Docx files not findable in spotlight by content

[Capo]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I'm finding that I cannot use Word2008's new docx format because files I save in this new improved format are not findable by content using Mac's spotlight. Old .doc files show up, but none of my new docx files. Why do I have to cripple Word, saving in an old format, for me to be able to search within documents? This is THE way that I find things. I don't remember from a year ago what I called a document or where I put it.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I'm finding that I cannot use Word2008's new docx format because files I save
in this new improved format are not findable by content using Mac's
spotlight. Old .doc files show up, but none of my new docx files. Why do I
have to cripple Word, saving in an old format, for me to be able to search
within documents? This is THE way that I find things. I don't remember from a
year ago what I called a document or where I put it.

Remember too that the mdimporter for .doc files gives up after the
first 30 odd pages in each document. So it was rubbish to start with.

The best way to make your stuff spotlight searchable is to make a pdf
of each document then keep them together.
Spotlight and Preview does a far better search than anything to do with
Office. Preview is wickedly quick and the horrid modal dialog can be
avoided. (use the toolbar search, not the doofus dropdown you get when
the toolbar is hidden)

A neat little automator script could be invoked on each save to clean
out the old pdf and make a new one.

Yes yes yes, of course this is unacceptable in such an expensive
product. Send feedback to Microsoft.. and maybe Apple. I add Apple
because Pages also gives up indexing after 30 or so pages. It is
therefore unclear who did the .doc mdimporter. Whatever, it is broken.

The proper responsibility for developing the mdimporter rests with the
author in the case of closed proprietary file structures. In the case
of .docx, you know who that is.

 

[John McGhie]

You might be short one or two Apple updates...

The interpreter files you need to enable Spotlight to search the content of
..docx files are distributed by Apple, not Microsoft.

If you have missed an Apple update, you may not have them. Yes, Microsoft
builds them, but you have to get them from Apple.

You also need to ensure that Spotlight is enabled to search the location
where the files are.

If both of those are true, you should be able to search .docx in
Spotlight...

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I'm finding that I cannot use Word2008's new docx format because files I save
in this new improved format are not findable by content using Mac's spotlight.
Old .doc files show up, but none of my new docx files. Why do I have to
cripple Word, saving in an old format, for me to be able to search within
documents? This is THE way that I find things. I don't remember from a year
ago what I called a document or where I put it.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Capo]

You might be short one or two Apple updates...
I'm fully up to date (using Tiger). I just ran update and got nothing. I also have no pending updates in Word itself. And spotlight *is* indexing the contents of .doc but *not* .docx files in my Documents folder so I know it has permissions there.

I've found other threads (one on Apple.com) about this problem and nobody has indicated a forthcoming solution. If you have Word2008, would you mind saving out a docx file with a keyword inside (but *not* in the title) and letting me know if it worked for you? Title searches work but not content.

Thanks

 

[Elliott Roper]

You might be short one or two Apple updates...

I'm fully up to date (using Tiger). I just ran update and got nothing. I also
have no pending updates in Word itself. And spotlight *is* indexing the
contents of .doc but *not* .docx files in my Documents folder so I know it
has permissions there.

I've found other threads (one on Apple.com) about this problem and nobody has
indicated a forthcoming solution. If you have Word2008, would you mind saving
out a docx file with a keyword inside (but *not* in the title) and letting me
know if it worked for you? Title searches work but not content.[/QUOTE]

I don't have many .docx files here, because I have not yet moved to
2008, but the little ones I do have, are passing the content test you
describe. It might only be because I have opened them in Pages, but
that seems unlikely.
You could believe John McGhie without too much chance of being wrong.

 

[arnoota]

I have the same problem content search problem with .docx files and still can't find a solutions on the forums I've seen. All the posts I've read are really recent, I'm not sure if it's because the problem just developed (maybe with one of the recent Mac/Word updates) or because people are just starting to notice (as I have).

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, here's another country heard from...

I'm fully up to date (using Tiger). I just ran update and got nothing. I also
have no pending updates in Word itself. And spotlight *is* indexing the
contents of .doc but *not* .docx files in my Documents folder so I know it
has permissions there.

I've found other threads (one on Apple.com) about this problem and nobody has
indicated a forthcoming solution. If you have Word2008, would you mind saving
out a docx file with a keyword inside (but *not* in the title) and letting me
know if it worked for you? Title searches work but not content.

I don't have many .docx files here, because I have not yet moved to
2008, but the little ones I do have, are passing the content test you
describe. It might only be because I have opened them in Pages, but
that seems unlikely.
You could believe John McGhie without too much chance of being wrong.[/QUOTE]

My experience suggests that the Spotlight implementation in Tiger is the
lame duck. On my G5 running Tiger I see not only the same limitations
reported here, but also a number of other aberrations regardless of *which*
of the myriad Spotlight Ovals I use for whatever purpose. OTOH, I have
Leopard on my Intel MBP - but running the exact same versions of Office -
and *Spot*light is a veritable *De*light.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

My experience suggests that the Spotlight implementation in Tiger is the
lame duck. On my G5 running Tiger I see not only the same limitations
reported here, but also a number of other aberrations regardless of *which*
of the myriad Spotlight Ovals I use for whatever purpose. OTOH, I have
Leopard on my Intel MBP - but running the exact same versions of Office -
and *Spot*light is a veritable *De*light.

In addition, I'm not sure Tiger got the latest version of the Office
mdimporter Leopard did :-\

Corentin

 

[Juergen Fenn]

I'm fully up to date (using Tiger). I just ran update and got
nothing. I also have no pending updates in Word itself. And spotlight
*is* indexing the contents of .doc but *not* .docx files in my
Documents folder so I know it has permissions there.

Same here. I had to re-install Tiger from scratch due to a hard disc
failure (after six months in an all-new MacBook...), so I have a clean
install of both Tiger and MSOffice 2008 (both with all patches applied).
Here is the MS Office importer installed:

p4fe9549e:~ juergenfenn$ ls -la /Library/Spotlight
[...]
drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin 102 Feb 14 2006 Microsoft Office.mdimporter

It's dated 2006...

BTW, doc files are indexed by Spotlight alright.

Regards,
Jürgen.