Contents
1. Larger number of files to search
2. New document types supported by SeekFast
3. More friendly design
4. Extended License validity
5. Save search results to a file
6. Greater control over the program through the settings
7. Track text retrieval issues
8. Some restrictions
9. Your feedback is the most important thing
SeekFast is one of the most popular software tools for searching text in multiple documents, first released in 2008. In December 2020, a completely new version was released, including some essential improvements: search a much larger number of files, new supported document types, more stability and more control over the program. The new version is based on .NET technology, which gives greater stability and efficiency.
Here is a brief overview of the new features in SeekFast 3.
1. Larger number of files to search
The number of files that you can search at once has been increased from 20 to 50 in the Free version and from 10,000 to 20,000 in the Full version.
The speed of reading the files is also improved, as well as the stability of the program. The better the parameters of your computer such as CPU productivity, hard drive speed and RAM size, the faster SeekFast will read your files.
2. New document types supported by SeekFast
SeekFast 3 now supports the following new document types that were not supported in version 2:
- Microsoft Excel 97 - 2003 Documents (XLS)
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97 - 2003 Documents (PPT)
- LibreOffice Writer documents (ODT)
- LaTeX Documents (TEX)
The support of LaTeX Documents is especially valuable, because there are almost no other software tools that support searching in this modern system for document preparation.
New programming languages files ??supported by SeekFast:
- Active Server Page files (ASP)
- C# files (CS)
- HTML files (HTML, HTM, CSS)
- JavaScript files (JS)
- Go Programming Language files (GO)
- Apache Groovy files (GROOVY)
- Kotlin files (KT)
- Python scripts (PY)
- Ruby scripts (RB)
- Shell scripts (SH)
- Structured Query Language files (SQL)
- SWIFT files (SWIFT)
- Visual Basic files (UK)
New configuration and data-interchange files:
- Config Files (CONFIG)
- Json files (JSON)
If you have a suggestion to add a new file type, feel free to email us at info@seekfast.org.
3. More friendly design
The design of SeekFast has been renewed. After selecting a search folder, you can monitor the progress of reading the files in a progress bar, displayed in the main window. In addition you can see the exact number of files that were read, as well as the time spent.
The Reload button, located to the right of the Browse button, is another novelty. It allows you to re-read the folder you last searched with one click.
4. Extended License validity
Another benefit of the new version of SeekFast is that your License is valid for more than one device. In the old version of SeekFast, the License was valid for one computer, while with the new version it can be activated on up to 3 computers with a Personal License and up to 20 computers with a Corporate License. This means that with the purchase of a Personal License you can use the program on 3 devices - for example on your home desktop, your laptop and the computer in your work.
The Corporate License is a great convenience for companies that want their employees to be able to use SeekFast. It allows the activation of the License on up to 20 computers, which in most cases is enough. If you want to use SeekFast on more than 20 computers, please write to us at info@seekfast.org and we will prepare an individual offer for you. The greater the number of computers is included in the License - the greater will be your discount.
More details about the Licenses you can find on the Buy Now page.
5. Save search results to a file
Another new feature is the ability to save the results of your search in a text file, which is done from the menu File -> Save Result to Text File. This is useful if you want to work with your search result without even opening SeekFast.
If necessary, you can print the search results from the File -> Print menu.
6. Greater control over the program through the settings
Files that are extremely large in size can significantly slow down the reading of all files. That is the reason SeekFast to has some restrictions by default. For any file type, the size limit is 100 MB, and for PDF files is 10 MB. The reason for the greater limitation for PDF files is that due to the complexity of the structure of PDF files, the extraction of text is slower.
However, all this is not restrictive for you, because the new version of SeekFast offers adjustment of these parameters from the menu Tools -> Options. For example, if you have an 80 MB PDF file and want to include it in your search, you may raise the maximum PDF file size limit to over 80 MB. The only thing to keep in mind is that reading larger files will take longer.
You can control the number of displayed results for each file from the "Results per file" option.
Another useful new setting is "Reload last searched folder at startup". When you select it, on startup the program reads the files from your last searched folder, without having to press the Reload button.
7. Track text retrieval issues
Any file that SeekFast for some reason failed to read is registered in the program log. In the latest version of SeekFast you can view the log from the menu View -> SeekFast Log. There you can see the list of unread files and the reason for the read error.
The most common problems to read text from a file are:
- Access Denied - when the file is in a system folder or has restricted read permissions
- Corrupt files - these are for example Word, PDF or other type of documents that for some reason have an error in the file structure. Normally, such files cannot be opened by the program that created them either
- If the file size exceeds the maximum size set in the Options, it is not read and this is registered in the program log.
8. Some restrictions
The use of 32-bit operating systems is coming to an end. According to the statistics, less than 0.4% of people worldwide use 32-bit Windows. For this reason, we have decided to not support 32-bit operating systems anymore.
Also Windows versions older than Windows 7 will not be supported.
Development of SeekFast for Mac, Linux, Android and iOS is expected to be completed in 2021.
9. Your feedback is the most important thing
Your opinion about SeekFast is extremely important to us. We determine the direction of development of the program thanks to your feedback, complaints, ideas, recommendations and suggestions for new features. Therefore, we would be very grateful if you send us your feedback, whether it is positive or negative, to info@seekfast.org.
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, where we constantly publish new useful videos, and to visit our Facebook page. Your participation with comments on both places will be highly appreciated.
