You can display the blinkx search box by clicking on the blinkx icon in your system tray or by clicking on the blinkx icon on the toolbar. If you want the search box to be always on top of your open windows, right-click on its title bar and select the Always On Top option.
The blinkx search box allows you to search the web and your desktop. Enter your search in the search box and blinkx returns relevant results on your desktop:
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PDF files |
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PowerPoint files |
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Excel spreadsheets |
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Word documents |
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Emails |
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Image files |
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Email contacts |
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MP3 files |
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Recently viewed files |
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Email attachments (indicated by a paperclip) |
If you click on the Search All button, the search box also displays web results:
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News articles |
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Web pages |
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Audio and video files |
Note that the icons may change according to your computer's setup.
In addition to desktop results, you can also search for relevant news articles, websites, video clips, blogs or a visual representation of your query by clicking on the web search buttons:
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displays relevant news articles |
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displays relevant websites |
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displays relevant video clips |
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displays relevant products |
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displays relevant blogs |
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opens blinkx visualizer to visually represent your search |
You can view a result's summary by hovering over the result's link. To view a result, click on its link.
The search box also includes the smart folder button which allows you to create smart folders:
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Click here to go to the blinkx search box in-depth tutorial. |
You can sort local results by clicking on the available headers (these are Type, Title, To/from, Date and Subject/filename).
You can search local results by title, sender, recipient, date and subject. Enter your search text in the appropriate text box above the local results' Title, To/from, Date or Subject/filename headers.
Note that you can switch between a sender and recipient search by clicking on the down arrow above the To/from header, and between different types of date search by clicking on the down arrow above the Date header.
Click on: |
To display: |
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all local document results |
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only PDF documents |
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only PowerPoint documents |
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only Excel documents |
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only Word documents |
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only email and email attachments |
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only JPEG images |
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only email contacts |
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only MP3 audio files |
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only recently viewed files |
Note: results that are displayed with a paperclip are email attachments.
You can enter the extension of a file type in the Subject/filename field in order to only display files of this type. For example, if you enter .txt, only files whose subject or file name includes .txt are displayed. If you have filtered your results, so that only images are displayed, you can, for example, enter .gif to only display .gif images, .bmp to only display .bmp images and so on.
You can enter a file path in the Subject/filename field in order to only display files that are stored in this location. For example, if you enter C:\My Downloads, only files whthat are stored in this directory are displayed.
You can use the Boolean operators AND, NOT and OR to restrict the results that blinkx returns.
For example:
cat AND dog |
only returns documents that contain cat and dog |
cat NOT dog |
only returns documents that contain cat but not dog |
cat OR dog |
only returns documents that contain either cat or dog (or both) |
If you want to use phrases, you need to use brackets.
For example:
city AND (New York) |
only returns documents that contain city and New York |
city NOT (New York) |
only returns documents that contain city but not New York |
city OR (New York) |
only returns documents that contain either city or New York (or both) |
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Click here to go to the blinkx search box in-depth tutorial. |