About the course

Keyword searching is a vital skill for finding information when you need it, whether it be in dispute documents exchanged between the parties in a litigation matter, or your own correspondence and other file materials related to a client matter. AI is a powerful tool for searching content, but does not replace the benefits of keyword search, whether it be searching for keywords in a file name using Windows File Explorer, or performing a lightening fast search in a dtSearch index for a large library of documents.  This course teaches the fundamentals of searching in Windows, and using dtSearch, a market leading desktop search engine which you can use to index your own libraries of documents.

Michael Dew

This course is taught by Michael Dew, a former structural engineer, turned litigation lawyer, with a hobby interest in coding, and an enthusiasm for efficiency. Michael first wrote computer code in 1996 when programming a HP 48 GX scientific calculator in 1996 used for engineering calculations. The thirty years since then have been spent mostly as a litigation lawyer, continually developing self taught technology skills to manage data and provide better client service by leveraging technology.  This course summarizes key tips learned through Googling, YouTube videos, and never-ending trial and error. AI is changing the landscape of data management, story telling, and the practice of law, but competent use of the computers we use is still vital, and keyword searching is still a valuable skill.  The skills taught are focused on key tips considered to be actually valuable based on many years of searching for data in the Windows environment in legal practice.  

Curriculum

5 Chapters · 32 Lessons

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 1.1 Introduction to keyword searching in Windows

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.1 Introduction to search in Windows File Explorer

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.2 This course focuses on File Explorer Search, not Taskbar Search

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.3 Brief overview of search functionality in Windows File Explorer

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.4 Searchability of content (and understanding OCR)

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.5 Understanding Indexed v. Non-indexed searching

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.6 Ensuring drive settings allow indexing

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.7 Adjusting Indexing Options

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.8 Defining the type of content to be indexed

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 2.9 Setting File Explorer folder options relevant to search

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.1 Sample data to be used for demonstration purposes

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.2 Performing simple keyword searches, and review of basic search functionality

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.3 Viewing search hits

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.4 Searching for phrases

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.5 Searching subfolders v. just the current folder

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.6 Searching full file contents v. searching file names

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.7 Search for a period to identify all files and folders in a folder tree

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.8 Using Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.9 Searching for parts of words or phrases

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.10 Search by file extension

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.11 Search using wildcards

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 3.12 Performing operations on search hits

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 4.1 Introduction to alternative search tools

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 4.2 Brief overview of FileLocator

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.1 Introduction to dtSearch

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.2 The interface and search window of dtSearch

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.3 Creating and updating Indexes

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.4 Referencing an existing index

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.5 Performing a search

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.6 Reviewing search results

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.7 Boolean searching

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      WS 5.8 Limiting a search to a particular subfolder