[RESOLVED] Is Dolphin's search function any good?!

[Qqmike]

I couldn't find a file I created yesterday. It should be the odt file named L8_P11_or.odt.
Turns out, I mis-named that file as L8_P1_or.odt.

Here's how I found my document:
I opened Dolphin, went to the directory that contains all such files I create and searched on the string 'or', and in that search window, I clicked the tab called 'Filename.'
Well, up came L8_P1_or.odt, and I immediately saw my mistake (I mis-named it), and I located the document I was looking for.
OK, done deal, I'm happy.

Here's my question:
Before finding my document successfully, I used that same search window to try to find documents containing a certain content; in fact, the content was an example sentence:

Probably that person's job is either a company worker or a teacher.

Nothing came up with that content in that directory (when I clicked the "Content' tab in the search window).
I tried shorter strings, like 'Probably that person's job' and so on.

Am I misunderstanding how to use Search in Dolphin? or how to perform a search based on the content of a file (the content of an odt document)?
Is the Search function lacking in Dolphin?
Is there a better way to find such documents in the future?
KISS, please and thank you.

[Snowhog]

As KISS as can be: http://www.recoll.org

This app is the bomb when it comes to finding what you are looking for.

[GreyGeek]

I found that Kate works wonderfully for browsing files for specific content.
I captured an image of the Kate doing that but unfortunately I cannot get that png uploaded so I can attach it.
When I drop it on the place is says to drop it on I get an error about a bad URL. It won't accept any URL I give it, including one beginning with "file://"

If png isn't, what is valid image file?

[Snowhog]

Just open the image and go to its menu and select Copy, then you can just Paste it into a post here.

[GreyGeek]

I had tried that. It also gave an error msg about a missing URL, even if I have "none" checked for the URL.

[GreyGeek]

"Error uploading image".

[Bings]

I use KFind for that sort of thing.

I tried using content search in Dolphin and it seems to just not work. So I looked in my settings under File Search there is detailed setting on what is indexed and for me it's set to "file names only" as opposed to "file names and contents". Maybe it's the same for you and that affects Dolphin.

Edit: I tried it for myself, didn't do anything. It could just be the search for content is broken.

[Qqmike]

Kfind just failed a simple experiment, even after I gave it more hints (Look in [folder name]).

[jlittle]

The content search in dolphin uses part of KDE called "baloo". It is infamous for misbehaving, up to and including destroying SSDs by writing to them continually. The problems seem to be data dependent, so presumably it works for some people. In theory it has improved, but in 22.04 you might not be getting the improvements.

The baloo index can get screwed up; it might work better if, in a konsole

balooctl disable
balooctl purge
balooctl enable

then wait for it to scan all the files. You can use balooctl status to see where it's up to.

By default baloo only indexes your home directory tree; you may have to add the location where your files are.

Generally, a lot folks rely on other tools, as others have posted here. To find data in files that are not plain text is not simple. The tool has to understand the format of word-processing files, for example, and has to know how meta data is attached to files.

[Qqmike]

I just tried Kate.

I am in Kate's Search and Replace.
Find: I gave the string to find (Probably that person's job)
Replace: I left blank
In folder: I selected that option
Folder: I gave the full name of the folder to search in (/home/mike/Desktop/1_AAA_NEW_updates_to_add_06-07-24/container_2-5-24_CompleteFile/Mike_stuff/Korean_05-06-24)
(Btw, I selected that folder by allowing Kate to browse; I didn't type it myself.)
I clicked Search

The "result" window below remains blank after quite a long time.
There is no feedback from Kate one way or the other.

[Qqmike]

Looks like jlittle has good insights into this issue. I just noticed his post.

[Snowhog]

To find data in files that are not plain text is not simple. The tool has to understand the format of word-processing files, for example, and has to know how meta data is attached to files.

Recoll does this.

[claydoh]

Plasma's search reads word processing files, as well as PDFs.
I have been using it for many, many years now. The default is only non-hidden dirs on one's $HOME, such as ~/Documents etc. I have mine set to index specific directories on specific drives, and to index content.
It can take some time for the indexing to complete, especially if it has been set to index content.
I also have Kfind installed, which is accessible from Dolphin's search as well, for times I need to search my / or an external drive or something like that.

The times of constant disk churning and high cpu usage seem to be long gone. There really was a time when it was quite s****y. I have not had issues since at least 2020, if not further back to 2018, and is something I have used at the very least weekly for years, not counting the past month, since most of my docs and files are on computers I can't use atm.

On my laptop I noticed it was slower to index after I set it up, but that is because it slows down, even stops when on battery.
I would not recommend its use on really old systems, older dual-core Chromebooks, or any system using small emmc storage (many to most Chromebooks and very low-end dirt-cheap Windows laptops)

[Qqmike]

OK, Plasma's Search. I set the options as shown on the screenshot


I open Dolphin and search for this string: Probably that person's job
I get two odt files, say F1 and F2. F1 is a bingo -- it contains exactly that string, and it's the file I am looking for.
However, I open F2 and do a Find on that string: Probably that person's job.
It is not found in F2. Individual words are found in F2, like "Probably" and "job."
Again, in Dolphin's search, I enter this string: Probably that person's job is either a company worker or a teacher
This time, only file F1 comes up in the search; and, in fact, F1 does contain that string, verbatim.

F1 is the file I was originally trying to find, and I found it, using Dolphin, by entering some of its contents, namely: Probably that person's job
But my question is this: Why did File F2 also come up in the search for that string, when, in fact, the Find (in LibreOffice.Writer) did not find that string in File F2.

What's going on, do you think?

[claydoh]

But my question is this: Why did File F2 also come up in the search for that string

Partial matches can be useful. most search tools will include these, and often is the default.

Try using quotes around the exact phrase. This is the usual way to keep partial phrase and single word matches out of results on the web, or most any search tool - even our forum's search.

Here is an example from me searching the phrase "pursuant to your request", both with and without quotes:

On the second, I did add quotes, honest, though they disappeared after the file was found. But it found the only file here that has that exact phrase in it.

[Qqmike]

Your results are dramatic. 😲
Interesting because I actually did try using double quotes before posting last night, and your take on it confirms my thinking, too.
However ... in my case, even after I use quotes, "Probably that person's job", File F2 still pops up in the search, and I am 99.9999.... percent certain that F2 contains no such phrase.

=> Fact is, in this particular case, where I lost file F1, the search results re F2 don't really matter because when I saw F1 pop up,
I knew exactly what had happened, and it solved my problem (where I lost my file -- which was jam-packed with dense Korean language grammar that I typed by hand on Google's virtual keyboard the previous day!!!).

So, what?
I think I'm happy with Plasma search, with the indexing settings shown in my post 12.
And learned something about how these searches may sometimes work ...

Partial matches can be useful. most search tools will include these, and often is the default.

Thanks.

[Qqmike]

Thanks also to Snowhog. Recoll does look like a good program and exciting project.
I only shied away because I was trying a lighter-weight, somewhat quicker, maybe K-solution, without having to load a bunch of helpers and supports.
I will keep it in mind, though, and maybe will play with it later.
In this particular case, had I not had success with basic Plasma search (or Dolphin or Kfind etc.), I definitely -- out of panic -- would have tried the Recoll.
Thanks, Snowhog.