Pinker searches for keywords and topics in many different file types:
- Text documents: .pdf, MS Word, Pages, .txt, .rtf, web documents, Libre Office Writer
- Presentations: MS PowerPoint, Keynote, Libre Office Impress
- Spreadsheets: MS Excel, Numbers, .csv, Libre Office Calc
- Compressed archives: .zip, .gz
Pinker can index any drives and folders on your computer, plus external storage devices such as portable drives and memory cards (e.g. external drives, memory sticks, etc.), shared network drives, and cloud drives. When you run Pinker for the first time, you have to confirm its standard drive and folder selections or select yourself the drives and folders you want Pinker to index. Alternatively, you can exit Pinker without performing any indexing.
| On this panel you can: a) Change the selection of file locations (drives, folders) to index by deselecting or adding other drives and folders from drive and folder tree b) Change the option to identify duplicated files c) Include system files and/or hidden folders in the indexing process |
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It is recommended not to identify duplicates of pictures during the initial installation of Pinker but as and when needed at a later time because identifying duplicate pictures is time consuming. When you click “OK” indexing starts and the panel closes. You can check the progress of the indexing process by opening the Settings panel from the Pinker main screen. Indexing progress is reflected as well on the “Update index” button at the top right of the Pinker main screen:
In this example Pinker has indexed all files in four folders on local drive C: as shown under the ”Indexed locations” filter. The indexed locations can be changed at any time, i.e. drives and/or folders added or excluded, via the Settings panel. The Settings panel can be accessed by pressing the settings icon ( ) in the right upper corner of the main screen.
Here are some illustrations of removing and adding drives and folders to your “Indexed locations”.
| Exclude the desktop folder from current indexed locations | |
| a) Left-click the Settings icon to open the Settings panel b) Left-click the check box next to desktop folder to deselect it c) Left-click the ‘Update index’ button to update the indexed locations |
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Settings panel ->Indexed locations shows all the available drives and folders, indicating those currently indexed with a check mark.
When you press the ‘Update index’ button, Pinker
- checks for new and changed files,
- indexes the new and changed files, and
- computes new match counts.
| Add an external drive E: to the indexed locations | |
| a) Left-click the icon ( ) to open the settings panel b) Left-click the check box next to the E: drive under ‘All drives’ to select it c) Left-click the ‘Update index’ button. |
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Once the ‘Update index’ button is pressed (or while Pinker is still running a previous indexing process), the progress bar will show first the following message:
Followed by a message that the files are being indexed, counting down the files left to index:
Followed by a message indicating that the indexing process has finished:
You can close the settings panel any time and return to the Pinker main screen where you can observe the changes to the “Indexed locations” list.