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With SearchMaster 12, you now have the ability to create SM indexes from text exported from PDF files, text exported from word processor files, text exported from e-Transcript files, and/or text copied into SM from the Internet; in other words, text that can be saved from any electronic source can now be indexed in SM!

Lynda Barker says to me, 

"Do something!" and opens the door to PDF Heaven!

Some months ago, my wife came to me with a problem. "I'm going to be doing multiple depos in the same case over the course of the next few weeks. My attorney client in this case has sent me 65 PDF exhibit files and other pertinent documents that contain the names of people, places, and things that will be mentioned during the course of the upcoming depositions. I've also downloaded the pleadings in the case, which are, of course, also in PDF format. I want to be able to combine all those PDFs into one PDF and then create a Titles & Proper Nouns index, an Occurrence index, and/or a Comprehensive index from all those PDF files,  in SM, so I don't have to go through the laborious process of searching all those individual PDF files every time I need to find something. Can you do something?"

"I don't think so, " I say.

Me: "Uh, okay."

And so I did. (Or to be more accurate, we did.) 

After months of testing, yes, Lynda can now, with SearchMaster 12, take a collection of PDF files, combine them into one PDF file, export that text into SM, and create any of SM's powerful wildcard-searchable indexes!

"What about nonsearchable PDF files, the text of which can't be exported and therefore can't be used in SearchMaster?" Lynda asks. 

"Well," I say, "we're certainly not going to build OCR (optical character recognition) into SearchMaster; after all, there are literally dozens of software programs out there that can convert nonsearchable PDF files into searchable PDF files and from which the text can be exported."

Now, if you own an OCR program (Adobe Acrobat, Abbyy Fine Reader, Nuance Omnipage or Paperport), you're already able, in SearchMaster 12, to export text from PDF files and use that text to create SM indexes. But if you don't own a full-fledged PDF suite that can perform OCR on nonsearchable PDF files so that the text can be exported into SearchMaster, which software program should you acquire in order to accomplish that essential task? 

After months of testing the top PDF OCR suites on the market, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the biggest bang for the buck you can get when it comes to PDF suites is with Nuance's PDF Converter Pro 8, which is available on Amazon.com for around fifty bucks. Click HERE. (Compare that to Adobe Acrobat, for around $450.)  Nuance's PDF Converter Professional 8 does 99.9% of everything Adobe Acrobat does, but it does it for around $400 less! (And it's about time, I say!) When you order, I suggest you choose the download option rather than the CD option since, due to high demand for this product, it could be several weeks before you receive your CD.

Export text from e-Transcript Files 

and Create SM Indexes!

No, SearchMaster 12 can't index the contents of 

e-Transcript files in their native format, but with SM 12 , you can export (save) the contents of e-Transcript files, as text, and then SearchMaster can prepare that text and index that content for you! 

Create SM Indexes from Word Processor Files!

The paragraph above applies to word processor files too! Save into SearchMaster, as text, the contents of Microsoft Word files, WordPerfect files, or any other word processor files, and that text can now be indexed -- in SM 12!

Create SM Indexes from Internet Text!

When you open an Internet search engine - say Google -- you are mere seconds away from accessing the largest collection of information and data ever assembled by the human race.  With SearchMaster 12, if you can see text on the screen of a Web page, you can own that text; and you can save it to SearchMaster for future reference, and/or you can save that text into SM and then create any of SM's multiple-wildcard-searchable indexes! Think about that for a moment. With SearchMaster 12, the Internet is yours. You own it. All you have to do is decide is how much of it you want accessible directly via SM so that you don't have to keep going back to the Web for that same information in the future.

Suppose, for example, that the subject matter of the case you will be working on is architecture. Pop into Google, search for "architecture glossary," and lots of pages will pop up that contain terminology pertaining to architecture.  Well, that's fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. So what do you do? You highlight and copy the text from, oh, a dozen of those "architectural glossary" pages, paste that text into SearchMaster (see "Creating your own glossaries" under the heading of "Searching the Glossaries" on the Transcripts & Indexing tab of SearchMaster), click a button, and create wildcard-searchable SM indexes from that text!

When you install SearchMaster 12, you will have instant access, from one software program and from one interface, to more information and data than has ever been possible in the entire history of the court reporting profession. What's not to love?