Can I Search for Text Within a MS Word Document?

[Chuck091956]

Hello All,

 

I'm new to using Alfred on my Mac and was hoping to find MS Word documents which have a specific word or phrase within them.

 

Can that be done?

[Vero]

@Chuck091956 Yes, you should be able to create a File Filter workflow for this purpose

 

If you're new to workflows, here's an introduction with a guide to adding your first workflow from our built-in examples and templates:

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/

 

And a guide to creating your own File Filter workflows:

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/workflows/inputs/file-filter/

 

In your case, you'll want to set the file type by dragging in a Word document.  You can set the Search Scope if you exclusively want to search in certain folders, or leave it blank to search Word docs on your entire Mac.

 

To search for the content of the file, go to the Advanced tab of your file filter object, and click the [+] to add a kMDItemTextContent, which will allow you to search the text content. Check the boxes for both Word and Split.

 

If you need any more details, please share your workflow in progress and fellow users can help you tweak it

 

Cheers,
Vero

 

[trickyt57]

Vero:  I am puzzled by what you wrote:

 

Quote

go to the Advanced tab of your file filter object, and click the [+] to add a kMDItemTextContent,

 

I cannot see any [+], nor anything called kMDItemTextContent,

 

I am running Alfred v. 3.8.1 (961)

 

[Vero]

14 hours ago, trickyt57 said:

I cannot see any [+], nor anything called kMDItemTextContent,

 

Go to the Workflows preferences, create a new workflow, add a File Filter object and double-click the File Filter object to see the following settings:

 

Go to the Advanced tab, then follow the instructions provided in this thread, as well as the other thread in which you responded. 

 

If you need specific help, please give more details of what you're trying to achieve so that we can help you.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[JeffreyAutomation]

Hi everyone, interesting thread. There is a Pages document I frequently search and add notes to. Is there a way to search the text and have it take me to that portion of the document? Or just to recognize the phrase in the document when searching and then take me to the document where the phrase is found but not to the actual phrase?

 

I already have this variable added and selected: kmdItemContent.

Edited July 27, 2021 by JeffreyAutomation