Full-text search in MS Word files and archives in Linux

Unlike Windows, where “Full-text search for documents in a folder” is possible, Linux “out of the box” does not support full-text search in office formats. This search and indexing of office documents can be implemented using recoll package, but it requires configuration. In addition, recoll relies on pre-indexing documents, which causes problems when working with removable media: the removable media had to be re-indexed every time it was plugged.

Now, starting with Double Commander version 1.0.0 beta, which added the ability to search for texts in office XML documents, this problem has been resolved.

See also: Free analogue of Total Commander

Double Commander supports many archives out of the box, but if you want to get support for any archives that exist, check out the article “How to add the plugin to Double Commander to support all types of archives” (it's not difficult).

So, to perform a full-text search on office files, in Double Commander go to the folder with documents and click the “Search” icon, you can also use the Alt+F7 keyboard shortcut to open the search window.

In the window that opens, check the box “Find text in file” and enter the text you want to find. Be sure to check the “Office XML” checkbox. To limit your search to specific files, you can enter parts of the name in the “File mask” field. When everything is ready, press the “Start” button.

After completing the search, you will see a tab with results, which will list all files containing the search phrase. To go to the required file, double-click on its name.

Hint: if you want to familiarize yourself with several files in the search results, then after performing the first search and opening the first file, you do not need to restart the search – open this panel and immediately go to the “Results” tab – the results found during the last search are stored there…

To search through archives, when specifying search terms, additionally check the “Search in archives” box.

Now full-text search in office files will be performed even for documents placed in archives. The search results will show the names of the archives and the names of the files in those archives that contain the search text.