Sometimes, it is really necessary to look for missing files and document that contain special symbols. This mostly concerns computer and programming files. To search for special symbols in FSA, users may take advantage of a relevant feature – small icon to the right of keyword entry. Sometimes, it is impossible to enter certain symbols using keyword. This feature is very helpful in looking for documents in foreign languages, especially Asian ones. So far, FSA supports ANSI and Unicode and can search for hex code symbols. Of course, users who want to take advantage of this feature should be familiar with encoding principles, for instance understand such formulas U+XXXX or 0xXX. Also, FSA supports symbols of line end, CR and LF.
Special characters in search
This feature will save time for users who need to find documents containing special symbols that are not normally used in everyday documents. Moreover, since it is impossible to enter such symbols using keyboard, FSA supports special formulas for usage of special symbols. It is possible to preview the result symbol before using it in search. Thus, if users make mistakes in formulas the preview will not show any results. Thus, it excludes possibility of making unnecessary mistakes in search. Users who face difficulties in understanding Unicode or ANSI codes may look for help online.
Unicode and ANSI characters
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File Search Assistant can make the process of looking for missing files as comfortable as possible for ordinary users, right from the beginning of search to summarizing of results in search results report. Probably, users might need this info in further word or share with colleagues. So, reports are easily generated in File Search Assistant. Moreover, users may choose among 3 options: full HTML report, short HTML and short rtf reports. The full report version contains info on file name, size and full path to file location. Also, keywords are highlighted in red. FSA shows keywords in context, so that users may easily find required files (in case a large number of documents contain target keywords). The software also show relevancy in percents.
Generate search results report
Short report version is in fact a copy of search results pane in the bottom of FSA interface which demonstrates info on file names, size, locations, extensions, dates modified, encoding and hits. The convenience of the reports, however, is that users may email it as rtf or html files to colleagues or whatever employees concerned. The report is generated within seconds and can be accessed immediately. It is also possible to open files by clicking on file names in the report.
Search results reports
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Users who often look for missing files and documents in particular locations (folders, usb drivers or CDs) should take advantage of file indexing. With File Search Assistant it is possible to create index of files so that the software can easily locate missing documents. In simple words, indexes contain info in missing files, their details, possible locations etc. When users index files, FSA stores this info in index. Moreover, when new files are added to index, it will update automatically. Thus, for example, to easily find necessary files in a flash drive, it is best to create relevant index with appropriate settings. All paths are relative, which are, as known, very flexible, especially in terms of updating and changing location of files.
Search in index
To be able to index local documents, users should create relevant index file where they specify location, file types, contents, i.e. the complete information for File search assistant to look for missing docs really fast. Searching for files in index requires twice as little time as compared to conventional search procedure. Use of index searches is recommended for users who often look for missing files in the same locations, for instance folders on desktop, usb flash drives or DVDs.
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Since any search tool should look inside the files to locate missing ones according to particular search criteria (mostly keywords) it should have full access to documents, including password protected files. Usually, users protect important documents with password for security of personal and company information. To search in password protected files, FSA users may create a list of commonly used passwords (the majority of people use the same password for documents in order not to forget it) with commentaries. Thus, FSA uses this information to get access to documents (this feature mostly works for MS Office docs) protected by passwords.
Search in password protected files
The password manager dialogue box is quite simple to use. In fact, users enter passwords and add commentaries. For instance, one may use the same password for all documents related to business. It is also possible to set password re-send interval, taking into account processor power (moderate or large delay is recommended for slow computers). Search in password protected files facilitates the job for File search Assistant and yield even more accurate search results, since password protected documents may be exactly what you are looking for. This also automates the search process in a great way! The list of passwords can be altered and modified as per users’ needs.
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The problem of storing unnecessary and duplicate files is quite common even with users who try to tidy up hard drive and desktop from time to time. Anyway, in course of time, there’s much “trash” in computers, mainly because of duplicate files (for instance, archives are unpacked, necessary files are extracted but archives are never deleted, or amended versions of documents “coexist” with originals etc).
FSA can find duplicate files by a number of criteria: name, date, content, size. Thus, users need to specify target folder, as well as search and comparison criteria. Moreover, FSA offers various “search in content mode” options: CRC32, MD5 and byte by byte comparison.
Look for duplicate files
The greatest advantage of FSA duplicate finding feature is grouping of search results. In other words, if a file has several duplicates they will be grouped together. For instance, group 1 may contain file1 and its duplicates, group 2 contains file 2 and its duplicates etc. So, search results are grouped in a very convenient way. Besides, users may open located files right from the search results list to check them out and delete if necessary. FSA shows files names, extensions, dates modified and full paths to files.
Search results are groupped
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File Search Assistant is a multifunctional tool. When looking for missing docs, FSA uses its powerful search engine which also enables analysis of folder structure. This information can be helpful for certain categories of users who need to print folder content the way it is seen in Windows Explorer. To print folder structure, users need to Reports-Folder Structure Report and choose the exact folder on which FSA will prepare structure information. Reports may have various views, depending of what exact information users need. Thus, FSA may show full path, size, date and icon of the folder (the software will require more time for generating a report). Users may add and remove folders from the list.
Generate folder structure report
The report will have html extension and contain info on folder contents. Moreover, all file names are shortcuts to actual files. In other words, it is possible to use HTML report as a navigation menu, i.e. open files by clicking on relevant file names in the report. One can also check out full paths to files by pointing at them with cursor (in the light version of report, while advanced report version has a separate path column). Once report is generated FSA will ask users if they want to immediately open it.
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Sometimes, missing files and documents may be “hidden” inside archives. For instance, often users download archives with important docs and forget about them in a while. Later on, when looking for documents that had to be inside archives, it is rather difficult to locate them, especially if archives were never unpacked. File search assistant has the power to search in zip archives, as well as rar files. The software features a built-in converter, thus it opens archives just like ordinary folders. FSA can search in rar archives, even if they were never unpacked. To let the software search in WinZip, users should tick relevant box in Options tab. As previous mentioned, FSA can also search in WinRar which makes it an extremely effective search tool.
Search inside archives
It is also possible to customize search and look for archives only (of course, in case a user is 100% sure that missing files are contained in archives). Thus, FSA will ignore all other extensions and require less amount of time to deliver accurate search results. Looking for missing files in archives will increase chances for quick location of missing files since any archive types will be viewd by FSA just as normal folders.
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File Search Assistant does not only offer a variety of search filters and search by keywords, but also support complex search syntax, similar to that used in search engines. Thus, it is possible to search with regular expressions. For instance, users might be interested in missing documents that contain certain keywords, but do not have some other search phrases. In fact, there are several alternatives, namely:
Use regular expressions in looking for missing files
- +Keyword1 +keyword2 – FSA will look for documents containing keyword1 and/or keyword2.
- +Keyword1 –keyword2 – FSA looks for documents that contain keyword1 but do not contain keyword2
- Using “…” means that FSA should look for exact phrase (just like in Google search). Thus, it is possible to use the following syntax: +keyword1 -“keyword2 and keyword3”. Documents that contain the exact phrase keyword2 and keyword3 will be ignored in search.
By effectively using complex syntax and regular expression features, FSA can deliver more accurate results even without applying other filters, such as search by date, size and file type. At the same time, in combination with these filters, FSA becomes a powerful search tool. In other words, the more information users have about missing files, the easier search procedure might be for FSA.
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Searching for missing files using special masks and filters is a great idea and at the same time sizable advantage of effective file search application, like FSA. Very often, conventional tools used to look for missing documents, find a handful of docs that formally meet search criteria (for instance, contain target keyword). With File Search Assistant it is possible to customize search, i.e. look for particular files and formats only. For instance, user may look for particular file types, such as doc, xml or txt. Moreover, FSA can look for files of particular formats which names start with particular words. Thus, one may easily look for all doc files that start with “price” by applying price*.doc mask. As a result, FSA will deliver accurate search results if users adequately customize search masks.
Custom search in FSA
Search results are narrowed down since the software ignores all other files that may contain target keywords. This saves time and makes searching for missing documents extremely easy. To customize search, one should use Custom Search menu in FSA and create or edit existing masks. It is convenient to save search masks for repeated searches with similar search criteria, for example doc or txt files containing particular search words.
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Looking for missing HTML pages has become easier with File Search Assistant which features efficient preview function. Thus, it is possible to preview documents in the search result box without opening them. In order to find HTML files users should apply multiple search filters (date, size, keywords, extension etc) and look at search results at the preview pane. If several HTML pages meet search criteria it is easier to choose necessary file by previewing all search results. The convertor can be enabled and disabled in the Text filters pane. It is also possible to adjust quoting options to make previews informative.
HTML Convertor
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