Submission details
Provide IFilters for Common Files within future RTMs, SPs
To be able to use Windows Search to search the contents of some very basic file types (.pdf, .docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, .vtx.) the end user has to manually install a number of IFilters. It would be awesome if these came preinstalled in every Windows build.
Integrate IFilters for basic files within all public releases of Windows.
High
High
Not fixed
Discussion (10 comments)
And this site is not just for "ui" problems you really need to get that through your thick skull
.Chris, can you please watch the language? Or has the puppy shat on you again?
I did mean User Experience, but really this is not a "quirk". This is a desire to add more junk to the Windows installation process in a completely open-ended fashion. Microsoft doesn't own all these file formats, nor should it be forced to marshall an arbitrary number of them onto installation discs and then update through Windows Update.
The Severity is also not High or impact High. That's just ridiculous exaggeration.
Language is fine. this is just a website. No need to get worked up over it. Alsothat's just your opinion but you did say UI not UX and u simply reminded you that this site offers a lot more then UI quirks
You're the one who's throwing around the insults on this site. Is there one standard for you and another for everyone else?
Thank you .Chris.... This is a usability quirk for a majority of users.
Competing platforms (read: Apple OS X) have native support for .pdf, not just in terms of universal search. Most people would be helped by having these basic file formats searchable by Windows. A quirk that keeps universal search from being truly universal is severe and high impact.
While some applications come with their IFilters (Adobe Reader), others do not (Office 2007) - so it makes plenty of sense to have the IFilters pre-registered in Windows builds. If an application wants to update a pre-registered IFilter, fine. I for one do not install Adobe Reader natively on my production machines (too unstable and too many vulnerabilities), but have plenty of .pdf files that are stored on them - and I would love to be able to search their contents without having to get on another machine.
There would be no noticeable difference in the installation process... no noticeable increase in the time of an install. I guess if you think this will slow down install you might as well run MinWin? Who needs a GUI, while we're at it?
Given Adobe's attitude to Microsoft over the PDF issue in Office, I'm kinda doubting that it would be an easy thing to accomplish. Adobe really doesn't want ubiquitous PDF support in Windows as it kills a major cashcow.
"Who needs a GUI, while we're at it?"
I guess 95% of users who aren't remotely technical.
Certainly true points about Adobe's resistance. I don't really understand what legal grounding they would have to complain though. A guy can dream.
And, lol, I'd guess you're right that at least 95% of users need that GUI.
There is a claim up above that Office 2007 does not come with iFilters. Well, I've got all the iFilters installed for all the old style extensions (ie, doc) and the new style extensions (ie, docx). All I ever remember installing is Office 2007 and all the updates for Office 2007 from Windows Update. I don't remember going out of my way to install iFilters for Office 2007.
The PDF iFilter was missing, but that is only because I'm running Win7 64bit. On Win7 32bit, it appears the iFilter is installed with Adobe Reader. I found a download for that here.
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025
Comment edited on February 3, 2010, 5:29am
It was my understanding that Office 2007 does NOT have its IFilters.
On my machine somehow the old Office file formats have their IFilters (.doc, .xls, etc.) - either Windows 7 x64 had them already, or Office 2007 installed them. Even after installing Office 2007, however, the IFilters mentioned above (disregard .pdf obviously) were still not installed.
A Channel 10 post about installing a separate "Filter Pack" (this is all I can find now: http://on10.net/blogs/sarahintampa/Filter-Pack-For-Windows-Search/) corroborates the observation that they seem not to be included in Office 2007.
Comment edited on February 6, 2010, 8:01pm
MikeW wrote on January 30, 2010, 2:35pm
-1
This is not a UI quirk of Windows.
The iFilters are more properly installed by the applications that create/read them. E.g. Adobe could install an ifilter with Acrobat/Reader and thereby keep them current with the appropriate level of file format.