Windows Search & Indexing for Document Management

Windows Search and Windows Indexing Service

Earlier versions of Windows had an ‘Indexing Service' (IS) for searching documents. It was preferred for Windows XP, but won't run at all as of Windows 8. Earlier versions of AbacusLaw by CARET used IS while XP was still common, but Microsoft created a new, separate 'Windows Search’ (WS) engine to replace it, and BOTH systems have been available up through Windows 7.

Which one should you use?

We recommend you stick with Indexing Service if:

You have XP machines and no Windows 8 machines, or OTHER programs are using IS (you should not use both at the same time), or

You updated AbacusLaw by CARET from an earlier version that used Document Search, and all is working well for you, and you have no Windows 8 computers. In this last case, you can choose to convert to WS. It might be faster for you.

If you want Windows 8 machines to work, you must use WS. If you use WS, you should upgrade any XP machines to a new OS. Microsoft strongly recommends that you only use ONE of these services on your server. Running both could slow down your server as it will run two services and index documents twice.

While unlikely, it is possible that your server or workstation might have a program apart from AbacusLaw by CARET that uses IS. That program could have issues if you decide to stop IS.