Want to create a PDF searchable CD

Ken Workman

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Jul 8, 2002, 9:58:59 AM7/8/02

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Hi,

I want to be able to create a searchable CD based on content. The CD would have about 2000 PDF files and I'd need to be able to perform a search on text content based on title/author of the PDF abstract.

Any help on doing this would be appreciated!

Ken

Frater Watson

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Jul 8, 2002, 10:48:18 AM7/8/02

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If you have the full version of Acrobat, you may use the Catalog feature to do what you wish.

Mark Anderson

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Jul 8, 2002, 11:47:58 AM7/8/02

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Ken,

Further to Frater's comments...

Create all your PDF's in one folder (or set of folders) on a single drive in
a hierarchy such as you'll use on your CD*. Make all the inter PDF links
you want and then use the Acrobat Catalog (Tools -> Catalog...) to create
and index. Read pages 221-229 of the Acrobat (full) Help PDF.

* Why? Doing this stops the drive letter/name being coded into the projects
links - you need relative links so they still work when copied to CD. Oh,
and to save yourself hassle, I'd go with 8.3 names. You can always use the
document summary fields to add more self-explanatory names and descriptions
than an 8 character filename can hold.

Once your index is created, open the 'start' PDF - and any others you wish
to use the index - and attach the index so it is called at start-up (File ->
Document Properties -> Associated Index) and save the PDFs to hold this
change to the properties. Given your number of PDFs, if you want all of
them and not just the initial PDF to auto-attach the index, look into
batching (Help pp124-127 and see www.planetpdf.com for more articles on
batching).

Regards

Mark Anderson
Portsmouth, UK
www.acrobatfaq.com (FAQ for Adobe Acrobat & Reader)

Ken Workman

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Jul 9, 2002, 9:54:51 AM7/9/02

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Thanks Frater and Mark.

I'm not sure if I'm going about this properly. To elaborate further on my problem, I want to have a CD full of PDFs (there are about 3000 *.pdf abstracts), and have a search tool, perhaps HTML, be able to search the CONTENTS of every *.pdf file for specific keywords, much the same as Windows 2000 can for documents.

Can I still use the Catalog option to do this? If so, how do I rig a search engine to crawl PDF documents for specific words and phrases?

Thanks again!

Ken

De Siem

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Jul 9, 2002, 10:58:44 AM7/9/02

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Yup that's what it is meant to do.
The search engine itself comes with Acrobat.

teelbee

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Jul 9, 2002, 4:08:13 PM7/9/02

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Ken,

I found a lot of useful tips in Mark Anderson's paper on creating PDF collection CDs. I'm glad he posted the new URL above, because none of my old bookmarks worked for it. Here is a link directly to the CD part:

http://www.acrobatfaq.com/readercd.htm <http://www.acrobatfaq.com/readercd.htm>

I second the suggestion to stick to short path and file names. Your users may encounter broken links if you use long foldernames and file names. Keep all folder and file names to 8 characters or less, with no spaces or high ascii characters.

~~~Teelbee

Ken Workman

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Jul 10, 2002, 9:15:36 AM7/10/02

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Thanks so much guys.

It's gonna be hard to go an rename 3000 pdf abstracts! But I guess Rome wasn't built in a day.

Thanks for shedding light...I am in debt.

Ken

Ken Workman

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Jul 10, 2002, 10:23:52 AM7/10/02

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Okay,

So I've read the documentation and I've run a test. I used the 'Catalog' tool to index 10 PDF documents, and even created a couple of search fields, 'Title' and 'Author'.

Now it's created a file called index.pdx

<newbie>I can't open the file. Is this what is used to perform a text search of all the documents? How do I perform a search, say on the word 'of'?</newbie>

Thx again!

Ken

Aandi Inston

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Jul 10, 2002, 10:45:53 AM7/10/02

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Click the SEARCH button, and read more of the manual.

Aandi Inston

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Jul 10, 2002, 4:30:21 PM7/10/02

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You could add a button to the PDF that runs the menu item SEARCH.
(Don't forget it will do nothing in the regular Acrobat Reader).

Aandi Inston

Kimberly Winberry

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Jul 10, 2002, 4:22:41 PM7/10/02

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I'm having similar problems, I've done the catalog deal and created an index etc. What I'm doing is creating a Reference Manual that will go on CD. I'd like the people we distribute this to to be able to go to a search page that I've created and type in a word and get results that way. I'm not sure that they'll know to go to the menu bar for that. Is there any way to do this?

It would really be nice if it returned a list of hits for them to choose from. Is this possible?

teelbee

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Jul 10, 2002, 5:09:31 PM7/10/02

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Ken and Kim,

There are two or three ways (maybe more) to open the Search facility for a PDF collection. The first requirement is to use Acrobat Reader with Search, which is a different version than the normal Reader found on most PCs. It is available as a free down load. If your users will access your collections on CD, you can put the Reader with Search on the CD, so they don't have to mess with downloading a new version of Acrobat Reader.

In Acrobat Reader with Search, there is a tool bar icon that looks like binoculars with a page behind it. That is the Search button. When you lick the icon, the Search dialog box opens. You can also open the Search feature from the Menu.

And, as Aandi suggests, it's very helpful to users if you create a Search button on the "cover page" using the Form Tool. Set the action for that button to Execute Menu Item and select Search as the menu item to open when the button is clicked.

Here is an alternate URL where you can download "Acrobat Reader with Search". I think this URL is easier to work with than the "official" one. Plus, you can get older versions of the Reader here, and alternate language versions, if needed.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html>

~~~Terry

Ken Workman

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Jul 11, 2002, 8:58:09 AM7/11/02

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Thanks Terry,

But I must be missing something. I want to be able to perform a search in such a way, that the search will go through ALL of the PDFs I have on the CD. It should be able to crawl through ALL of the PDF documents (in my case there are over 3000), and be able to come up with search queries such as "title" and "author".

Does that help explain what I'm looking for? Or maybe I'm just not understanding all the help that's been given to me so far.

Thx in any case!

Ken

Mark Anderson

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Jul 11, 2002, 9:10:41 AM7/11/02

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Ken,

As long as you get the Catalog program to index all 3000 PDFs, then they are
searchable from the one index, using the Search dialog which you now know is
accessed via the binoculars+page icon on your toolbar (Reader and Acrobat)
or Edit -> Search menu item. When you start, or update, an index make sure
to include all the folders containing your 3000 PDFs so they are indexed.
Once indexed make sure to maintain the PDFs' relative location to the Index
file as you transfer them to CD.

Whilst you've got Catalog open, take time to check the Preferences dialog
and to investigate in the manual what they do for you. The "Optimise for
CD" option might be pertinent for you.

HTH

Mark Anderson

"Ken Workman" <ken.w...@nrc.ca> wrote in message
news:ef987...@WebX.aaQKaf7vad4...

teelbee

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Jul 11, 2002, 5:27:14 PM7/11/02

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Ken,

What Mark said... Catalog will make an index of your entire collection. But it will only work with a special version of Acrobat Reader called... Acrobat Reader with Search.

There are two tools that often confuse people, Find Tool and Search Tool

The Find Tool icon is a pair of binoculars and, indeed, it only finds matches in the current document. The Search Tool also looks like binoculars, but with a page icon added behind the binocs. The Search Tool will search the index you created with Acrobat Catalog. You may even make multiple indexes and choose which ones to search, but that's a story for another day, I think.

The Search Tool will not appear on the tool bar in the standard Acrobat Reader. You need Acrobat Reader with Search to get the search capability. That version is also a free download. I suggest you burn that Reader with Search software into your CD so that all of your users have the right version of the Reader to take advantage of the search capability.

Here's a link to all versions of Acrobat Reader:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html>

this is probably the version you want (it's down in the middle of the page):
Acrobat Reader 5.0.5 with Search and Accessibility - English for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP 10.0 MB

~~~Terry

Mark Elias

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Aug 1, 2002, 3:58:04 PM8/1/02

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Ok, here's a newer twist.
The search results only return the first 100 matches. How can I get the complete list?

Second, how can I get my document to automatically open the Search window with the different fields availible to be searched. This is set at File|Preferences|Search and Show Fields toggled. Can I put a macro in to do this?

Thanks
Mark

Rick Henkel

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Aug 1, 2002, 4:17:37 PM8/1/02

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In your Search Preferences dialog box or page (depending on what version
you're using), you can specify how many documents to show.

Rick

Mark Elias

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Aug 2, 2002, 10:18:38 AM8/2/02

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Thanks Rick
Is there a way to automate the setting of these Preferences associated to a document when I open it?
Thanks
Mark
E

Rick Henkel

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Aug 2, 2002, 10:32:11 AM8/2/02

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Don't know about that.

Rick

Jovanna Longo

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Aug 2, 2002, 3:34:53 PM8/2/02

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Hello All,
I also am trying to make a searchable pdf cd. I'm trying to model it off on one that I have from another group. I want to have a form that has several combo boxes dedicated to author, title, year, and keywords. I would like to be able to tie these combo boxes to my index so that people can choose the information they want to search for from the box, and then click a button to get a list of results. When i have tried to make an author combo box, i can only get it to open the search window found in the edit menu. I can't get it to search the actual index. does anyone know how to help me out with this??