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  1. #1
    WAVP375 is offline Competent Performer
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    Programatically keyword search file names in windows folder

    I have a folder containing several thousand scanned documents, some JPEG and others PDF, where the file name is the document name. I would like to create an access search object that will list all files containing a specific keyword. Then select an entry in the list and display it with the option to print it.
    Is this even possible?

  2. #2
    ranman256's Avatar
    ranman256 is online now VIP
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    This already exists in the file explorer. You can search the contents of files using a keyword.

  3. #3
    WAVP375 is offline Competent Performer
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    That works well, but I had hoped to incorporate it as an option in an existing access data base where the user would not have to leave access and work with explorer.

  4. #4
    orange's Avatar
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    wavp375,

    What have you done so far? Have you mapped out the requirements in some detail?
    How often does the list of files change?
    You could do a one time review, identify keywords and associate with folder and filename. Build a table(s) as necessary; then use a search keyword(s) function to get the file and show the details. To keep the table current, every time there is a new pdf you would have to scan for keywords and update the table.
    I'm not sure how you would automate any jpg data --seems it would be manual where you type in some keywords based on a list.

    Re jpg: You will need some sort of classification system based on your expectations.
    subject, season, color, ... where you may have options like:

    -person/people
    -animals
    -spring, winter, summer, fall
    -country, city
    -nature/landscape/seascape
    -.....

    Good luck.

  5. #5
    WAVP375 is offline Competent Performer
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    Thanks for your time and response. I had hoped that someone had done this before.

  6. #6
    orange's Avatar
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    I'm sure someone has done something similar. Do you have details and samples of your expectations?
    Your keywords/facts about jpgs may be useful to others.

  7. #7
    WAVP375 is offline Competent Performer
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    I volunteer at a hospital where they have started to scan 40 years of documents that they have collected and deem necessary to preserve. They have simply scanned them using the year and the document/news article name as the file name. The scans are all in a single folder. There really is no way to preselect key words as you pointed out earlier. I was just trying to give them a n easier way to search and display and/or print the selected document.

    I put together a data base that linked the documents to a Table in the data base, using the year and document name as the indexing criteria, but found this to be very clumsy and non portable.

    This solution is not a requirement, just trying to find a better way.

  8. #8
    aytee111 is offline Competent At Times
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    In VBA, create a loop which reads in all files in the directory with a specific value, instead of "*.*" you can put in whatever you want. This loop will read each of those files in the directory and populate a listbox (or a table). The user can select an entry and code FollowHyperlink to open the file. The file will open in the associated program and from there the user can print it or do whatever they want.

  9. #9
    orange's Avatar
    orange is online now Moderator
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    I think the key question you'll have to ask and get an answer to is
    what are users going to do with the data?

    If people are searching for keywords/phrase or concepts, then some detailed design/parsing and storage schemes are required.
    If you just want to find a file, based on its name, then open the file and start reading - aytee111's appraoch would work.

    But, what is the intended use of the data?
    Perhaps you could tell us " a day in the life of this data".

  10. #10
    WAVP375 is offline Competent Performer
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    Thanks to your help I have been able to create a one field table containing the file names of all files in the folder I specified. Now knowing the path and the file name, including the file type either pdf or jpg, how can I programmatically open that specific record and display it?

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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