Indexing pdf documents with Adobe v8.0 reader and Search Server Express 2008

Search Server Express 2008 does not index pdf files out of the box. You need an ifilter for pdf which is installed automatically when you install the Adobe acrobat reader v8.0. (Note this will only index pdf created in adobe 8.0 and under)

Steps to get pdf working with SSE 2008:

1. On your server download and install Adobe Acrobat reader v8.0
2. Go to WSS admin and the SSE 2008 shared services admin page. Under 'File Types' add the pdf extension here
3.
Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\{ANYGUID}\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList
Find the highest number in the list(should be 38) an enter pdf for the value data.


Modify the registry keys by changing their 'Default' value to the new CLSID of Adobe Reader V8.0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Server\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf\Default - set to {E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

*** Note if your version of Abobe 8 is say 8.x will need a different CLSID to put in ***

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf\Default - set to {E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

4. Add the installation directory of Adobe Reader v8.0 to the path under 'Environment Variables' in the system part of Windows Server control panel
"c:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader" - this is important as it tells SSE 2008 where to find the right DLLs

5. Stop and restart the search service

net stop osearch
net start osearch

test it by running , you should see PDFs and first couple of lines of content from each(if you dont them something is not set right, you should be able to see within them the content).

Reboot server if still not seeing it.

NOTE: you will need to completely recrawl all your content source first! Would do a reset of of the index to clear SSE out and recrawl everything from scratch.

.NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 fails on Install

Tried to install .NET 3.5 Service pack one of my dev box, fell over with no apparent reason leaving reporting services and sharepoint not working with IIS.


Note that 3.5 sp 1 has fallen over with no obvious error on at dev and production when first installing it.It seems .NET 2.0 was corrupted somehow or had a component missing ,just trying to repair it did nothing. The patch stopped reporting services , sharepoint and web sites from working. Error message got on reporting services:

ASP.NET runtime error: Could not load file or assembly 'System.EnterpriseServices, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies.

Solution: uninstall every .net runtime from 3.5 to 2.0 in that order including service packs and reinstall. Before install 3.5 sp 1 copy system.enterpriseservices.dll from c:\windows\microsoft.net./framework/2.xxxx to c:\windows\assembly(ie the Global Assembly Cache - GAC). Also ensure distributed transaction coordinator is working MSDTC in services, this can cause .NET 3.5 install to fall over.Install 3.5 sp 1 but download the FULL installation, not the bootstrap version. Apply .net 2.0 to all the IIS web sites – go to c:\windows\microsoft.net./framework/2.xxxx and type aspnet_regiis –I. Restart iis , type .iisreset. Note that may need Ajax 1.0 installed, not used but web.config of at least one website may reference it e.g. expenses.

Getting Search Server Express to play with WSS 3.0

Install Search Server Express 2008 and integrate it with WSS (fairly straight foward)

Go to your main site collection where you want search e.g. http://servername :41167/sites/Portal/
Go Site Actions Site Settings and select Sites and Workplaces(this is where you create subsites)
Click Create,

Set title to SearchCenter(or whatever)

Add the name of your subsite to the url name e.g SearchCenter

Select Enterprise Search Center as the site template to use

Click create



To enable search center web partsa (so you can place search boxes on your site collections web pages rather than just having to go the the search center subsite) do this...



Go to your main site collection e.g. http://servername:41167/sites/Portal/

Go Site Actions Site Settings Site Collection Administration Site Collection Features
Click on Activate button for Office Sharepoint Server Search Web parts (this is in fact Search Server Express 2008 web parts)

Check this works, add a web part to page on your site and you should see the list of search web parts

Modify the master page search box web part to point at target search URL of http://servername:41167/sites/Portal/SearchCenter/results.aspx (under micellenous in the web part properties). This will push key words entered to the SSE 2008 results page.

You can also drop a search box web part into your non-master page areas and set it up to go to SSE 2008 results page.

Setting up Scopes to search

Having set up your content sources on the main WSS admin page for SSE go to your specifc site e.g. http://servername:41167/sites/Portal and go to Site Actions | Site Settings

Click Seach Scopes

Click New Scope

Fill in the form checking the display groups you want it in (e.g. basic and advanced search)

choose the default search page

Cick ok

Add rules ...

Select content source from drop down box and select your source e.g. investment documents or shared

***SELECT 'REQUIRE' TO ENSURE THAT ONLY RESULTS FROM THIS CONTENT SOURCE ARE INCLUDED BY THIS RULE ****

CLICK OK

Once the scheduled complilation takes place should be able to see your scopes in the dropdown box!

Getting scopes to show on Main Search Server Express 2008 query page and Advanced Search Page

This is a bit daft, but go to the SSExpress query page on your specific web site, edit page

modify web part for the search box, first item relates to Scopes, select show scopes and they appear!!! OK it and exit

Go to Advanced SSE page , modify web part and select show scopes box. You can then edit the text for the descriptions.