ON B2TR - Icon Links and WDS

G

Grant Robertson

From the testing I have done so far it doesn't look as if you can search
for text within documents that are embedded within OneNote via an Icon-
Link.

I created a text file with a unique word in it and placed it on my
desktop. I waited for WDS to finish indexing then looked for the word and
it found it. Then I embedded that same text file within OneNote and
searched for it within OneNote. It wasn't found.

This still puts a serious crimp in the usefulness of the Icon-Link
feature. Just being able to get to the file isn't enough. If I can't
search for text within that file then it is lost to me.

I added the OneNoteOfflineCache_Files folder to the list of indexed
folders and WDS did find it there but this is a sloppy and unreliable
work-around.
 
O

Olya Veselova (Microsoft, OneNote team)

You are correct. Unfortunately, OneNote does not search the content of the
files that are embedded into the page. Since these files are now part of the
OneNote file, they are also not visible to desktop search.
 
G

Grant Robertson

You are correct. Unfortunately, OneNote does not search the content of the
files that are embedded into the page. Since these files are now part of the
OneNote file, they are also not visible to desktop search.
Click to expand...

Well, that's just no fun!

Heck, the main reason I am using ON is to keep all my info organized and
be able to find it when I need it. Using this feature will effectively
HIDE my information. I know you folks put a lot of work into this but I
just can't use it and keep with the spirit of using OneNote in the first
place.

I guess it is sub folders and text links for me.
 
O

Olya Veselova (Microsoft, OneNote team)

Yes, subfolders with links is probably your best bet, givent that searching
the contents of embedded files is critical for you. (You are not alone in
that)
 
J

Jonathan

Grant,
You discussed alternatives in several posts as you tested this. Is the
work-around you just alluded to laid out in one of those posts? I'll do the
looking if you already wrote it up.
This careful, intense, digging has been really valuable, Grant. Thank you.
Jonathan Rawle
 
G

Grant Robertson

B?Sm9uYXRoYW4=?= <jonathan7zerozero7(use numbers) at yahew dot usual
domain> says...
Grant,
You discussed alternatives in several posts as you tested this. Is the
work-around you just alluded to laid out in one of those posts? I'll do the
looking if you already wrote it up.
This careful, intense, digging has been really valuable, Grant. Thank you.
Jonathan Rawle
Click to expand...

Well, the whole workaround is alluded to in the message you quoted. I
will just create subfolders within my notebooks that are just for storing
files that I will link to from within OneNote using text links. Let's say
I have a section called "Photography.one". If I have some files that I
want to keep with that section and reference from within that section
then I will create a folder named something like "zz_Photography.files"
and put those files in there. Now I can link to those files from
somewhere else but I don't need to make a copy of them as OneNote would
do if you put an additional icon-link anywhere else.

Now, if there is any possibility that you may be moving the Photography
section around to a different subfolder then you want to make sure that
the link to the file uses a relative path name. But what about other
links to the file that you may have placed in various parts of OneNote? I
recommend that you not do that. Instead, put a link to the paragraph that
contains the link to the file. This way OneNote will keep track of where
you moved the Photography section to and update the link to the
paragraph. But no matter where you moved the Photography section the
relative path to the files will stay the same because you will have moved
the zz_Photography.files folder along with it. Remember, OneNote will not
move this folder for you if you just move one section. I haven't checked
but OneNote MAY move the folder for you if you move the folder that
contains the section. It also may only move files that it knows about and
ignore other files. I will check and get back to you later.
 
G

Grant Robertson

Now, if there is any possibility that you may be moving the Photography
section around to a different subfolder then you want to make sure that
the link to the file uses a relative path name.
Click to expand...

Dang-it! I have to correct myself again. I can't figure out how to get
the hyperlink to work with a relative pathname. I know it worked before
the TR came out. But now it isn't working. It is possible I am just doing
it wrong. When I edit

file://D:\My Notebooks\Classes\EECS 140\Labs\Lab-04\EECS140_Lab_04_00.pdf

to just say

file://.\Labs\Lab-04\EECS140_Lab_04_00.pdf

then save it, OneNote adds some slashes to make it say

file://\\.\Labs\Lab-04\EECS140_Lab_04_00.pdf

Then it won't open the file because it says it can't find it.

Does anyone know how to make a relative pathname work in a hyperlink?
Without using relative pathnames then my work-around becomes yet another
tedious nightmare when you try to move a section.
 
E

EMRhelp.org

Olya said:
You are correct. Unfortunately, OneNote does not search the content of the
files that are embedded into the page. Since these files are now part of the
OneNote file, they are also not visible to desktop search.
Click to expand...

I think Microsoft should step back from statements suggesting the
OneNote is the "Place for *ALL* your information".
The lack of integration of OneNote and the Windows File System (Windows
Explorer) is quite unfortunate.
 
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