[ANN] FoxTrot Search Products 8.5 public beta released
Introducing Compendium: A new feature in FoxTrot Professional Search Building on FoxTrot Pro’s strength as both a day-to-day indexer and a tool for project-oriented work, we’re pleased to introduce Compendium. While Version 8.0 focused on reducing the number of unique index files (notably through Foxtrot Duplicate Search), Compendium addresses another longstanding need: quickly gathering excerpts from multiple documents into a single, cohesive report. Why Compendium? Historically, creating a project-specific report meant running a search, previewing results, then copying and pasting excerpts into a separate text editor or word processor. Compendium streamlines that workflow by letting you automatically collect relevant content as you browse search results. No more juggling multiple windows, and no more manual copy-paste. How it works 1.(optional) Create a focused Index: Many users begin with an ad hoc index of folders most likely to contain relevant information. This step is especially useful for Compendium, ensuring fewer, more accurate search hits. 2.Search and select: Perform your searches as usual. Whenever you find a document with content worth highlighting, choose “Add to Compendium.” 3.Review your report: After adding several documents, open the Compendium window to preview your aggregated results. 4.Refine as needed: A set of straightforward toggles lets you customize how your final report appears. You can also include or exclude entire documents with a click. Export and persistence Flexible export options: When you’re satisfied with your curated excerpts, copy the styled text or export it to a variety of formats. Persistent workflows: Compendium saves your progress, so you can quit FoxTrot and pick up where you left off at any time. Once your project is complete, simply delete or archive the Compendium. Your feedback matters We hope Compendium makes your project-centric searches and reporting more efficient. As always, we are actively seeking your feedback. Let us know how it works for you and if there are any tweaks or improvements you’d like to see. Release Notes: [PRO] Compendium user interface improvements [PRO] when opening a found document in the document window, added a slider to change the length of the excerpts around each occurrence in the list [PRO] bookmark and history items can now be copied as text [PRO] font size can be adjusted in the bookmarks and history window plain text or RTF previews now let search text (command-F) using a search toolbar at the top of the text view, instead of a separate search window in a previewed document, jump to an occurrence by clicking (without pressing the command key) in the colored mark in the scrollbar added some hidden preference settings (HighlightColorSoft/HighlightBold/HighlightFontSizeFactor) to customize color and font of highlighted found words [PRO] added a hidden preference setting (TabWidth) to use shorter tab headers miscellaneous improvements [PRO] security improvements FoxTrot now uses macOS’s TextKit 2 by default, when viewing plain or rich text files; a hidden preference setting (TextKit2) has been added to use the older TextKit 1 bug fixes [PRO] fixed an issue with the templates toolbar menu, when templates are organized in subfolders [PRO] fixed some scrolling or selection issues when opening PDF files in the separate document window, showing either the page thumbnails, or the Table Of Content “open with…” contextual menu could previously omit some apps various other minor bug fixes
Re: [ANN] FoxTrot Search Products 8.5 public beta released
While I cannot upgrade yet, this Compendium feature is probably the single most significant feature upgrade that Foxtrot received in years. Because this feature has not been available, I had to write my own scripts for creating "research workspace". This means I've been maintaining my own local infrastructure for doing exactly this. I look forward to using a solution that's formally supported by Foxtrot.