Save File Search Reports

VX Search allows one to save file search reports into a number of standard formats including HTML, PDF, Excel, XML, text and CSV. In the simplest case, perform a file search operation and press the 'Save' button located on the main toolbar. On the save report dialog, select an appropriate report format, enter a report file name and press the 'Save' button.

For the HTML, PDF, Excel, text, CSV and XML report formats, the user is provided with the ability to save short summary reports or longer detailed reports, which may be very long for large reports containing many thousands of files. By default, VX Search will save a short, summary file search report in the HTML report format, which will include a list of the first 20 file search results and a list of tables showing the disk space usage and the number of file search results per file extension, file type, top-level directory name, user name, etc.

In addition, the user is provided with the ability to save file search results to the VX Search native report format, which preserves all information related to each specific file search operation and may be loaded at any time by using the VX Search GUI application.

Microsoft Excel Reports

Sometimes, it may be required to perform additional analysis of file search results using external tools such as Microsoft Excel. In order to export file search results to the Excel report format, perform a file search operation, press the 'Save' button located on the main toolbar, select the 'Excel Summary' report format for a short summary report or the 'Excel Report' format for a detailed file search report.

A summary Excel report will include a list of the first 20 file search results and a number of tables with pie charts showing the used disk space and the number of file search results per file extension, file category, top-level directory name, file creation time, last modification time, user name, etc.

A detailed Excel report will include a list of file categories according to the currently selected file categorization mode and a full list of file search results, which may be very long for large reports containing many thousands of files. In order to control how many files are exported in the detailed report, press the 'Advanced Options' button located on the 'Save Report' dialog and customize the file search report for your specific needs.

Graphical PDF Reports

One of the most useful ways to export file search results is to use the PDF summary or the PDF report formats. Both of these report formats include various types of graphical pie charts showing disk space usage and the number of file search results per file extension, file category, creation time, last modification time, top-level directory name, user name, etc. In order to save file search results to a PDF report file, press the 'Save' button located on the main toolbar and select the 'PDF Summary' report format for a short, summary report or the 'PDF Report' format for a detailed file search report.

A summary PDF report will include a list of the first 20 file search results and followed by a number of pie charts showing the disk space usage and the number of file search results per file extension, file category, file creation time, last modification time, top-level directory name, user name, etc. A detailed PDF report will include a full list of file search results, which may be very long for large reports containing many thousands of files.

In addition to the list of file search results, detailed PDF reports include pie charts showing the disk space usage per file category and the number of file search results per file category according to the currently selected file categorization mode. For example, if the second-level file categories mode is set to categorize file search results by the file extension, the PDF report will display pie charts showing the used disk space and the number of files per file extension.

Customizing File Search Reports

By default, VX Search exports file search reports including the last modification date for each file search result. The date format used in file search reports is easily readable, but not good for sorting file search results by the last modification date in external programs such as Microsoft Excel, etc. In addition to the default date format, VX Search provides a number of alternative date formats allowing one to customize file search reports. In order to change the date format used in file search reports, open the 'Options' dialog, select the 'Reports' tab and set the 'Report Files Date Format' to an appropriate date format.

When exporting Excel CSV reports, the user may encounter problems with directories and files having the comma (,) character in the file or directory name. The comma (,) character is a valid character for file names, but this character is normally used in Excel CSV reports as the delimiter character causing file names containing the comma character to span multiple data fields in Microsoft Excel data sheets.

In order to change the CSV reports delimiter character used by VX Search in file search reports, open the 'Options' dialog, select the 'Reports' tab and set the CSV reports delimiter to the 'Tab' character, which cannot be used in file names and therefore will not conflict with file names exported in file search reports. In order to import a tab-delimited file search report to an Excel data sheet, open Microsoft Excel, select the menu 'Data - Import External Data - Import Data', select the file search report file and select the 'Tab' character as the data field delimiter.