WD: How Find Fast Determines Which Method to Use to Index Files

SUMMARY

The following process is how Find Fast determines which files to index on specified local and network writable media:

1. File Name Extension:
   
   
   1. If you choose to index Microsoft Office files, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Project and Binder Files, Find Fast enumerates (makes a list of) all files matching these file name extensions on the specified drive.
   2. If you choose to index all files, Find Fast enumerates all of the files in and below the selected directory with the exception of files matching the "exclude" extension list.
2. Find Fast then calls the OLE 2.0 GetClassFile function on every file matching the criterion specified in step 1 above to determine the file's Class ID.
   
   
   1. If the Class ID identifies the file as a Word 6.0-7.0, Microsoft Excel 2.1-7.0, PowerPoint 7.0, or Office 95 Binder file, Find Fast uses its internal Word, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, or Binder filter to parse the file.
   2. If a file is identified as a Microsoft Project file, Find Fast uses its internal text filter to parse the file.
3. If Find Fast does not recognize the Class ID, Find Fast then queries the Windows 95 Registration Database to determine if any external converters that support running in NoDialogs mode are installed. Find Fast then polls each registered NoDialogs converter that expects (recognizes) the file extension of that particular file. If a converter recognizes the file, the converter will be used to parse the file.
4. If a file does not have a Class ID that is recognized by Find Fast, does not include a file extension, does not have a file extension expected by any of the installed external NoDialogs converters, or does not have a format that is recognized by the converter(s) that supports its file extension, Find Fast reverts to use of its internal text filter to parse the file.

If a file is filtered by Find Fast's text filter, but the file does not include any intelligible textual data, Find Fast will still index the file, but truncate any "words" over 80 characters.

NOTE: The following file name extensions comprise Find Fast's "exclude" extension list. Find Fast will never index files with these extensions because these extensions denote file types that will not include useful textual data for indexing purposes:

.386, .BMP, .CHK, .COM, .DLL, .DRV, .EXE, .FFA, .FFL, .FFX, .FLT, .FRX,
.FTS, .GRP, .ICM, .ICO, .IDX, .JPG, .LEX, .MAP, .MMF, .NSF, .OBJ, .OBX,
.PAR, .SCR, .SWP, .SYS, .TIF, .TTF, .VBX, .VXD, .WAV, .WMF, .WPC