Locating and Exporting Unsearched Files (due to errors)

Question

Hi there! Thanks again for your past help.

My new question is: what is the easiest way to locate and export files that were ignored due to open/convert/etc errors. We need to have a folder containing all these files.

What we have been doing is exporting the error log, editing it using regex to only include the file names (it would be nice if there was a way to just export the file names, by the way). We then use this list file to search for the files. We are currently getting an error referring to closing parenthesis not being included. All the list contains is the file names as expoted by File Locator Pro. We only get this error on certain document lists.

One thing that's also concerning me is the sheer amount of errors it is running across on things like Word documents, where searching should be easy. The most common error is: "Unable to copy open file to a temp location failed. 0x80004005 (0x3) - 31". What would be a reason for this to appear if the file is not open?

Thanks so much in advance! Love you guys.

Answer 1

During the searching of a file FileLocator Pro first tries to open the file using the full path. If it can't open the file it assumes that the file is 'locked', this can happen if you try and read a document that is open in Word. With a locked file it tries to copy the file to a temporary location and open it there. However, the error code you're showing is:

0x03 - The system cannot find the path specified.

which would imply the file is no longer there (ie it has moved since the first pass) or the path is wrong.

Can you provide an example? Does it point to a valid file?

Comments

To your first point, the file was definitely not open/locked. The only thing running was the single search within File Locator Pro.

Secondly, I chose one of the .doc files that triggered that error and followed the path in the error log. The file is there and I can open it. The only thing that is out of the ordinary is that it is of Microsoft Word 97 - 2003 type. But even so, shouldn't the first pass work as it can be opened and read?

If I "Look in" that location, FLP finds the file, but as soon as I add "containing text" criteria the error triggers again.

Thanks! Is there any way we can export all error files? Or is the way we are doing it the best way? (i.e. editing the Error List file and feeding the list of files to the "File name" text field.)

---

@doogibo It must be something in the path name for 0x03 error. Can you share what the full path to the file is? If you copy the file locally can you search it?

---

Correct dave! It seems the paths are too long. T

---

How long was the path?

---

291 characters including the file name. Also - we still have the problem with feeding the path list to the search so we can find the error files and export them to be safe. Maybe this is also due to path length ... though the error message about missing closing parenthesis is odd (seems odd at least).

I will try to take a screenshot of that error.

---

Yeah, samples, error messages, screenshots are all really useful to track down the problems.

---

With regard to exporting JUST the list of files in the Error List, go to the Reports Tab and choose the 'Error List' report. You can pick whichever columns you want there.

---

Ah that's very helpful - thanks! We've noticed another container for excluded items. Ignored extensions. Is there any way to export a list of which files it ignored? Or will we just need to uncheck ALL exclusion filters for extensions prior to doing the search?

---

Ignored extensions will be extensions that have 'Exclude file type from content searches when not active' in the configuration settings.