[Solved] Search content of ODT file with Windows Explorer

[zehrung]

Searches do not yield the file content of my Oo document because indexing is using the Plain Text Filter eventhough the OpenDocument Format Filter is available and being used for other Oo file types.

How do I force Windows or Oo to apply the appropriate filter to the ODT file type?

[RusselB]

Welcome to the Forums.
Despite the fact that your Windows system is showing OpenDocument Format Filters, the problem lies in the storage method used.
You see a .odt file (for example), but your computer system sees a compressed file, similar to a .zip or .rar
The .odt file contains multiple files with information regarding the content and formatting of your document.
I honestly don't know how, or if, you can force Windows to properly search compressed files, but you might want to look through your list of filters to see if there is something like .zip Compressed File or .rar Compressed File

[Bill]

The problem isn't that the files are compressed. The problem is that the wrong iFilter is being used for odt files. The filter Description should be "OpenDocument Format Filter", not "Plain Text Filter". The "OpenDocument Format Filter" knows how to search inside the odt files. The "Plain Text Filter" does not. The wrong filter setting is caused by a corruption in the Windows Registry.

AOO 4.1.3 is old. I'd suggest upgrading to AOO 4.1.6. That may fix the Windows Registry corruption that is causing the problem. If that doesn't fix the problem, then you could try using the iFilter utility from NirSoft to change the iFilter.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/search_filter_view.html

[John_Ha]

Upgrade to 4.1.6 - no-one is interested in helping to fix obsolete software. See [Solved]Windows 7 Search does not look inside odt file 3.4.1

That being said, strange problems are sometimes fixed by resetting the profile - see Resetting the user profile.

[zehrung]

....then you could try using the iFilter utility from NirSoft to change the iFilter.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/search_filter_view.html

This is exactly what I was looking for and it worked perfectly! It is a very small program and only took a second to download. I extracted it to its own folder and ran it from there.

Once in, I identified the .odt extension in the query.dll Plain Text Filter in the upper window and highlighted the .odt extension in the lower window and hit F8 to remove.

Then I selected the ooofilt_x64.dll OpenDocument Format Filter in the upper window and hit F7 to add the new extension to be searched by Windows Explorer. When prompted by the pop-up window, I put in: .odt

After clicking on OK and exiting the program, I started the index rebuilding and VOILA!

Thanks very much Bill!