TITLE
    Mac OS 8.5: Find By Content Pre-Requisites
Article ID:
Created:
Modified: 		58077
9/10/98
10/14/98
TOPIC

    What has to be done before Find by Content can be used for the first time?

DISCUSSION

    The Find by Content section of Sherlock lets you search the contents of files on your local volumes for one or more key words. Find By Content works by searching for key words contained within the text of each of the files. After indexing your files, you can search for information contained within the file without first having to open the file. This makes finding information contained within multiple files quick and easy.

    Note: Find by Content and Search Internet requires QuickTime 3.

    To access Find By Content, click its tab in the Sherlock window. You must index your hard disk volumes before you can search the contents of the files. Server volumes cannot be indexed. The Find button will remain disabled (gray) until indexing has been completed.

    To begin indexing your volumes, click the Index Volumes button, select its name in the Index Volumes window, then click the Create Index button.

    Click the Create button to begin indexing the volume. An Indexing Progress window will show the current status of the indexing. Depending on the number of files contained on the volume, indexing may take a significant amount of time to complete. Note that, for optimum performance and disk space usage, only the first 2000 unique terms of each document are indexed.

    You can specify a schedule to be used for indexing volumes at a later time when you're away from your computer. The schedule also allows for periodic indexing to keep the index up to date. To set the indexing schedule, click the Schedule button

    Select start time and the days of the week to perform automatic indexing, then click the OK button.

    NOTE: You will need to select the "Use Schedule" check box for each volume you want to use automatic indexing.

    After indexing is complete, you can enter keywords for information you want to find within the contents of files in the Find by Content window, then click the Find button. For example, typing the key word "Macintosh" might display a list of the following files that contain this word:

    Search results are sorted by relevancy and can be sorted by name, kind, or size by clicking the column heading name. To open a file, double-click its name in the list.

    To find files that are similar in content to a file in the search results list, first select the file, then click the Find Similar Files button. The contents of the file you selected will be used to search for other files with similar contents.

    To summarize the contents of a file to the clipboard, hold down the Control key while clicking on the file name in the search results list. Select Summarize to Clipboard from the contextual menu that appears. The contents of the file will be summarized and displayed in the Finder's clipboard window:

    Note : The Summarize to Clipboard feature works only on files whose type is TEXT.

Document Information
Product Area: Mac OS System Software
Category: Mac OS 8.5
Sub Category: System Software Components
Keywords: kmos85, ktrain

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