Desktop Search software

[CosmoGTD]

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[bdavidson]

Given the helpful responses to Cosmo :wink: I thought I would add my current take on Desktop Search software. Given the GTD focus of my desktop files, emails, tasks, etc., the ability to search tasks and appointments is the #1 priority for me. So that pretty much eliminates everything except MSN Desktop Search and Lookout (which is more Outlook + My Docs instead of Desktop).

But I have issues with MSN Desktop Search keeping Outlook PST files locked after shutting outlook down, so I cannot easily perform my regular backups.

That said, I am sticking with Lookout for now, as it plays well with my PSTs, indexes my documents folder, and is not in beta.

As soon as the others (Copernic, Google, Yahoo) incorporate appt and task searching, that's when the decision really becomes difficult for me.

How about you?

Brian

[mochant]

That said, I am sticking with Lookout for now, as it plays well with my PSTs, indexes my documents folder, and is not in beta.
Brian
Brian:

I'm with you! Nothing works better than Lookout in Outlook and I've tested (and reviewed on my blog) all of the search tools mentioned here plus the commercial x1 offering. The MSN Toolbar Suite is very promising but they have two bugs that need to be fixed before I can use it - the one you mention and an unfortunate tendency for the Indexer to "unexpectedly" close IMAP e-mail accounts which necessitates exiting and restarting Outlook.

Lookout has the lightest hit on system performance and, as most of my searches are for e-mail messages or tasks, it suits my needs pretty well.

--Marc

[mochant]

Coz:

While Lookout can index your file system, that's not its strength. I use a separate tool (x1 in my case) to index my local drive for doing file system searches but stick with Lookout for searching within Outlook. At first, I really resisted the idea of using two separate programs but I've found it's really the best solution.

You could easily use Copernic in a similar fashion. Just tell it not to index your e-mail.

Lookout's indexes are pretty typical in size. My index is approximately 68 MB for an Outlook store that is about 305 MB in size.

[fncll]

An index that is 1/5 the size of the original content? That's huge...

[mochant]

An index that is 1/5 the size of the original content? That's huge...
Compared to what? It's quite typical of the index size any of these products generates that actually index content, as opposed to just filenames and extensions. From my perspective, investing 70 MB of my not-even-half-full 60 GB hard drive is a cheap investment if it means I can find any of the more 24,000 messages in my current mail store in seconds.

[Bushido54]

Google's Desktop search is decent (and FREE is the right price). I recent purchased Enfish Find and I like that too.

[kevinvsr]

Also add to the list the new Yahoo! Desktop Search which is now available as a free Beta. My understanding it is a "light" version of X1. I have just started using it and prefer it over my previous use of the Google Desktop Search. The Google search was not very flexible, with few configuration options, and did not offer the preview feature available in Yahoo! Desktop Search. Give it a try here: http://desktop.yahoo.com.

[fncll]

Copernic and Dtsearch, both of which do full-text indexing and seem to be somewhere between 1/7 and 1/10. 1/5 is huge if you consider the optimization and compression typical of these tools... in my experience anyway.

[Paul@Pittsburgh]

Is there an equivalent of Lookout if you use Thunderbird for your email?

Thanks

Paul

[zzzagman]

It is not free ($40) but I have been using Enfish find successfully for a long time. WWW.enfish.com

[CrashTest]

Blinkx - indexes Outlook, web, network/USB drives.

It takes a while to build the index without taking a performance hit on your laptop/desktop, but it's a great tool - www.blinkx.com

[yuryg]

For some reason I have been having problems with Google search and the GTD Plug-in. The Google search locks up 100% cpu with plug-in enabled.

Wihtout plug-in it is fine. Anyone else experience similar issues?

Also in the new version of Google Search you can disable the ability to search https (Encrypted via SSL) pages.