Foxit PDF IFilter

1. What is Foxit PDF IFilter?
   Foxit PDF IFilter is an application designed to help users index a large amount of PDF documents and then quickly find text within these documents. It acts as a plug-in for full-text search engines that scans documents for text and properties (also called attributes), extracts text from documents, filters out formatting and retaining information about text position, and extracts properties of an entire document.
2. What’s new in IFilter 2.X?
   Foxit PDF IFilter 2.X adds the following features:
   • Extracts more properties than IFilter 1.0. IFilter 2.X can extract the following properties:
     - Annotations
     - Bookmarks
     - File Attributes, including title, author, subject, keywords, Cteated Time/Date. Last save time/Date, number of pages and the name of file-created application.
     - Attachments, including document attachment and annotation attachment.
   • Adds configuration settings and logging, allowing users to choose filtered properties and to configure output log level.
   • Optimizes performance for higher extraction efficiency.
   • Fixes the issue about particular files crashing the filter.
3. What are the differences between Foxit PDF IFilter Desktop and Foxit PDF IFilter Server?
   
   • The Operation Systems that these two versions can be run in are different. Foxit PDF IFilter Desktop can only run on the desktop environment, including Windows^® 7, Windows^® XP, and Windows^® Vista, while users can run Foxit PDF IFilter Server on both desktop and server environment - Window Server^® 2003 and Windows Server^® 2008.
   • Foxit PDF IFilter Desktop and Server share the same features and capabilities but Foxit PDF IFilter Desktop is much cheaper than the Server Version. Please click here to learn more information about the price.
4. How to verify the correct installation of Foxit PDF IFilter?
   Firstly, please check if Foxit PDF IFilter appears in the list of programs on the Program Start Menu after installation. Secondly, you can download IFilter detection tools to inspect IFilter installation information in the registry, e.g. the filtreg.exe program. Thirdly, install Windows Desktop Search to verify if the text in PDF files can be found.
5. Do I have to rebuild index after updating?
   That depends. Foxit PDF IFilter consists of a core layer and an installation layer. When you upgrade the installation layer, you do not need to re-do a full index. But when you upgrade the core layer, you may need to rebuild index on your computer.
6. How does Foxit PDF IFilter run on Sharepoint Foundation 2010?
   Please select one of the following two solutions:
   Solution 1:
   1. Install Foxit PDF IFilter
   2. Follow the specific steps in the link below for further configuration:
   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2518465#top
   Note：On the fifth step of the fourth point (4-5), please make the following change to ensure the PDF IFilter is correctly registered.
   Change:   4-5.  Specify value "{E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}"
   TO:          4-5.  Specify value "{987F8D1A-26E6-4554-B007-6B20E2680632}"

   Solution 2:
   1. Install the search server expresses 2010 or search server.
   2. Install Foxit PDF IFilter
   3. Input following commands:
   iisreset
   net stop spsearch4
   net start spsearch4
   net stop osearch14
   net start osearch14
   4. Crawl and rebuild index

7. Does Foxit PDF IFilter support MOSS 2007 with Windows server 2008 64-bit?
   Yes.
8. Does Foxit’s Ifilter implement IpersistStream?
   Yes, Foxit’s PDF IFilter implements the IPersistStream.
9. Now that I have my permanent license key, how do I change the current trial license key to the permanent license key? And how do I do this without reinstalling the application?
   To complete the registration, you just need to copy the key file to the installation folder of Foxit’s PDF IFilter.
10. Where do I need to install the Foxit PDF IFilter in MOSS 2007?
    In MOSS 2007, the Foxit PDF IFilter only needs to be installed on the index server.
11. What can I do when I see the warning “The filtering process could not be initialized. Verify that the file extension is a known type and is correct.”?
    This issue has been fixed in version 1.0.0.2405 and the later versions.
12. Can Foxit’s PDF IFilter perform a full text search for PDF documents in a zip archive format?
    If you want to index PDF files in a Zip file format, you need to install both Zip IFilter and PDF IFilter. Foxit Company only has PDF IFilter. You will have to research other companies for a Zip IFilter to download.
13. Why can't Foxit PDF IFilter work after Microsoft updates? Do I have to re-install it?
    If you installed the Foxit PDF IFilter on your search server, the IFilter does not work after you install a Microsoft update. It is because that the upgrade program automatically overwrites the registry value of Foxit PDF IFilter with that of Adobe PDF IFilter. To make it work again, you must reinstall Foxit PDF IFilter. In this case, you do not have to uninstall IFilter. You can just run the Foxit IFilter MSI program again and select the repair function. In addition, we will contact Microsoft to address this issue shortly.
14. What can I do when I search the crawl logs and get the following message: “Crawled (The filtering process could not process this item. This might be because you do not have the latest file filter for this type of item. Install the corresponding filter and retry your crawl. )”?
    Please execute the following steps,
    1. Uninstall and reinstall ifilter
    2. Ran iisreset /noforce
    3. net stop osearch
    4. net start osearch
    5. Start full crawl and it should work normally.
15. What is the major installation difference between WSS 2 and WSS 3?
    On a WSS 2.0 server, the indexing relied on SQL full text indexing, so it would need to be installed and configured on the SQL server. On a WSS 3.0 server, the indexing is performed by a WSS Indexing server, so you would need to install and configure it on the index server.
16. I have installed Foxit PDF IFilter under WSS, but why can't I index PDF files?
    WSS requires extra registry settings when you install Foxit PDF IFilter. You need to add the following registry entry, and then set the registry entry value to pdf:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\<GUID>\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList\38To do this, follow these steps:
    a. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
    b. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\GUID\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList
    c. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.
    d. Type 38, and then press ENTER.
    e. Right-click the registry entry that you created, and then click Modify.
    f. In the Value data box, type pdf, and then click OK.
17. 18. Why can't I find some PDF files?
    There might be three reasons:
    First, Foxit PDF IFilter can not index password-protected PDF files.
    Second, the PDF file doesn't contain searchable text. You can check if there is searchable text in the PDF file by opening it in Foxit Reader and selecting the text with the Select Text tool. Or you can enter into the Text Viewer mode to select text. If neither method highlights any text, it is likely that the PDF contains a source image of text which Foxit PDF IFilter can not index.
    Third, the PDF file doesn't contain text that is properly encoded. If the file contains searchable text, yet you cannot find the text with Find Tool in Foxit Reader, then the text may not be properly encoded.
18. MOSS doesn't install an icon for PDF files by default. Can I get a PDF icon for that?
    Yes. To add an icon for PDF files in MOSS, please check the installation instructions for Foxit PDF IFilter for MOSS at http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/ifilter/installation.php.
19. Foxit PDF IFilter on MOSS index server cannot search the CJK characters. Why?
    This could be because the East Asian Languages package is not installed in your system. Please do the following steps:
    1) Click start->Control Panel->Regional and Language Options->in "languages" page. Choose the "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)"and "Install files for East Asian languages". ->click "OK".
    2) After installing, please restart the computer and execute the" Start Full Crawl” before search.
20. When I click to open the search results within the search engine, Foxit PDF IFilter does not jump to the first instance of the search term.
    This function is not supported by PDF IFilter software, including Foxit’s PDF IFilter. What happens is the PDF IFilter software will extract text from the file content and properties from the file content or the associated properties of the file, and then it filters the text format and the location information. Foxit’s PDF IFilter is unable to jump to the first instance of the search term because the search engine uses the text information to do the indexing. You can try Foxit PDF DLL to complete this function.
21. Is there any size limitation when crawling PDF files in MOSS? If yes, what are the size limitations?
    The size limitation is not caused by Foxit PDF IFilter but the default setting of the maximum document size, which is 16MB.
    To change the maximum document size, you need to add a key - MAXDOWNLOADSIZE. Please do the following:
    a. Run Regedit.exe by clicking Start > Run > typing "regedit" > clicking "OK".
    b. Locate the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Office Server\\12.0\\Search\\Global\\Gathering Manager
    c. Click "Edit" > New > DWORD Value, and name it as "maxdownloadsize".
    d. Double-click the "maxdownloadsize", choose "Decimal" and then type the Value data you want.
    e. Restart the server. Go to Start > Run > type "cmd" > type "iisreset".
    f. Start a full crawl before you perform a search.
22. Can I rename the Adobe .gif file to pdficon.gif and replace the one in c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\template\images? If so do I need to restart any services once I copy the replacement .gif file?
    Yes, you can rename the adobe .gif file to pdficon .gif and replace the one in
    c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\template\Images. However, after copying the replacement .gif file you need to perform an iisreset. To perform an iisreset, please go to Start > Run > type “iisreset” and then click “OK”. You can also replace it when the server is running and the file is open.
23. None of the PDF documents were indexed in WSS. What happened?
    This happens when Foxit’s PDF IFilter is not installed properly. To get Foxit’s PDF IFilter to work properly, please reinstalling the Foxit’s PDF IFilter, and then execute net stop osearch, net start osearch, set stop spsearch, and net start spsearch.
24. When I upgraded to the new Mircosoft Search Server 2008 Express from WSS 3.0,Foxit PDF Ifilter cannot recognize the PDF files. What’s wrong?
    After installing Foxit’s PDF Ifilter, please restart the server (Please note that stoping/starting Search Service and restarting IIS are not enough) When you’re done, please perform a full crawl of the entire SharePoint Services Site again.
25. How to use the filter attachment feature in the High Performance Server & Desktop Version of IFilter?
    IFilter can filter PDF format attachments in PDF files, but this feature is disabled by default. If you need to filter attachments, you need to go to the registry location (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Foxit Software\Foxit PDF Ifilter) and set the value of FilterAttachFile to 1.
26. Why the log files are not created after configuring the logging feature?
    Followings are three possible reasons:
    
    • If you configure the log level to 1, the log file will be created only when the error occurs.
    • Some users’ programs are local service and they don’t have write permission to a folder for safety considerations. This may cause the failure written of log file to a folder. You must change the file folder security settings, allowing the user in the Users group has right to write to the folder.
    • If you set up your own log file directory, please make sure the path is valid.
27. Can the new version of IFilter filter out the PDF package file?
    Yes. IFilter is able to deal with the PDF package file so long as the filter attachment feature has been actuated. The PDF package file is composed of many attachments with PDF format.
28. Which tool can be used to test the content extracted by Foxit PDF IFilter?
    You can use filtreg.exe, filtdump.exe and ifilttst.exe to do the test. They are part of Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools. For more information, please visit:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms692544(VS.85).aspx
    You can download the tools here:
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en
29. Why cannot the PDFs in the folder be found after I dragged the folder to a new location and added the new path to the Indexed Locations?
    After dragging the folder to another location, please right-click the folder and choose the Properties > Advanced > check the option "For fast searching, allow Indexing Service to index this folder", and then index again. Now you can find the PDF files.

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