[DM-MUG] Fwd: [MacLaw] Software recommendation

[Victoria L. Herring]

I love Spotlight...and this seems to take it much further....

>
>All,
>
>I have recently been using CTM's Foxtrot personal search (public beta 
>at the moment). In short I think it's a great bit of software. 
>Essentially it's a spotlight-like search engine. However, I think it 
>takes it one stage further. First of all you can decide what folders 
>you want to index. I decided to index just my work file. This file 
>contain everything relating to my practice. It has a number of sub-
>folders for different cases, and numerous sub-folders thereafter.
>
>The other day I needed to get to grips with the role of a particular 
>bank in a ponzi scheme I am looking into. When the scheme collapsed 
>the fraudster was put on trial and I obtained a transcript of the 
>trial for my client.  I know the bank was referred to at length in 
>the criminal trial of the fraudster and the bank's staff gave 
>evidence.  I have four months of trial transcripts running at 100 
>pages per day and trying to review it all and pick up every reference 
>to the bank would be a nightmare. I know that spotlight could give me 
>a very good indication of what parts of the transcript I would need 
>to look at. Indeed if I run a search on the bank's name I get about 
>30 references to individual parts of the transcript. However, if I do 
>the same with Foxtrot this is what happens:
>
>1.  I initially get a spotlight like result, however it's limited to 
>just my work file .
>2.  A side panel shows me how many of which types of documents have 
>been found, and gives me a lot of data as to age, location etc.
>3. There is a preview button which is superb as a window opens with 
>the relevant part of the transcript shown and the name of the bank 
>highlighted. If there is more than one reference in the document 
>there is a button showing, how many there are and you can click 
>through them all. Once in the preview you can scroll through the 
>document just as you would normally. Using this facility I was able 
>to look at every reference to the Bank and review all the evidence 
>given in less than an hour. I was blown away with the ease at which I 
>could do this and I even picked up on stuff I had missed on my review 
>of the transcript.
>4. There are other buttons that allow you to get info on the file, 
>it's location etc.
>
>I am a novice with foxtrot, but already I have stopped using 
>spotlight. There is a free demo of the public beta at the following
>link http://www.foxtrot.ch/

-- 
Victoria L. Herring, Attorney, Civil Rights, Discrimination & 
Employment Law, <http://www.HerringLaw.com>;  Travel research and 
planning, <http://www.JourneyZing.com>;  Des Moines, Iowa, 
515-255-4475.  Photographs at the Brooks Gallery: 
http://victoriajz.smugmug.com/gallery/760431