5 ms·
Search doesn't help when you don't remember filename.
by Yizahi 12y ago
Search doesn't help when you don't remember filename.
- dagw 12y agoIn an ideal world it should be enough to remember a couple of key words in the file, and possibly some relevant metadata. In an even more ideal world I should be able to search for "all pictures of my daughter from last Christmas, unless they are out of focus".
- jschulenklopper 12y agoSure it does when the search also investigates the contents of the files. For example, GMail and Outlook do this for mail items -- you don't need to know the subject, which is comparable to the file name, to retrieve an email -- and Google Desktop Search (discontinued) or Copernic does this for file systems. It is almost as if every system-retrievable item inside a file (e.g. every word in a text document) automatically becomes a searchable item of the file.
- Yizahi 12y agoThe Outlook is a prime example for situation when pure search doesn't help. When I'm looking for some mail 1+ year old I sometimes don't even remember one correct word in it. Then I resort to some kind of tag system - folders, timestamps etc. And some times I don't find it at all.
- teach 12y agoSo far this only works with text-based files. For videos or photos, there's usually not much good metadata or machine-readable file content.