the string bol:
* Chapters 1 and 10 came up, correctly, because they contain words like "symbol" that have the string "bol".
* Chapters 0, 3, 7 and 9 did not come up, but have words containing the string "bol".

I have attached chap01.pdf and chap03.pdf for testing.

Some further observations:
* No problems with the search facility in PDF-XChange Editor.
* Same results on a laptop HP Probook 450 G1 running Window 7 Professional.
* Same results when searching using Windows Explorer, and when using Directory Opus to hook into Windows Search. (Directory Opus is an excellent and very full-featured Windows Explorer replacement.)
* Searching using Directory Opus' own internal "Search for text" facility correctly yielded all six files listed above that contain the string "bol", so it doesn't seem to be a problem with the files.
Attachments
chap03.pdf
(104.44 KiB) Downloaded 114 times
chap01.pdf
(237.44 KiB) Downloaded 202 times
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi ParzivalRM,

Thanks for the post - the iFilter is a component of the Shell Extensions and is contained within there, so my first suggestion would be to make sure that you are using the latest build of the Viewer by downloading an running the following installer:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXVwer.zip

Please be sure to install the Shell Extensions: as mentioned, it is this that contains the iFilter.

Thanks, keep us posted!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
ParzivalRM
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by ParzivalRM »

Thanks, Will. But now I'm unsure how to proceed because I am using the Editor, not the Viewer. I discarded the Viewer some time ago, on Tracker's recommendation, I believe.

I downloaded the latest Academic Version installer file PDFX5SA_LE_H, version 5.5.312.1, dated 10th February 2015, and installed it on 11th February 2015. The two programmes now displayed in Windows "Programs and Features" are:
PFD-XChange Editor, version 5.5.312.1
PDF-XChange Lite 2012, version 5.5.312.1

Three questions:
* Do I now install the Viewer as well? That would give me a redundant programme.
* Or do I install the Viewer, let it install the PDF Ifilter, and then uninstall the Viewer again?
* Surely the PDF iFilter is now bundled with the Editor as well as with the Viewer?

I thought that the Viewer had been replaced by the Editor some time ago, but I never have understaood the interrelationships amongst the various pieces of Tracker software.
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi ParzivalRM,

I apologize, I misread the product being used. Please install the Editor from here, instead:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXVE5.zip

As mentioned before, please be sure to include the Shell Extensions.

Cheers,
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
ParzivalRM
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by ParzivalRM »

Thanks, Will, for your courteous reply. No luck, however.

* I installed the Editor. There was no option about installing shell extenions, presumably because I chose the full installation rather than custom.
* I rebuilt the index using Indexing Options - - > Advanced - - > Rebuild, which of course took a while.
* I tried again with bol in the same directory. Same incomplete result.

The six Tracker Shell Extensions files listed by NirSoft ShellExView.exe are still there (see my post above). They now read:
Date created: 09/02/14 Date Modified: 07/04/15
- - - - - - - -

The words containing bol in the various files are "symbol", "bold", "parabola", "parabolas" and "hyperbolas". Some further experiments suggested that Windows Search is only reporting a string when it occurs at the *beginning* of a word. For example, the two out of six files that came up when searching for bol all contained the word "bold", and the files containing "symbol" did not come up when searching for ymbol or mbol. Wildcards didn't solve it.

On the other hand, Windows Search cannot find the complete word hyperbolas within one of the files.

I googled profusely and read pages of Microsoft instructions and very confused forums, talking about obscure codes such as ~= but nothing like that works at all for me. Perhaps there is nothing wrong at all with the Tracker iFilter, and my questions should be:

QUESTIONS: 1. What methods Windows-Search for a string that may occur at the start of, or at the end of, or in middle of a word within a .pdf file? 2. Is Windows Search known to be unreliable in Windows 7?
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: iFilter not picking up all instances

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi ParzivalRM,

I'm afraid that neither myself, nor the other tech support guys are 100% on just how much of this we handle. I've forwarded this to the Dev. Team for confirmation and will let you know what they say and/or suggest.

Cheers,
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
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