At the risk of seeing cranky, in 2006 when I first started using DA I suggested the need for DA to:
Include at least PDF files (and optimally others…doc, etc) in searches
The ability to select which archives are being used as a “filter” so, for example, a user could filter only by the results of a single past search rather than all of them.
These seem pretty basic to me and the lack of them have always crippled DA for my work needs. I can’t really do “due diligence” on searches without PDF at the very least and I have no way to do “updates” on my common searches without being able to filter by the past results of such searches.
Don’t get me wrong, DA is very valuable, so valuable in fact that I am frustrated with the lack of progress on these issues. DA just doesn’t seem to get very much attention.
So…what are the chances of implementing this functionality???
Again seeming cranky, it just seems to me that DevonAgent is not what ic could be at this point. Lets leave aside the fact that 3-4 years after I started using it, the product does not search PDF files which is very bad for researchers like myself.
The archive issue is worse is many ways. Just because something is in one archive does not mean it isn’t relevant to another search. I have many stored searches on the same subject. Lets say a page with bio info on “John Jones” is stored in one archive. That means I will never see that page again in any search if I filter against the archive even though the page may reference “Bill Jones” who I now am interested in. The only way to deal with this is not to filter against the archive which means I can update a previously done search efficiently to see what it new.
That is just killing me and I don’t see why it would be so difficult to implement a way to select which archives a user wants to use as a filter. Is there a workaround for this?
Like I said, I love the product (basically) but just don’t see much development in the areas that are important to me.
Each time I do a search, go to the app support folder and rename the
Archive folder to a custom name (eg “Bill Jones”) and store it in a folder somewhere.
When it comes time to update a search, copy rename the stored Archive “Bill Jones” to “Archive” and then filter by archive.
Add the new results to the stored archived “Bill Jones”
Actually, aside from being a royal pain the rear and prone to error, this procedure seems workable but then I don’t understand why something likes this can’t be implemented but I realize I am not a programmer. Still…
A future release (hopefully v2.5 but no promise) will apply the “Only new pages” filter (see “Actions” tab of Search Sets editor) to all results, that will probably be the easiest & most powerful solution.