Post by thread:Re: [PIC]: how to index pdf files?

Problem: over 4000 pdf files - mostly PIC datasheets and apnotes along with other component data sheets - with non-descriptive filenames like 39272.pdf, etc. How to find the one I want? Question: does anyone know of pdf indexing/management programs? I would like to see something perhaps like MS Windows Explorer format - columns with filename followed by title and other info of interest. With knowledge of the pdf format, perhaps this would be easy to write in some hll, perhaps not. Any ideas? Thanks! Tom M. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

I use the Webinator from http://www.webinator.com as a search engine on my website. It supports a variety of file formats, including pdf. They will index a site for you up to some number of pages. However, this, I believe, requires the files to be on a web server, not a local file or MS network file. But, it's a great program! Harold FCC Rules Online at http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/ --- Tom Messenger <spam_OUTkristTakeThisOuTTHEGRID.NET> wrote: Problem: over 4000 pdf files - mostly PIC datasheets and apnotes along with other component data sheets - with non-descriptive filenames like 39272.pdf, etc. How to find the one I want? Question: does anyone know of pdf indexing/management programs? I would like to see something perhaps like MS Windows Explorer format - columns with filename followed by title and other info of interest. With knowledge of the pdf format, perhaps this would be easy to write in some hll, perhaps not. Any ideas? Thanks! Tom M. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit http://www.juno.com to sign up today! -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Try the Open Source DocSearcher at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/docsearcher/ -Frank ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Messenger <.....kristKILLspam@spam@THEGRID.NET> Date: Friday, June 13, 2003 1:35 pm Subject: [PIC]: how to index pdf files? {Quote hidden}> Problem: over 4000 pdf files - mostly PIC datasheets and apnotes > along with > other component data sheets - with non-descriptive filenames like > 39272.pdf, etc. How to find the one I want? > > Question: does anyone know of pdf indexing/management programs? I > wouldlike to see something perhaps like MS Windows Explorer format > - columns > with filename followed by title and other info of interest. > > With knowledge of the pdf format, perhaps this would be easy to > write in > some hll, perhaps not. Any ideas? > > Thanks! > Tom M. > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Hi Harold and the list, I have the same pronblem! I have about 70000 PDFs on my PC (23GBytes, yeah!), and I also would like to look behind some of the cryptic names for the files, looking for a certain text string. ST Thomson semi for example has only four-digit file names, with no correlation at all to the compoment in the data sheet, TI is not much better (Microchip has 5 digits and a letter, hmmm). Is there a file that will either: - list the text contained in a PDF (or a subdirectory full with PDFs) in one or more separate files, to be searched with a text editor? - directly search a PDF (or a subdirectory full of them) for a text string I would like any information you have, even if just a faint hope.... TIA Jochen Feldhaar DH6FAZ Harold Hallikainen wrote: {Quote hidden}> I use the Webinator from http://www.webinator.com as a search engine on my website. It supports a variety of file formats, including pdf. They will index a site for you up to some number of pages. > > However, this, I believe, requires the files to be on a web server, not a local file or MS network file. > > But, it's a great program! > > Harold > > > FCC Rules Online at http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/ > > > > --- Tom Messenger <kristKILLspamTHEGRID.NET> wrote: > > > Problem: over 4000 pdf files - mostly PIC datasheets and apnotes along with > other component data sheets - with non-descriptive filenames like > 39272.pdf, etc. How to find the one I want? > > Question: does anyone know of pdf indexing/management programs? I would > like to see something perhaps like MS Windows Explorer format - columns > with filename followed by title and other info of interest. > > With knowledge of the pdf format, perhaps this would be easy to write in > some hll, perhaps not. Any ideas? > > Thanks! > Tom M. > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > > ________________________________________________________________ > The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! > Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! > Only $14.95/ month - visit http://www.juno.com to sign up today! > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Hi Tom, I don't have "PaperPort Pro 9 Office" but according to PC Magazine (June 17, 2003 and probably on the web at <http://www.pcmag.com>,) PaperPort will allow you to search for text within PDFs. The review says, "If you have ScanSoft's OmniPage OCR software installed, you can even index PDF text for PaperPort's new SimpleSearch feature, which locates documents quickly." $199.99 direct; Windows only -- Best regards, Patrick Murphy James Valley Colony Friday, June 13, 2003, 11:35:35 AM, you wrote: TM> Problem: over 4000 pdf files - mostly PIC datasheets and apnotes along with TM> other component data sheets - with non-descriptive filenames like TM> 39272.pdf, etc. How to find the one I want? TM> Question: does anyone know of pdf indexing/management programs? I would TM> like to see something perhaps like MS Windows Explorer format - columns TM> with filename followed by title and other info of interest. TM> With knowledge of the pdf format, perhaps this would be easy to write in TM> some hll, perhaps not. Any ideas? TM> Thanks! TM> Tom M. TM> -- TM> http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different TM> ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

At 12:22 AM 6/14/03 +0200, you wrote: >Guys, what you are talking about? I save every downloaded file into a >specified directory with a long name descripting it. It's the easest method >I do know. > >Igor That's a good idea, Igor, especially if only downloading one or two. But... I have one directory with the entire 2CD set from Microchip in it with 1311 pdf files, all needing a descriptive name. These were copied off the CD directly, not downloaded. To name them, I would have to open each one up, look at it's "real" name or subject matter, close it, then rename it. One down, 1310 to go. Text search is not what I'm after either. What would work well is an indexing program that produces a list of pdf files and their "common names". Harold's suggestion is interesting to me; perhaps I'll setup a spare old slow pc as a server and use his idea. Thanks to all who made suggestions. And if anyone at Microchip is listening, think about naming files "PIC18F452 Data Sheet" instead of 39564B.PDF!!! ;) ;) ;) Tom M. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Fortunately for you, Microchip has been responsible, and set the Title field of the document properties in the PDF (at leat the one I'm looking at). You can get the PDF format from http://wotsit.org/ and there are several utilities 'out there' for PDF manipulation, which should allow you to index all those pesky PDFs, pulling titles where they exist, and speculating on content where they don't. It really shouldn't be hard to whip up a simple program that only gets the title property from the document to see how common it is to have them set correctly. -Adam Tom Messenger wrote: {Quote hidden}>At 12:22 AM 6/14/03 +0200, you wrote: > > >>Guys, what you are talking about? I save every downloaded file into a >>specified directory with a long name descripting it. It's the easest method >>I do know. >> >>Igor >> >> > >That's a good idea, Igor, especially if only downloading one or two. >But... I have one directory with the entire 2CD set from Microchip in it >with 1311 pdf files, all needing a descriptive name. These were copied off >the CD directly, not downloaded. To name them, I would have to open each >one up, look at it's "real" name or subject matter, close it, then rename >it. One down, 1310 to go. > >Text search is not what I'm after either. What would work well is an >indexing program that produces a list of pdf files and their "common names". > >Harold's suggestion is interesting to me; perhaps I'll setup a spare old >slow pc as a server and use his idea. > >Thanks to all who made suggestions. And if anyone at Microchip is >listening, think about naming files "PIC18F452 Data Sheet" instead of >39564B.PDF!!! ;) ;) ;) > >Tom M. > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different >ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Try http://www.wotsit.org/ Unfortunately too many people don't alias the plain domain and require the www dot before the URL - technically correct, but 4 uneeded characters still. -Adam M. Adam Davis wrote: {Quote hidden}> Fortunately for you, Microchip has been responsible, and set the Title > field of the document properties in the PDF (at leat the one I'm looking > at). > > You can get the PDF format from http://wotsit.org/ and there are several > utilities 'out there' for PDF manipulation, which should allow you to > index all those pesky PDFs, pulling titles where they exist, and > speculating on content where they don't. > > It really shouldn't be hard to whip up a simple program that only gets > the title property from the document to see how common it is to have > them set correctly. > > -Adam > > Tom Messenger wrote: > >> At 12:22 AM 6/14/03 +0200, you wrote: >> >> >>> Guys, what you are talking about? I save every downloaded file into a >>> specified directory with a long name descripting it. It's the easest >>> method >>> I do know. >>> >>> Igor >>> >>> >> >> That's a good idea, Igor, especially if only downloading one or two. >> But... I have one directory with the entire 2CD set from Microchip >> in it >> with 1311 pdf files, all needing a descriptive name. These were >> copied off >> the CD directly, not downloaded. To name them, I would have to open >> each >> one up, look at it's "real" name or subject matter, close it, then >> rename >> it. One down, 1310 to go. >> >> Text search is not what I'm after either. What would work well is an >> indexing program that produces a list of pdf files and their "common >> names". >> >> Harold's suggestion is interesting to me; perhaps I'll setup a spare old >> slow pc as a server and use his idea. >> >> Thanks to all who made suggestions. And if anyone at Microchip is >> listening, think about naming files "PIC18F452 Data Sheet" instead of >> 39564B.PDF!!! ;) ;) ;) >> >> Tom M. >> >> -- >> http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different >> ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. >> >> >> >> >> > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Try pdfindex http://www.pdfzone.com/toolbox/tool_PDFindex.html Also, go to http://www.pdfzone.com/ for a fairly comprehensive list of PDF tools, including many (MANY) for indexing, archival, retrieval and search. They even let you search by OS and license type (free, commercial, shareware, etc). I did take a gander at the PDF format, and then browsed a pdf file in a text editor. It's not trivial, but it's not hard to deal with either. No wonder everyone zips them up, it's all text. -Adam Tom Messenger wrote: {Quote hidden}>At 12:22 AM 6/14/03 +0200, you wrote: > > >>Guys, what you are talking about? I save every downloaded file into a >>specified directory with a long name descripting it. It's the easest method >>I do know. >> >>Igor >> >> > >That's a good idea, Igor, especially if only downloading one or two. >But... I have one directory with the entire 2CD set from Microchip in it >with 1311 pdf files, all needing a descriptive name. These were copied off >the CD directly, not downloaded. To name them, I would have to open each >one up, look at it's "real" name or subject matter, close it, then rename >it. One down, 1310 to go. > >Text search is not what I'm after either. What would work well is an >indexing program that produces a list of pdf files and their "common names". > >Harold's suggestion is interesting to me; perhaps I'll setup a spare old >slow pc as a server and use his idea. > >Thanks to all who made suggestions. And if anyone at Microchip is >listening, think about naming files "PIC18F452 Data Sheet" instead of >39564B.PDF!!! ;) ;) ;) > >Tom M. > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different >ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

pic microcontroller discussion list <> wrote on Friday, June 13, 2003 10:41 PM: > letter, hmmm). Is there a file that will either: > - list the text contained in a PDF (or a subdirectory full with PDFs) > in one or more separate files, to be searched with a text editor? pdf2asc is the Unix way, available in Windows using cygwin. I'm sure some of the Adobe Acrobat tools would do the same, and there is bound to be native Windows pdf conversion freeware out there. > - directly search a PDF (or a subdirectory full of them) for a text > string Windows search does this, doesn't it? It certainly has worked for me in the past. Like Igor, I try to give each pdf a descriptive title when I allow it space on my hard disc. Usually partname, description and then the original datasheet name. As most datasheets are distributed on CDs these days, and there still isn't a real multiplatform 'standard' for long file names (Joliet, Rock Ridge etc are each available natively on only some platforms), maybe there's still a reason for 8.3 filenames! Nigel -- Nigel Orr, Design Engineer .....nigelKILLspam.....axoninstruments.co.uk Axon Instruments Ltd., Wardes Road,Inverurie,Aberdeenshire,UK,AB51 3TT Tel:+44 1467 622332 Fax:+44 1467 625235 http://www.axoninstruments.co.uk -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

>Problem: over 4000 pdf files - mostly PIC datasheets and apnotes along >with other component data sheets - with non-descriptive filenames like >39272.pdf, etc. How to find the one I want? <grin> when I download files I alter the filename as I save them so that they become something more relevant. Microchip files get the model of PIC in them as well as the document number that Microchip uses. Saves a lot of looking later on. App notes get the appnote title along with the number. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

Microsoft Index Server (included in 2000 and maybe XP) handles PDFs if you install a PDF plugin (free) from Adobe. /frax citerar Nigel Orr <EraseMEnigelspam_OUTTakeThisOuTAXONINSTRUMENTS.CO.UK>: > pic microcontroller discussion list <> wrote on Friday, June 13, 2003 10:41 > PM: > > > letter, hmmm). Is there a file that will either: > > - list the text contained in a PDF (or a subdirectory full with PDFs) > > in one or more separate files, to be searched with a text editor? > > pdf2asc is the Unix way, available in Windows using cygwin. I'm sure some > of the Adobe Acrobat tools would do the same, and there is bound to be > native Windows pdf conversion freeware out there. > > > - directly search a PDF (or a subdirectory full of them) for a text > > string > > Windows search does this, doesn't it? It certainly has worked for me in > the past. > > Like Igor, I try to give each pdf a descriptive title when I allow it space > on my hard disc. Usually partname, description and then the original > datasheet name. > > As most datasheets are distributed on CDs these days, and there still isn't > a real multiplatform 'standard' for long file names (Joliet, Rock Ridge etc > are each available natively on only some platforms), maybe there's still a {Quote hidden}> reason for 8.3 filenames! > > Nigel > -- > Nigel Orr, Design Engineer nigelspam_OUTaxoninstruments.co.uk > Axon Instruments Ltd., Wardes Road,Inverurie,Aberdeenshire,UK,AB51 3TT > Tel:+44 1467 622332 Fax:+44 1467 625235 > http://www.axoninstruments.co.uk > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

I find it far more easier to let the *producers* take care of the cataloging and indexing of the PDF's ! With 70.000 PDF's how do you know that you are actualy looking at the most reasent version each time you need it ? Without looking it up at the producers site anyway ? If you actualy look at 10 PDF's a day, 365 days/year, you'll need close to 20 years to read them all. I'll bett that at least *some* of the PDF's will be outdated by then :-) And about the Microchip CD's, don't they have some kind of search tool to read them ? Can't that tool be copied to your harddisk together with the PDF's ? Jan-Erik. Jochen Feldhaar wrote: > I have about 70000 PDFs on my PC (23GBytes, yeah!),... -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics