SearchMaster Newsletter & Update Alert, May 25, 2012
35 glossary updates are ready for you! Come and get 'em!
I'm so happy!
Since Mommy created her SearchMaster Career Index, and she can now find, in 2 seconds, any word or name in all of her previous transcripts, she doesn't cry so much anymore, which means she now has more time to tell me how handsome I am! How cool is that?

 

All she had to do was export all her ASCIIs from her CAT program directly into the SM ASCII folder and click a button! I mean, how easy could it be? 

 

At first, Mommy had a few questions, so she called that Jim Barker guy in Alaska; and in just a few minutes, she was smiling, laughing, picking me up, hugging me, and telling me -- yeah, you guessed it! -- how very handsome I am!
 
Poor Bobby (see below). Both of his parents are court reporters, have SM11, but they still haven't watched the training movies or called Jim so they can create their very own SM Career Index!
 
 
 "Hey, Mom & Dad! Ya gonna help me out here, or am I gonna have to send the two of you to diaper hell?"
To update your glossaries, click the "News & Updates" tab at the bottom of SearchMaster's main screen; click the "Update My SearchMaster" button; read the text that appears on the screen; click the "Update Me Now" button at the bottom left
corner of the screen, then click "Update Me." 
Searching PDF Files!
 
No, SearchMaster can't search PDF files -- yet. Until it can, though, did you know that you are already able to search multiple PDF files at the same time? Of course, the files have to be searchable PDF files. If they're not, they'll have to be run through an OCR program first so they can be searched. (See comments below about PDF and OCR software).
 
Considering that so many court systems and legal offices are turning to PDF as the default format for legal documents, and since so many reporters receive exhibit files in PDF format these days, reporters are well advised to acquire PDF OCR software like, for instance, the full Adobe Suite (very expensive) or, for much less money and nearly all of the same features, a program like the amazing PDF Converter Professional 8 (about a hundred bucks or so, retail), which will, when you open a nonsearchable PDF document, offer to OCR the document for you so that it is searchable! Who knew? (If you didn't know that already, you do now, friends!)
 
To conduct a search of a collection of PDF files at the same time, the first step is to place all the PDFs you want to search into the same folder on your computer.

 

Open any PDF file in that folder. No matter which PDF software you are using (even the free Adobe Reader), pressing Control+F will search that particular PDF file; but you can also conduct an advanced search (in Adobe or PDF Converter Professional) that will search, at the same time, all the PDF files in the folder you select! 
 
Press Shift+Control+F in the PDF file you have opened. A box will open up, and you will be able to select any folder on your computer that contains PDF files that you want searched all at the same time! Then all you need to do is enter your search criteria, search away, and smile from ear to ear.
 
Am I shilling here for PDF Converter Professional? Not a chance. My wife, Lynda Batchelor Barker, a Fellow of the Academy of Professional Reporters, a Registered Diplomate Reporter, and Chair of the NCRA's Distance Learning Committee tells me that PDF Converter Professional does everything she needs for it to do just as well as my very expensive Adobe Acrobat Suite does, and for a much lower cost; so I just thought I'd pass that little helpful tidbit along to you from someone who, in the conduct of her reporting business, has to deal with searching vast numbers of PDF files.
 
Happy searching, everyone -- in SearchMaster and in PDF!
 
My thanks go out to all of you who have been sending me entries to verify and add to the SearchMaster glossaries! Keep it up! Every entry you send in is a gift to yourself and to all of the other SearchMaster subscribers! Teamwork!

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