Finding files with Recoll
DIGGING IN
Whether you’re looking for a letter to the Internal Revenue Service or an email from an online trader, the Recoll desktop search machine will help you find it with just a few mouse clicks.
Even if you keep to a strict system of filing data and documents in a well-thought out directory struc ture, you’re bound to lose track of a file sooner or later, probably when you need it most. The file manager’s search func tion might help here, but unfortunately, it just checks for file names. If you’re lucky, you also might be able to check the content of text files, but that’s not much help if your OpenOffice file with the letter to the IRS is stored as 12112005fa. After grinding away at your hard disk for ages, the results are likely to be disappointing. Enter Recoll [1], your personal full text search engine (not to be confused with the Rekall database). Recoll searches for the keys you type, both in external attributes such as the file name and in the documents themselves. Just as in other desktop search engines like Beagle [2], Recoll creates an index to do this. The program has an impressive ar senal of utilities that help search through document content and relies on the Xapian [3] index engine.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.