MSN Desktop Search is official

Posted May 16th 2005 11:30AM by Marc Orchant

Last night, MSN released the official version of the MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search (yes, that is the official name) last night. I've been using a pre-release version of this update to the MSN search suite and I can happily report that overall this is a substantial improvement over the beta release. There's a lot of really good stuff happening in this release including:

A new Preview Pane that lets you see the contents of a file when you select it from the search results
Vastly improved performance in Outlook
The ability to select precisely what folders in Outlook you want to index for search
A much cleaner user interface in the search window and deskbar
A broader selection of add-in filters to broaden the range of file types that can be indexed (including a MindManager filter - hooray!) and a page listing all currently available filters (no RSS feed though)
The ability to select what search engine you prefer to use for web searches (yes, you read that correctly - a very nice move on MSN's part IMO)
The option to make indexing a high-priority process (good for high-powered systems)
The ability to suspend indexing when operating a notebook or Tablet PC on battery power

Things that still need some further work:

Clicking on the Search button in the desktop search window reveals the standard Windows Search UI with the animated dog
Tabbed browsing, rumored to be coming, is not yet ready for public release (it's almost there and will be a most welcome addition to Internet Explorer when it ships)

Performance is improved both in terms of indexing speed and in the Indexer's gracefully suspending itself when your PC is otherwise occupied. The toolbar also includes a pop-up blocker and buttons to link to other MSN services including HotMail, Messenger, and Spaces. You can preview some of the suite's functionality in a series of animated demonstrations here.

Kudos to the MSN team - they really listened to a lot of the feedback we shared with them at the MSN Search Champs events and have produced a very competitive offering. I've written about the Outlook issues I've had with virtually every desktop search application in my IMAP environment. In more than three weeks of testing this release, I have had no conflicts or issues with my mail server! I can finally retire Lookout and use a single search tool across my entire system.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the end of the official release announcement talks about an enterprise version of the search tool that is under development. As usual, eWeek has excellent coverage of the release and the future enterprise development.

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. ...only for XP & IE users... not for me!

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by pablotossi

2. Beautiful release. :)

I turned on the Prioritize Indexing option last night, and everything is just blazingly fast. The index gets updated in realtime when I add, modify or delete files. Love the Preview Pane and all the other UI changes throughout the app as well.

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Kunal Kundaje

3. so, marc, is it worth me dumping Copernic for this? Does it support FF?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Cameron Reilly

4. Still not convincing enough

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Amit Agarwal

5. Well Cam... if you ask the committed Copernic users out there like Pirillo and Amit (who comments above) then no, you should not switch. In fact, you shouldn't allow yourself to fall prey to peer pressure mate ;^) Use the tool that meets your need.

I'm not sure specifically what sort of FF support you're looking for - if you mean does MSN support a search bar in that browser the answer is no. But, like Copernic (which also doesn't have a bar "in" IE, there is a deskbar you can get at while in any program. If you mean does it index FF history - no.

I'm very happy with this tool. It works great in my admittedly peculiar Outlook environment and is the first desktop search tool that does. So it's what I'm sticking with. But Copernic makes a great tool as well and if it's doing for you what you need done, stick with it. You must have better things to do than reindex your Tablet buddy. Go record a podcast or something. ;^)

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Marc Orchant

6. Just a heads up... I used the MSN deskbar beta with no problems, and upgraded to the release version this morning. It caused both IE and explorer to hang consistently, and I finally had to uninstall it. YMMV.

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Tony

7. I'm using Copernic and can't complain... the one complaint is support for indexing text inside zip files (or lack thereof). Anyone know if MSN search has that function?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Lance G.

8. OK...so, multitasking makes it difficult to make coherent statements - sorry to contradict my own statement about complaint vs. non complaint!

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Lance G.

9. Lance: There is, in fact, an iFilter on the MSN Search add-ins page that provides indexing for contents of Zip files. There's also one for compiled .chm Help files. You might want to check it out. The link to the add-ins page is in the post.

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Marc Orchant

10. one thing Copernic doesn't seem to do is index OneNote files. That would be REALLY handy. Does MSN Search do that? Anyone know?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Cameron Reilly

11. Copernic Desktop Search is really powerfull, and also very light. Does someone have compared with MSN ?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by squidlididli

12. Cameron: Yes, the MSN Search indexer does index OneNote files.

Squid: What do you mean by "light"? Are you talking about the UI? It is very clean and light. Are you talking about CPU and RAM usage? On my system there is no appreciable difference in performance hit using either tool. They both can cause occasional jitters while they're indexing, especially in high priority mode. Otherwise they both just sort of sit there waiting for me to ask them to do something.

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Marc Orchant

13. Anyone have any comments on how MSN Search now stacks up against X1?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Scott

14. ...only for XP & IE users... not for me!

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by pablotossi

15. Beautiful release. :)

I turned on the Prioritize Indexing option last night, and everything is just blazingly fast. The index gets updated in realtime when I add, modify or delete files. Love the Preview Pane and all the other UI changes throughout the app as well.

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Kunal Kundaje

16. so, marc, is it worth me dumping Copernic for this? Does it support FF?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Cameron Reilly

17. Still not convincing enough

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Amit Agarwal

18. Well Cam... if you ask the committed Copernic users out there like Pirillo and Amit (who comments above) then no, you should not switch. In fact, you shouldn't allow yourself to fall prey to peer pressure mate ;^) Use the tool that meets your need.

I'm not sure specifically what sort of FF support you're looking for - if you mean does MSN support a search bar in that browser the answer is no. But, like Copernic (which also doesn't have a bar "in" IE, there is a deskbar you can get at while in any program. If you mean does it index FF history - no.

I'm very happy with this tool. It works great in my admittedly peculiar Outlook environment and is the first desktop search tool that does. So it's what I'm sticking with. But Copernic makes a great tool as well and if it's doing for you what you need done, stick with it. You must have better things to do than reindex your Tablet buddy. Go record a podcast or something. ;^)

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Marc Orchant

19. Just a heads up... I used the MSN deskbar beta with no problems, and upgraded to the release version this morning. It caused both IE and explorer to hang consistently, and I finally had to uninstall it. YMMV.

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Tony

20. I'm using Copernic and can't complain... the one complaint is support for indexing text inside zip files (or lack thereof). Anyone know if MSN search has that function?

Posted at 6:20AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Lance G.

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