Search makes the difference

Lot of buzz this week around the arrival of Google Drive. The battle for cloud synch and filesharing heats up. While some commentators missed new functionality in Google Drive (compared to other contenders), others pointed to the fundamental difference between Google Drive and services like Dropbox: search.

At InformationWeek, Eric Zeman described search as the distinctive feature of Google Drive:

  • "The real killer feature is search. You've always been able to search through Google Docs, but the new tools available in Google Drive let users sort among file types, file owners, file visibility, and so on. Being able to specify searches just for PDFs or presentation files can really help narrow down results and speed up the searching process."

In regards of Dropbox search, Refinder offers some remedy. Whereas search in Dropbox covers only filenames, Refinder extends a search across Dropbox files significantly. Once you connect a Dropbox folder with Refinder collection, Refinder is capable to find search terms within your Dropbox docs. 

I tested the Refinder search with a series of sample files in my Dropbox. Here are my initial finding:

Basically Refinder returned correct search results for search terms chosen from Word, Excel, txt- and html-files. Search across PDFs works in principle, but not with all PDF files. However, Refinder seems to struggle in finding search terms taken out of Word files with complex layouts. Searching in Powerpoint files does not work at all yet.

Obviously, a lot to do to improve Refinder´s Dropbox search capabilities.

Please help us improve this feature and tell us about your experiences with Refinder´s Dropbox search capabilities. We´ll keep you updated on the progress.