Desktop Search Features Added

Summary: Feature requests for Windows Desktop Search that have been implemented

This is where requests from DesktopSearchFeatureRequests go when they've been implemented

Don't index attachments of emails in my trash folder

Desktop Search can trigger repeated virus alerts if it indexes spam emails with virus attachments (see DesktopSearchQuestions). To solve this vulnerability I would say MSNSearch should only scan email items already opened and NOT already been placed in the trash / removed items folder within outlook.

ANSWER: This is a tough call. Many, many users use Deleted Items as a temporary cache. Customer data shows that if we didn't index Deleted Items we'd miss a lot of content. In the first beta we didn't allow the user to select folder locations. In the refresh and certainly in the RTW 2.1 version we allow you to deselect Deleted Items.

Don't require a full re-indexing when a new iFilter is added

Indexing takes a few days on my hundreds-of-gigabytes systems. If I want to add a new iFilter, I have to start indexing from scratch. That means I lose a few days of search goodness. The solution: when an iFilter is added, have Windows Desktop Search only re-index the content of those files that the iFilter applies to. This presumes a few things, among them that content data in the index is cleanly linked to filename data. If somehow it isn't, I strongly suggest making it so, for this and other functionality reasons. -- Stanley Krute

ANSWER: Done!

Get rid of the address bar and run command

I was wonder why we need 3 different spaces to type in: search box, address box, run command. Please make search box work similar to address box and we will economize precious space in IE toolbar and desktop task bar. Also we will have very quick access to these 3 similar commands. -- TanNg

ANSWER: You've always been able to turn off the address bar and run command yourself - nothing is stopping you now :)

Index .EXEs

I've read comments where the team didn't want duplicates, if this is a concern for the DB size, then it's really no issue right? Since the only meta-data associated w/ EXEs is the file location. If it's a concern for which program to launch when the user runs it (=), then let that be my problem. In that case, I'd provide the full path, but I'd like the ability to launch an .EXE w/out providing full path. My apps have unique enough file name that I won't have to worry about that problem.

WORKAROUND: try using Peter's hack to not exclude files in Windows Desktop Search

ANSWER: This feature came up early on. Because of the (cough, cough, unsupported) workaround above we lowered the priority. We'd like to get to this in some advanced Options UI. We'd also like to add the ability to map a custom type to a standard type, e.g. .myType--> .txt.

ANSWER: Mapping of custom types to .txt files has now been implemented

Index filenames

For several votes for "better indexing and searching of filenames", see thesethread/thread/cf0f7a59eb18b574/5d66f915ce9ac688#5d66f915ce9ac688 and newsgroup threadsfrm/thread/f3be0a5519929e8d/86e19571a580adb1#86e19571a580adb1" .

ANSWER: Most people don't realise they can use the ""filename:"" qualifier -- JonathanHardwick

FOLLOWUP: This has definitely not been implemented. Even with typing the inconvienent "qualifier" every time you want to search, it doesn't match partial filenames. WDS needs a "traditional" file search mode, that you could optionally set as the default! It would get Windows much closer to on par with MacOS (and I'm talking 10.3 here guys...).

Index filenames and foldernames first

I have a hunch that a large proportion of everyday searches are easily solved via file and folder name searching, without a need to examine content. For example: looking for a particular spreadsheet, or Word doc, or project folder. Since content doesn't need examining to add that data to the index, it can be done rather quickly. I suggest doing that particular aspect of indexing first. Ideally, you would do it via a high-priority indexing thread. This would provide very-quickly-highly-useful search functionality.

Indexing content would come next. Again, ideally, this would be done via separate content-indexing threads. This assumes, of course, that DS indexing is a multi-threaded operation. If not, two suggestions:

Make the filename and foldername indexing the first step in an indexing run.
Strongly consider re-architecting indexing to be a multi-threaded process. I know, I know, what a pain, but the product is young, when the pain is least. If not fixed now, it never will be, as in the example of Excel's volatile clipboard. MS doesn't employ the world's greatest propeller-heads for naught. Multi-threading would be extremely useful for many future purposes, including this feature request, my earlier one Re: iFilter addition without a need for total re-indexing, and user-chooseable iFilter indexing prioritization. -- Stanley Krute

ANSWER: There's a difference between indexing (creating the index) and searching (searching the index). In MSN Desktop Search, searching is fast no matter what - there's no real advantage to trying to search "just the filenames" first. And indexing is already done on an on-demand basis - see "Index new files immediately"

Index new files immediately

One feature that's great about Copernic is that it will pick up on new (or modified, I think) files in the file system and index them as soon as they appear. Windows Desktop Search doesn't seem to do this (or if it does, it happens only when it decides that the computer isn't busy, which seems to be a rare occurrance).

ANSWER: It gets notified as soon as a file is added or changes, but only indexes when it decides your PC is idle. You can see this if you bring up the Status window - and you can click "Index Now" in that window to tell it not to bother waiting for your PC to be idle.

Indexing frequency

It'd be nice to have the ability to set the indexing job frequency. This will allow the user community to decide on the freshness of desktop search results. In fact I don't know how frequently it indexes now, daily?

ANSWER: It doesn't index at pre-set intervals. Any time you change a file, it queues up that file for indexing. When your computer is idle, the indexing kicks in and processes the queue. -- JonathanHardwick

Indexing priority

User should be able to set the priority for Indexing. It would enhance the user experience to allow indexing while using their machine without having to wait X hours for the machine to be 'idle'. Execution priorities should allow users options such as this:
* Realtime block everything else and index now
* High let things through but take high priority with indexing
* Above Normal
* Normal
* Below Normal
* Low
* Idle perform index when system is idle, pause when user activity begins
-- samt

ANSWER: The current behavior is similar to your description of "Idle", but X is measured in seconds, not hours! You can also force an index (similar to your description of "High") by hitting "Index Now". -- JonathanHardwick

ANSWER: Part of the problem with this is that we felt it would be difficult to explain all the different choices being made under each of the different levels and the trade-off between how much it would actively try to work vs how stale your index would be. We ended up just having "normal" which looks to be very polite and "never back off" which is what happens if you click on "Index Now" in the try icon menu or in the Indexing Status dialog. What explicitly are you looking to change about the behavior that you feel you can't right now and why? dave

ANSWER: Done! Latest builds have an option to prioritize indexing

More control of which Outlook folders are indexed

I'd like to have an ability to choose which specific folder are indexed in Outlook. Right now it is all (or the set that the developers decided to index) and I have no control. In the Advanced options I should have this control.

ANSWER: Oh yeah, this is a major annoyance and something we have been rightly taken to task for. Letting users choose specific Outlook (and OE) folders is on our hot list.

Preview

One of the coolest features and one that makes you incredibly productive in X1 is the preview feature. I select and item and see a preview. No need to launch another application. In real use, this is a feature that is incredibly important to productivity. I have 2 powerpoints that match a query. With X1, I can select one and scroll through a view of the slides.

It allows you to see the whole short documents like photo, email, a fax,... very quickly. Oh, how do I love reading pane of Outlook 2003. -- pcause

For another request for this feature, see this newsgroup post_thread/thread/f78a9def65720a18/4953a56cc0d654b1#4953a56cc0d654b1

ANSWER: Done!

Search in specific file types

Option to give specific file types to search, eg searching where "SomeClass" is being used in *.cs files -- Khurram

ANSWER: You can already do this using the advanced query syntax. See the help files -- JonathanHardwick

Lack of VISIBLE progress

Since there isn't a place I can find to post this, thought I'd do it here. Know you folks are working hard on an update, but the lack of any visible progress, updates, news postings, etc. certainly makes you seem like you've fallen off the face of the earth. Google has released and is heavily promoting, Yahoo introduced some new features for their beta (index chats) and nothing from this group. How about at least a ost to the newsgroup on a regular basis. Tell people your targets, what you expect different, etc. Or what about adding a "Developer rants" page to this Wiki to give folks some sense of progress. My two cents.

Answer: There's definitely progress, because I'm running an internal build that addresses a lot of the requests on this page :) I suspect that the Desktop Search team are in "under-promise, over-deliver" mode. Don't worry, you'll get your hands on some new bits soon! -- JonathanHardwick

Followup: That's cool and all... actually a GOOD thing. Good on them. I'll disagree a bit about the first comment - it's not PROGRESS that we're really irritated about, it's COMMUNICATION. For crying out loud, they have a blog. Use it. Why not up over the other search companies and make a SEPERATE blog for Desktop Search? Then TALK ABOUT it. Not what they're doing, necessarily, but rather just about the subject. Communicate, so we know you're still THERE, and haven't wandered off. That's what transparency is.

Followup: I agree on the lack of visible progress and communications. You folks have a newsgroup and we get nothing about progress. We can guess from this Wiki. I was encouraged by the early release, but am terribly disappointed by the lack of incremental drops. How about this - USE beta.microsoft.com and let those of us who have taken the trouble to particiate in this Wiki or who are active in the newsgroups to see the "work in progress".

Answer: Are the monthly builds good enough for you?