Why manage metadata when you can search all your data? ProVide’s full-text search lets you find files by name and by the text inside them, so you can locate, for example, every PDF that references a regulatory standard, all documentation for a supplier on a specific project, or a file that’s simply been misplaced, without relying on metadata or slow Windows search.
ProVide supports full-text search in any digitized PDF, across any file or directory the user has access to. Results are shown as a list of matching files and directories, with a thumbnail preview for every PDF so you can spot the right document instantly. The fast search box searches from your selected directory down through all its subdirectories, and searches run asymmetrically, so you can refine on the fly, funnelling results up or down by adding or removing terms. You can select one or several results and download them at once; multiple files are packaged into a zip archive that keeps the original directory structure. On Windows, you can even open a file straight from the browser and edit it in your default application using the automatically supplied ProVideLink software, no download-edit-reupload needed.
Using the wildcard (*) operator, fine-grained searches can span folder structures across multiple storage locations. Combined with OCR software, scripting, and metadata added to file names, ProVide lets you make data searchable by default and automate how it’s organized.
What you can do with search #
- Find files in a folder or subfolder, starting from your selected directory.
- Search free text inside any PDF and get instant thumbnail previews.
- Use wildcards to refine searches, or search metadata held in file names.
- See which customers received a product batch, using batch documentation stored as file-name metadata in customer folders.
- Refine searches on the fly, for example funnelling down to an invoice when you only know part of the number, even from your smartphone in a folder of thousands of files.
- Download one or several files from the results list.
- Edit the file you were looking for directly (Windows only), without downloading, uploading, or navigating to it in File Explorer.
- Search from client computers, tablets, and smartphones.
How to search for files in ProVide #
1. Search by file type #
Use an asterisk followed by the extension to find files of one type, for example *.pdf. You can search for only one file extension at a time; multiple *.ext terms in the same search aren’t supported.
2. Combine search terms (AND logic) #
Typing multiple words uses AND logic automatically: all words must be present in the results. For example, report 2023 returns files containing both.
3. Search within file contents #
If the administrator has enabled file indexing, ProVide also searches your keywords inside document contents, not just file names.
4. Exclude specific words #
Type a minus sign before a word to exclude it, for example -draft.
5. Full example, combining everything #
report 2023 *.pdf -draft finds files that contain both report and 2023, are PDFs, and do not contain the word draft (in the filename, or inside the document if indexing is enabled). Because spaces act as AND, a file named only report.pdf won’t match unless it also contains 2023.
