Issue

The text content of PowerCADD drawings cannot be indexed (searched) by the Mac OS^? X Tiger Spotlight search engine.

Affects

PowerCADD v6 or 7 in Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.x)

Description

PowerCADD v7 does not have direct plug-in support for Apple's Spotlight search technology. While you can still use Spotlight to search for PowerCADD documents based on file name, creation and modification date, and similar functions, the physical text based content of the PowerCADD drawing is not indexed for spotlight searching.

Work Around

Fortunately there is a work around which, while not perfect, does allow you to create additional keywords and comments that be added to any PowerCADD drawing which are indexed for Spotlight searches.

To add comments to any PowerCADD drawing, do this:

1. Click once on the PowerCADD drawing in the Finder to select it
2. Choose File^? menu → Get info (or press Command+I)
3. Enter your keywords in the Comments at the top of the Get Info Window
4. Press the Close button in the top left corner of the Get Info Window or press Command+W
5. The comments are saved with the PowerCADD drawing and are indexed by Spotlight

The work around can be time consuming if you have more than one file you'd like to apply the same comments to; for example you might have a dozen drawings for a particular project that need the same comments applied to. While it is possible to use Copy & Paste to apply the same comments to each file, even that is time consuming.

A fast solution for single or multiple files:
Fortunately, Apple has a solution for that too; it's called Automator. Rather than get into the specifics on how to make the Automator workflow, we've done the work for you, do this:

1. Click here to download our AddSpotlightComments Automator Workflow Action
2. That will download a zipped archive to your desktop; double click the archive AddSpotlightComments.zip to extract the contents
3. File the extracted item someplace handy on your computer

To use the AddSpotlightComments workflow, do this:

1. Drag and Drop a PowerCADD file onto the AddSpotlightComments icon
2. Enter the comments in the dialog and press Continue
3. To add new comments to existing comments, check the box Append to Existing Comments (recommended)
4. The comments are appended to the file
5. this operation cannot be undone

Hint: If you'd like to add the same comments to multiple files, just select all the files and drag and drop them onto the AddSpotlightComments Icon. Enter your comments as described above and that content is added to all the files at the same time -- a true time saver! For example, you might want to add a note to multiple files that were "Issued for Construction" with a specific date and project number or other important keyword or date criteria.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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