Easy Installation and Administration
The DocuQuest installation process is quick and easy allowing you to be up and running within minutes.  Integration with your existing document collections is straightforward and requires minimal training to use and deploy.  
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Leverages Existing Security Policies
DocuQuest Personal uses the secrity policies of the local computer to enable or deny access to local files.  DocuQuest Network permits users on a network to share DocuQuest libraries eliminating the need for the document collections to be on individual computers.  To accomplish this DocuQuest is designed to be used in conjunction with network security policies.  Network administrators would establish at least two Group accounts to be associated with DocuQuest:

• DocuQuest Administrators
  Members assigned to this Group account will have permissions granted that will enable them to create, delete, rename and modify DocuQuest libraries. They will also be able to index and search libraries.
• DocuQuest Users
  Members assigned to this Group account will only be able to search DocuQuest libraries and view results.

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Low Total Cost of Ownership
DocuQuest provides an extremely low total cost of ownership through its initial reasonable price, its low demand on computer resources, its ease of use, and its substantial increase in organization and user productivity.
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Extensive Help and Tips Support 
It's often said, "No one reads the documentation!"  Is this because it's hard to find and impossible to understand?  Because DocuQuest is a system designed to be distributed over the Internet, we have focused on building a system that bridges the gap between hardcopy documentation and software.  If you are using the DocuQuest software, you are in the documentation.  All DocuQuest windows have Help enabled on their controls and an extensive Help system is always available on the menubar.

For new and casual users, DocuQuest includes an extensive set of Tips or hints on using the software.  The Tips are especially useful the first few times you use the DocuQuest system. They present helpful information in the context of where you are as you operate the software. As you use the software you will have less and less need for the Tips. Consequently, you can turn the Tips on or off as needed.
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Seamless Integration with Microsoft Office Systems, Corel Word Perfect and Adobe Reader and Acrobat
One of the most striking features of DocuQuest is its use of the Automation interfaces provided in modern office applications such as Microsoft Office, WordPerfect Office and Adobe Acrobat.  Through a software process called Automation, these software vendors enable their software's features to be seamlessly accessed and used by second-party software.  What this means, for example, is that if a software developer needs a Spell Checker in its software, it can use the Automation interface of Microsoft Word to gain this capability without having to write this facility for itself.

DocuQuest takes advantage of the Automation interfaces of Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Corel's Word Perfect and Adobe's Acrobat to tightly integrate its index and search facilities to the document processing facilities of these software vendors.  What this means to DocuQuest users is that they can use DocuQuest to find lost or misplaced documents and switch directly to the application that was used to initially build the document.  Using Automation, the selected document is opened and is positioned to the search criteria, greatly assisting in recognizing the document.

Since the Automation interface remains open until the user is finished with the document, its possible to use DocuQuest to search for other occurrences of the search criteria, select a different document from the search results list, refine the current search, or make a new search - all without closing either application.
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Index

Documents Referenced by Libraries
Documents can be physically stored almost anywhere on a computer's storage system - on removable drives (diskettes, CD-ROMs, etc.), on hard drives, or anywhere on network servers.  At issue is how one collects these documents together for indexing and searching purposes.  DocuQuest takes the view that the documents need not and therefore should not be moved.   Rather, a logical entity is needed for collecting together documents.  These entiries should be named according to the specific purpose they serve for the user.  Hence, DocuQuest evolved the notion of the DocuQuest library.

In its simplest form a library is nothing more than a named collection of places where documents are stored.  The name should identify the collection and give some suggestion as to its purpose.  For example, a user's correspondence may be stored on several hard drives within several separate folders.  However, the user may want to bring together all of these disparate document collections under one name.  Not physically move the documents, just collect together the respective path names.

The DocuQuest library is also an appropriate point for specifying control parameters for how the document collection will be managed.  DouQuest permits different kinds of document collections to be managed differently.  For example, a library's Scope can be define as(1) Removable Media, (2) Local Hard Drives, or (3) Network Resources.  This aspect significantly effects system operations involving user prompting, security and other operational concerns.  Other library parameters control indexing, searching and viewing.

Thus, the DocuQuest library is the unit that the user selects to focus a search on a particular set of documents.  Clicking the Library button brings up a control panel presenting all previously defined libraries showing the name, owner, scope, date created and size.  This control panel allows for selecting a library and provides controls for setup (changing the library's parameters), adding, deleting or renaming the library, and for indexing and searching it.  Each library maintains its own query memory of its most recent searches.
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High Performance Index Algorithm
Most Full-Text indexing systems use an algorithm that results in what is called an Inverted Index.  This algorithm extracts each word or term in the document collection and builds a list of the documents that contain the term.  For each occurrence of a term the algorithm notes the frequency of the term and the position in the document where the term appears (only needed if proximity queries will be supported).  Some Inverted Index algorithms express the position as the document, section, paragraph, sentence, and location within the sentence where the term occurs.  This position record has high impact on the size of the Inverted Index which can result in indexes exceeding the size of the document collection.  It also has high update costs.

To overcome this size inflation and to provide greater flexibility in what can be searched for, DocuQuest uses a novel and proprietary indexing technology called Hyperdex.  The Hyperdex technology does not use words or terms as its base units for indexing, rather it uses 3-tuple character patterns and indexes them into a compressed bitmap structure that is optimal for index space-time tradeoffs.  The result is a concise, highly accurate index that permits searching for any 3-character term regardless of where it appears in a word or phrase.  Thus a search for the word "symmetry" becomes a search for "sym", "ymm", "mme", "met", "etr" and "try."  Interestingly, this technique can overcome problems with term prefixs and suffixes (see Word Stemming, Truncation and Fuzzy Search below), allowing the same search to find "antisymmetry" and "asymmetry" as well.  Leaving off the trailing "y" would also find "symmetrical", "symmetrization", etc.
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Small Index Size
DocuQuest's Hyperdex technology also makes possible the smallest reasonable index size for a given volume of text.  For example, the word "symmetry" requires 8 characters of 8 bits each or 64 bits for its storage.  Using the Hyperdex approach, the index bitmap requires only 6 bits to index this word.  Judiciously choosing how to store these bits in the index bitmap can result in DocuQuest indexes no more than 25 percent the size of the total document text.
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Manual and Scheduled Index Updates
A DocuQuest library can have its Index parameter set to Manual or Scheduled.  When set to Manual, the user decides when to reindex the associated document collection.  Indexing can be total (all documents indexed) or incremental; i.e., only newly deleted, modified or added documents are indexed.

The Network version of DocuQuest also supports a stand-alone, background Index Server that can be used to periodically index libraries.  DocuQuest libraries marked as Scheduled are automatically indexed when the Index Server is run.  The Index Server can be added as a task under the Windows Task Scheduler where it can be run hourly, daily, or on any schedule desired.    Only the newly deleted, modified or added documents are indexed.  Since the indexing algorithm is very fast, the index operation appears transparent and any subsequent search results will reflect the latest status of the document collection.
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Search

By Single-word or Multiple-words
A DocuQuest search can be for a single word like "computer" or a phrase like "ad hoc committee."  Case sensitivity in a search is controlled in DocuQuest by using uppercase characters wherever you want a specific test for uppercase to be made.  The use of all lowercase characters in search criteria will return hits for either case.  For example, a search for "apple" will find you documents with "apple", "Apple" and even "APPLE", but if you only wanted "Apple" then you would search for "Apple."

A single-word or phrase search is the simplest kind of search.  A search using the boolean AND, OR and NOT operators or a Proximity search can be more complicated.  Many search tools that accomodate such a range of search capabilities complicate their search dialog by placing controls for every search capability they possess on one window.  It's hard to know what is allowed or disallowed with what.  It quickly gets confusing. 

DocuQuest eases search operations by presenting a tabbed search dialog with 3 search tabs, Simple Full-Text Search, Advanced Full-Text Search and Document Parameters Search.  If you just want to do a single-word or multiple-word search, select the first tab.  If you want to do a boolean or proximity search, select the second tab.  The Document Parameters Search tab can be used alone or with either of the other search tabs to further refine the search using document parameters.
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Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) Support
DocuQuest provides a special facility to formulate more complex search expressions using the boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT.  Rather than having to type a formula, DocuQuest lets you simply type a search word or phrase then click one of the AND, OR, or NOT buttons that are provided.  You continue by typing a second word or phrase, and so on.  As you type and click, the search statement will be built for you.  When you are finished, simply click the OK button to perform the search.

If a search produces more hits than you want to review, you can select DocuQuest's Refine mode.  This action will automatically return you to the Advanced Full-Text Search tab where the previous search will be parsed and displayed in the dialog.  You can then click the AND or NOT button to further narrow the search.
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By Document Parameters
Document parameters such as name, size, date, etc. can be added to either a Simple or Advanced search to futher refine its results.  Knowing any part of a document name will restrict search results accordingly.  Specifying document sizes greater than or less than a given value can likewise reduce a search.  Also, you can specify to include documents created within a given date range or to select documents dated during (or prior to) a given interval specified in months or days.
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Proximity Search
Using DocuQuest's Proximity search facility you can look for terms based on whether they occur (or do not occur) within a specified word distance of each other in a document.

A Proximity search is considered a more advanced type of search and is included on the Advanced Full-Text Search tab.  It operates like the boolean search operators.
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Refine Search
Quite often when searching a library the number of resulting files can be far greater than would be practical to individually review.  To reduce the number of document hits, one could always start a new search, reenter the previous search criteria, use the boolean AND or NOT operator, and add another search term to cut down the list.  This can become both confusing and time consuming.

DocuQuest eliminates this perplexity with its Refine Search mode.  Just hit the Refine Search button on the toolbar and DocuQuest does everything for you up to you entering the next search term.
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Word Stemming, Truncation and Fuzzy Search
Full-Text search engines that are based on Inverted Indexes embody complex algorithms to remove particular suffixes and/or prefixes before terms are added to their index.  This eliminates many different forms of the same term.  Called word stemming (arriving at a common root form), this process makes searching for many words much easier because it isn't necessary to consider every permutation of the word when trying to find it.  For example, using word stemming, the suffix "ing" would be removed from terms like "indexing" or "computing," but what would it do for a term like "king?"

If an Inverted Index only allows suffix truncation it can still be maintained unchanged because all the words covered by a particular truncated term are adjacent in the index.  It gets much more complicated for prefix truncation where, in some cases, inverse alphabetizing is used.  Thus the word "antitrust" becomes "tsurtitna" and the rules for suffix truncation are used.

The designers of DocuQuest felt that many of these techniques are arbitrary and capricious and generally beyond the understanding and control of the user.  As discussed above in the topic High Performance Index Algorithm the unique way that DocuQuest indexes document files means that it shouldn't matter as long as you know what you are looking for.  Search for "analy*" and you will find "analysis", "analyzer" and "analyzing."  Search for "*symmetry" and you will find "symmetry", "asymmetry" and "antisymmetry."  Likewise, search for "*psych* and you will find "parapsychology", "psychiatrist", "psycho", etc.
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Integrated Spell Checker
DocuQuest's Spell Checker tool can be used when you are entering search criteria on any of its search screens or when you are using its built-in Word Processor. You will be shown each misspelled word along with a list of suggested spellings. The Spell Checker tool is implemented through Microsoft Word.  If you do not have Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word installed on your computer then the Spell Checker tool will not be available.
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Integrated Thesauras
DocuQuest's Synonyms tool can be used when you are entering search criteria on any of its search screens or when you are using its built-in Word Processor. The Synonyms tool is implemented through Microsoft Word. If you do not have Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word installed on your computer then the Spell Checker tool will not be available.
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Recent Query Memory
For each of its libraries DocuQuest maintains a query memory of the most recent searches made on the respective library.  The number of queries that can be saved is configurable.
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Result Views

File Hits View
DocuQuest's Files view shows the first results of a DocuQuest search. The display shows the path where a document is stored, the document name, its size, and when the document was last stored or changed.

Double-clicking a document in this view sets in motion automatic logic to select a viewer for the document.  If the document type is one for which DocuQuest has an Automation interface then the appropriate application is called, passing the search criteria for positioning.  If there is no Automation interface available then the document file is opened using Windows Association when available.  If there is no Windows association available or if the file is a text file, then DocuQuest's built-in Word Processor is used to view the file.
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Customizable View
The Files view shows the results of a search and is a customizable view. A formatter is included in DocuQuest to permit users to select just which columns they want to include or exclude from the Files view.  Other features of the formatter allow the user to combine hit sentences, extracted from selected files, with other columns of interest. 
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Built-in Word Processor
As its default document viewer and as a user application for working with many types of text files, DocuQuest provides a built-in Word Processor.  This Word Processor is similar in function to the Windows WordPad program and can be used to create or edit text files that contain formatting or graphics.
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