ORBIS+
Orbis+ is an add-on module to the Nota Bene Workstation
Orbis+, the new add-on module for Nota Bene, now lets you to search PDF, DOCX, DOC, RTF, and HTML files. The version of Orbis that has always been included in the Nota Bene Workstation — that lets you search NB or TXT files — is still included in Nota Bene. But now, with Orbis+, you can expand the range of searchable files to include PDF, DOCX, DOC, RTF, and HTML files. Now, more than ever — whether running on Windows, or on the Mac+Wine — the new Orbis+ is the “Idea Discovery Tool” that can qualitatively change the way you work.
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“Just a word of thanks for getting us here; I am starting to see what your vision about two years ago was when you posted a message/visual demonstration of your ideas on the future use of Orbis as integrated depository of ALL valuable files; I am getting more confident on what lies ahead.”
Dr. Assie Gildenhuys, Department of Psychology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
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CREATING A TEXTBASE IN ORBIS+
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To create a textbase of files in different formats, select File, New Textbase, and give it a name. Then, with either Advanced Automatc Textbase or Predefined Orbis Formats selected, click Go to display the Add/Remove Files dialog.
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Folders & Subfolders
- A textbase can include files in a single folder, or in a thousand (or more)
- The folders can be on a single drive. or on different drives
- When determining which folder(s) to use, you can select:
- A specific folder that contains all the files you want to search
- A top-level “parent” folder (with or without files) that contains subfolders that have files (and further subfolders with additional files) that you want to search, all the way down the folder tree
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Once a folder is selected, there are two ways to select the files:
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1. Include All Files, and Let Orbis Determine the Type
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Select all files, and let Orbis+ determine the file type, based on its built-in file-detection system
- Click the icon to apply only to the current folder
- Click the + beside the icon to apply to the current folder AND all subfolders (all the way down the subfolder chain)
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- If you select the all-files option (this is equivalent to *.*), Orbis reads all files, detects the format of each, and then converts/extracts text from recognized types, using the appropriate text-extraction tool (either provided by NB, by Windows/Wine, or some external program)
- You can place some restrictions on this process, by indicating file extensions that Orbis should simply ignore, without trying to detect the format of those files
- A default list is provided, but you can edit this using File, Excluded List
- You can even exclude more particular kinds of files for even finer control
- For example, “notes*.nb,” or all PDF files that start with the letter “a” (a*.pdf)
Note: to exclude particular types, click the yellow rotating arrow on the file-type toolbar to show the original file-type options
- Any remaining problem files (which will simply be detected as unrecognized during textbase creation) can easily be excluded in subsequent updates
- These are now easily identifiable because of the new properties that are now available (see “Enhanced File Properties” below)
NOTE: All files in the current folder that match the selected type (that is, all files, except those excluded) will be automatically highlighted/selected (with a yellow/gold background) in the File Pane (the bottom right quadrant of this Add/Remove files dialog), with the filename in green:
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2. Include Only Specific Files
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Tell Orbis which type[s] of files you want to include, based on the standard file extensions recognized by Windows
- Click the icon to apply only to the current folder
- Click the + beside the icon to apply to the current folder AND all subfolders (all the way down the subfolder chain)
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- Orbis reads only the files with the specified Windows type, as based on the file extension, and converts/extracts text from those files
- You can of course include multiple file types, even in the same folder
- You can also choose more specific file types, in addition, or instead of, the standard types, to include only certain classes of files:
- dissertation*.nb
- notes*.nb
- NYTimes*.html
- Manual??File.pdf
Note: to include particular types, click the yellow rotating arrow on the file-type toolbar to show the original file-type options
- Similarly, you can, after including all files of a particular type, exclude certain groups of those files
- For example, “notes*.nb,” or all PDF files that start with the letter “a” (a*.pdf),
Note: to exclude particular types, click the yellow rotating arrow on the file-type toolbar to show the original file-type options
NOTE: All files in the current folder that match the selected type will be highlighted/selected in the File Pane (the bottom right quadrant of this Add/Remove files dialog), with the filename in green:
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B. Select Files Individually
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You can also select files individually in the Qualifying/Selected Files in Folder Pane:
NOTE: All files selected individually will be highlighted/selected in the File Pane, with the filename in blue:
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C. By Type and Individually
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The two file-selection modes can be combined:
- If you designate file types, the files will be automatically selected (shown in green)
- You can then also select individual files (these will be shown in blue)
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Another Word About Folders
The way files are selected can vary from folder to folder:
- You can select all files in folder X, specific file types in folder Y, and individual files in folder Z
- You can apply a file type to all subfolders in folder A, and (assuming it is not a subfolder of A) only to the current folder in folder B
- You can — even in one folder — have some file types apply to only the current folder, and other file types apply to that folder, and all subfolders
In short, you can make the decision about whether you choose all files, or specific files (whether by selecting them by type, or individually), on a folder-by-folder basis, depending on your needs:
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Assessing the options:
- Selecting specific file types works well in an orderly world, where every program has only a single file extension associated with it
- But in a less orderly world, the first option provides extra reach for Orbis
- We have seen PDF files with .DAT extensions, to take but one such oddity, and these would be included using the first option, but missed in the second
- But more importantly, NB has historically resisted such file-extension neatness, by allowing virtually any file extension, and the first option simplifies inclusion of Nota Bene format files
- The new NB+ option described above is a version of the second option — it reads files based on file extensions, but this time with an expanded list of extensions recognized by Orbis (not by Windows)
- However, unlike the first option, it requires that you specify all extensions — if you miss any, that file will be skipped
- If a file with that extension turns out to be not an Nota Bene file, Orbis will still include it if it recognizes its format
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