I need advice on the most appropriate database to use.........?

Question

I have numerous files of documents which I want to scan in and place in a database. They each have a number of 'key words' which I would like to index so a search will pull up all the relevant documents.
Any suggestions very welcome........

Answer 1

The database will contain the index table which will have keyword feilds and a link to the specififc document image which will be located in a document repository - for home use ms access will be fine.

Answer 2

There are a couple of ways to do this. One would be to OCR each document, then load it into a traditional database application and create an index. An easier way would be to OCR the documents, then use Desktop Search program such as Copernic, Google, or Yahoo desktop issues - this would provide you with an searchable index, without manually creating a database. If you look for dektop seach reviews, you'll find both Copernic and Yahoo have received good marks for their desktop search ability.

Answer 3

scan them in using OCR (optical character recognition) that way if you need to make changes to the files you can, for i.e. if they were bills then you could type paid or outstanding etc on them at a later date when they were paid on not whatever the case may be, or insert a field to allow for this in your database, then you could run a query on paid or unpaid etc.
as for the database I use MS Access 2003 and if you go to the format when you have the fields created, and choose hyperlink, then when you run database you can link to any file on pc or wherever.

Answer 4

You could make such a db in MS Access if you want, but it would be easier and more searchable to do this as a HTML Webpage search - that way you could get the results to output a hyperlink to the file too.

Answer 5

If you already have MS Access, use that. If you don't, download the free openoffice.org and use its database application (base); Access files are compatible in openoffice and vise versa.