Acrobat for AEC Knowledge Management - Adobe Acrobat and PDF for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction - page 213

Uncataloged Searches
Both Acrobat versions 6 and 7 can search large collections of uncataloged documents, whether a single file
or across a whole network. Searching a single file is usually done at an acceptable speed unless the file is
very large, while searching thousands of files can take a long time.
To conduct an uncataloged search, open the Search PDF window by clicking the Search icon on the File
toolbar. Click the All PDF Documents in field'sdrop-down arrow, as shown in Figure 15.8. Select an
existing location, or click Browse for Location to find files or folders on your hard drive or network.
Figure 15.7 Search multiple indexes simultaneously
Figure 15.8 Select a folder or storage location to search
Cataloged Searches
Here's a true story: the day the beta of the Marshall Star collection was complete, an engineer called the
archives looking for information. He said he knew there were problems with paint on early spacecraft and
wanted details.
On paper, the Marshall Star fills two large file cabinets with issues, including those with information
about the paint problems, but which ones? The first live test was to look for the terms “explorer paint” in
the index, as shown in Figure 15.9.
Search Settings
To broaden the search, Match All of the words, Proximity, and Stemming options were also selected.
Acrobat's default search proximity is 900 words. In this instance, it was changed to 150 words in the
preferences. Choose Edit > Preferences > Search and type a new proximity value, as shown in Figure
15.10. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.