AFEPL Search

Using the Search Function on the AFEPL

You can use the Search function that has been included with the AFEPL to help you find publications and forms by subject matter or key words. You must be using Acrobat Reader 3.01 with search capabilities, included on this disc, to activate this feature. WARNING: Most Internet Browsers deactivate the Adobe Search features. To search the entire AFEPL you must first open Acrobat Reader 3.01 and then perform your search using tool bar icon that looks like field glasses on a page. This tool bar icon will most likely be grayed out if you are in an Internet browser.

To perform a search, the first thing you need to do is attach the indexes. Because there are now three disks, there are likewise three indexes, and three separate (but same) processes needed to attach the indexes. With disk 1 in the CD-ROM drive, you should open an Acrobat Reader (pdf file) in the AFEPL application and go to "Tools" on the menu bar. Under "Tools" choose "Indexes" and click the "Add" button from the dialogue box that comes up. Then browse to the root of AFEPL volume 1 and select the file named stdpubs1.pdx. Then hit the "OK" button, and repeat the process for volume 2 and volume 3 (in each case, with the proper volume in the CD-ROM drive). If you are on a standalone PC then this is all you need to do, and whichever CD is in your drive will be the one whose index is polled during a Search or Query. If you have copied the whole CD to a network hard drive, then just use the above steps to attach to the index named stdpubs.pdx. This is a combined index which is ideal for use, but only for network administrators who can combine the two volumes into one parent directory on their networks.

To utilize the Search function once the indexes are attached, select the Tools option on the menu bar across the top of your Acrobat Reader page. If you want to find a list of publications that deal with a certain subject matter, you would search the AFEPL from the table of contents starting point. This way, the titles of all the files will be polled, and any matches between your search subject and the documents’ titles will be listed in numerical order. To choose this option, select Tools | Search | Query from the main TOC page. A dialogue box will appear wherein you will type the word or words you are searching for. From there, click the Find button in the same dialog box and await your results. Once a listing of the results comes up, you have only to double click on any entry on the list (each entry will be one publication), to bring up that publication. After the publication has come up, you have only to close it (do not close the entire Acrobat Reader!) to return to the results list. Once back to the results list, you can select another publication from the list, or close the search results list altogether and resume normal navigation of the AFEPL.

To search within a publication for a word or phrase, open that publication and return to the Tools option on your menu bar. From there, choose Find, which will bring up a dialogue box. In the blank space provided, type the words or phrases that you seek, and click the Find button on the right of the box. No results box will come up, but instead you will be delivered to the next place within the open publication, from the point of your current position, where your words or phrases have been found. Any failure to find the words you are looking for will be reported. If the words or phrases appear more than once, you can skip from one instance to the next by using the Find Next button that will appear in the dialogue box onscreen.