Google Desktop Search plugin

Would anyone here like Xara to build a plugin for the google desktop search so we could search our computers for xara files that contain specific text or file names? More info about the google desktop search plugins can be found here

Risto is the man to do this. He knows Google inside and out.

Welcome to the Xara X Conference, Mark.

Gary

Well, I'm hardly a Google expert. Besides, developing a plug-in for this would take more coding skills than I could ever muster, even on the best of days. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I also wonder about the usefulness of such a plug-in? I think I have around 2000 .xar files, and I know exactly what each and everyone contains, at least when reading the file name – and seeing which folder the file is in; both which can be used in a standard file search. As for word, excel, mail files etc. – if it's really important to me, I simply place it where it can be easiy found... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Everything coming out of Google is hyped to God-like features these days...

For people that don't know – Google Desktop Search – enables you to search the 'content' of all files (that you specify) on your PC.

I uninstalled it when a security hole was reported that enabled third party sites to view the results of your previous queries (supposedly fixed now). And as I hardly ever used it, the search feature was simply just one more thing to mess things up. Not that many people use it yet – so, I'm sure many hackers don't bother with it. But if it really takes off – I'm sure more holes will be discovered.

But then again, this is just me. Perhaps others will find it to be a great helper?

Welcome to TG, Mark! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

I find the google desktop search to be quite helpful for finding e-mail within a split second instead of waiting for mozilla to search through everything.

Unfortunately, I don't know what's in each of my Xara files and would find it very helpful to be able to search for text that's contained within the files. Perhaps I'm one of the few who could find it useful though. Thanks for your feedback! And thanks for welcoming me to the forums!

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum.

I've never used the Google desktop search. Never like using 3rd party widgets to do things that the buildin features can do. If Xara created a plug-in that could actually search for text within a xar file, that may make it something I would be interested in. Looking at a xar file with a hex editor, I can't see any plain text within it. Of course a xar file isn't a literal save, they have their own format the file is squeezed into when saved.

If you need to find a xar file with a particular word in the filename, the search feature of windows (any version from 95 and newer) simply put an asterisk before and after the word in the search for input box. Example *hello*.xar will find every xar file in the specified Look In area that has hello in any position with the file name. The Look In area can be your entire hard drive, a specific folder, or a network drive/folder of you are on a network.

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Originally posted by Soquili:
Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum.

I've never used the Google desktop search. Never like using 3rd party widgets to do things that the buildin features can do. If Xara created a plug-in that could actually search for text within a xar file, that may make it something I would be interested in. Looking at a xar file with a hex editor, I can't see any plain text within it. Of course a xar file isn't a literal save, they have their own format the file is squeezed into when saved.

If you need to find a xar file with a particular word in the filename, the search feature of windows (any version from 95 and newer) simply put an asterisk before and after the word in the search for input box. Example *hello*.xar will find every xar file in the specified Look In area that has hello in any position with the file name. The Look In area can be your entire hard drive, a specific folder, or a network drive/folder of you are on a network.

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The Windows search works, but the Google search results come up within a matter of about 1 second. Windows is very slow when searching, especially on an older system. Thanks for your suggestions though.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think the Windows Search function is crap. It is slow and I have never been able to get it to search where I want it to. And if I had a virtual gun, I'd blow the cute little puppy to kindom come (do I have an anger issue, or what?)

Gary

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if I had a virtual gun, I'd blow the cute little puppy to kindom come (do I have an anger issue, or what?)

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Download TweakUI from Microsoft's site at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...powertoys.mspx

Expand the Explorer tree in TweakUI once you've loaded if from the Start menu, then tick "Use Classic Search in Explorer", Apply, OK.

http://diniel.com/forums/nodogsearch.gif

Hey there Bill:

I believe Mark's idea does have merit. True, proper file naming can help in searching for stuff, but in a multi-user environment, getting everyone to stick to a naming convention is usually not successful and, overtime, the naming requirements will need to change and no one will be willing to go back and rename files or folders. Also, certain projects may have their own standards.

I would also wish Xara thumbnails could be read by Google's Picassa image searching utility.

http://www.picasa.com/index.php?tid=Y2NpZD0zNzQ4

Generally speaking, Google's search applications are incredibly fast and functionable.

Regards, John

I agree with John; it would be nice if Google's Picassa recognized Xara's .xar files.

Mark - I agree Windows search is slow directly out of the box. Turn on the index feature and it works much faster and supports more search options. When I read some about the Google Desktop search, it also indexes the hard drive. Not sure if there is much difference when indexing is active.

Gary - I shot that Puppy the day I installed XP http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif You don't have an anger issue, just good old common sense if you ask me.

John - I agree if Xara created a plug-in that would allow search for text in a xar file.