By Sam Miller
Instead of having dozens, hundreds or perhaps thousands of MS Word documents, importing them all into one searchable database will stop endless hours being lost searching for information through even the most organized set of directories and folders. There are a number of software solutions on the market that will not only allow you to import MS Word documents but also .pdf files, html and web documents, emails and others. This approach has already been seen by many public email providers such as Google, who are including a search tool for search text strings of your email store in exactly the same way as you perform an internet search.
Once you have compiled a Word document database, it becomes relatively simple to search the database for information enclosed in the disparate files and documents with many solutions offering the ability to tailor searches on varying parameters aside from search text strings. Wildcard characters and fuzzy searches will allow users to find information based upon intuition rather than absolute knowledge of the information being sought.
For business users who are looking to compile a database of company literature including training manuals, sales information, policy manuals, technical writings and so on, forming an MS Word database will allow lengthy manuals to be broken down into more manageable sections. Further the ability to link documents by hypertext links is a feature of many MS Word database solutions, which allow you move quickly between documents and arrive at the relevant point in other documents in the database. Many users have taken this further than simple Word document databases and have included faxes, emails, memos and other company communications. This makes for searchable and easily manipulated data to obtain information for example on client meetings, job interviews and resumes, and supplier contracts.
When you are looking at a Word database solution, it is important to ensure that a Web publishing facility is included to allow you to convert MS Word files to html and publish the documents to the Web. Unleashing access to your Word documents as part of a company intranet will provide readily available access to the entire repository of company material rather than locking it up in individual, isolated computer. Bringing all your company contracts into one online archive will assist in contract negotiations from many different perspectives. Similarly, building an online library of training manuals readily available even at home or on the move, will greatly assist with employee access to your training programs. It is not hard to appreciate the cost savings from staff avoiding the need to replicate documents that have already been prepared elsewhere within the organization and available from the company knowledge base of correspondence.
The key issues when creating a MS Word database are ease of use to assist in user adoption, flexibility and ease of implementation to avoid excessive cost and the availability to automatically seek out and collect stored documents and files you are archiving on network machines without interrupting users.
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