A Desktop Search Primer
By Jim Calloway, Director, OBA Management Assistance Program

Can you locate an old document more easily on the Internet than on your own computer network?

I’ve previously written about Internet search engines in an article called “Search for the Perfect Search Engine,” (73 OBJ 2281). Properly using Internet search engines can be a very specialized and useful skill. For those of us who use them regularly, they do seem to generally work very well.1

I’ve found it somewhat ironic then that search engines could help me locate information I wanted on the vast Internet, but I sometimes would be unable to locate information that I knew was on my very own computer or our office network. This was not a problem for documents I had worked on in the last several weeks. But often a document that was many months old was not located where I thought it should be or named what I thought it would be. To further complicate matters, I have files stored in lots of different formats, including MS Word, WordPerfect, Adobe PDF, PowerPoint, saved e-mail and Excel spreadsheets.

So, it was not uncommon for me to embark on a “desktop search mission” to locate a lost file on my computer. These were generally successful. But sometimes I came to the conclusion that a file I thought had been created did not exist. Now we have many more tools for desktop searches than were ever available before.

Before we talk about desktop search tools, let’s examine how to avoid “losing” a digital file in the first place.

It is important for every law firm to have file naming conventions for their word processing files. These are the office rules for how files should be named so that someone other than the original author can easily locate the file. We can no longer have our staff naming the files they create in different ways. These rules need to be in writing. We simply do not have time for playing “guess the file name” when an employee is out sick or leaves for another position. Even the author may have trouble locating the file if a great deal of time has passed.

Additionally, we need rules about where the files should be saved and stored. Most firms save documents in certain folders that help with retrieval and organization. It is no longer appropriate to save everything under the My Documents or Client Documents folder. Form documents that we wish to reuse again and again should be organized so they can be easily located and made “read only” so that they are not accidentally altered when used.

Larger law firms have already implemented document management systems and installed document management software. Smaller firms should implement practice management software packages with their built-in document management capabilities. Those of us who heard Colorado attorney David Masters at the 2005 OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference were impressed with the document management capabilities of Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Standard and Professional. This software does far more than merely create PDF files. It has impressive document management and search capabilities.

But a perfect scheme of organization would not do away with the need for desktop search tools. There may be times when one wants to find every prior brief that dealt with a particular narrow legal issue, for example.

The search function included with Windows XP (“start,” then “search”) is certainly an improved version when compared with prior versions of the search feature included with Windows. But it is not even in the same class as the new tools available. The same is true for the search function contained in Microsoft Outlook. They both generally work, but are far from perfect and are so slow that the instructions should read, “start search and go get coffee.”

There have always been a few desktop search tools. But over the last year, we have seen a stream of new product announcements in this class. I’ve listed several of the major products and links to locate them near the conclusion of this article.

I’m using X-1 right now. It costs $74.95, and you can try it free for 15 days. The amazing thing that I have noticed about it is that it is incredibly fast. As I type in the letters of the search, the result list changes with each keystroke. When I am finished typing, the search is complete, even with 50,000 documents.

Several of the desktop search programs are from large Internet search companies, giving rise to fears from some that their data could be indexed or used by others. The companies have posted policies indicating that will not be the case, but if one is concerned, one can avoid those products since there are now so many contenders. Some have a Web interface. Some are downloadable and installed like other software products.

There are a few important points to consider as you take a look at these products.

1) The products create a massive index, just like we lawyers index depositions. When the index is periodically updated, one can notice a slowing down of the computer. If you have an older machine, you may want to set it to index while you are out at lunch. Most will not notice the difference.

2) Make sure the product will index the files you want to search. Some do not index WordPerfect files, for example.

3) There are very significant privacy concerns, and you should warn your employees about the potential for locating others’ files, particularly employees who share a computer. Instant messages sent to a spouse in the morning might be found by another person using the computer in the afternoon as most of these products index sent IM’s.

PRODUCTS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

X-1 – www.x1.com – Free 15-day trial: $74.95 (more if you have Lotus Notes). You can buy five and get one free.

Enfish – www.enfish.com – Free 30-day trial: Enfish Find $49.95; Enfish Professional $199.95

FREE PRODUCTS

Google – http://desktop.google.com

Yahoo – http://desktop.yahoo.com

Copernic – www.copernic.com

Ask Jeeves – http://sp.ask.com/docs/desktop

Microsoft – http://toolbar.msn.com

The above products are powerful tools. Using one of these tools to index all of your depositions or other digital documents in a case could be a huge tactical advantage. But there could be some embarrassing search results displayed in front of others as we get used to these powerful tools. Here’s yet another reason not to send out critical e-mails about your co-workers.

Copernic has received some really good reviews, and Enfish has probably been around the longest.

Give one of these products a try and locate what you have been missing.

1. If you want to become more of a power user of Internet search engines, visit Web sites like SearchEngineWatch.com, The Virtual Chase at www.virtualchase.com and Tom Mighell’s Inter Alia at www.inter-alia.net.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal September 3, 2005 - Vol. 76; No.24