Question about enabling search and retrieval

["Kapoor, Shelly" <SKapoor -at- imf -dot- org>]

Hi
The application we are trying to document is large and has many
components.  For the biggest part, we have an online help system (in
Flare).  For the other parts, we have Word documents, HTML files, pdfs
etc.  All these information sources are scattered in various servers in
multiple locations.  We need a quick way to enable users to do a search
across these disparate, document types.  I've thought of something that
we can do as a pro tem measure.  Of course, for the eventual, final
release, we are looking at using XML and asking one of our developers to
help us create a document retrieval system using MS Access.  
 
For now, here's what I am thinking of doing - tell me what you think
about it, and if there is a better way to do this.
 
1.  Within the Flare project, create some sort of an index page
(HTML/XHTML) to each Word document and pdf document.  Include a short
summary of the content in the Word document.
2.  Compile the Flare project as usual.
 
Now, when a user performs a search for a particular string that is part
of a Word document, the Flare search engine will list the associated
index page with a link to the actual document in a server somewhere.  I
am even thinking of adding keywords in the meta tag of the index page,
in cases where I can't provide a summary that has all the keywords that
can be associated with the document.  However, I am not sure if these
will be read by the Flare search engine.  I read on the Web that all
search engines look for the keywords in the meta tag, so I am hoping
this will work.  What do you think?
 
Shelly 
 
 
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