Like Google, DrawingSearcher operates by “pre-crawling” all of the CAD, Office and other file types — everything from HTML to ZIP files — that are stored on a company’s intranet. Once a catalog of a company’s documents has been collated, documents can be searched and ordered by keywords (words, phrases, alpha-numeric text and Boolean parameters) according to their relevance.
What’s most impressive about DrawingSearcher is that it can pull data from within a drawing, making every element of a DWG, DWF, PDF, etc. file a live and searchable element. For large companies, government contractors or other firms that rely on part reuse, this type of software is invaluable. Whether you need to review a previous design, find a commonly used component or match the threads or tolerances of two mating parts, DrawingSearcher can be a valuable tool.
However, DrawingSearcher has left me yearning for more.
DrawingSearcher serves only AutoCAD and MicroStation users and largely ignores 3D applications. If you’ve got any notion of which way the wind’s blowing, you know that 2D CAD is a critically endangered species.
If DrawingSearcher’s powerful crawler could be ported to 3D CAD systems such as Inventor, Creo, Solid Edge, and Revit, and then it would be a product in which more users would find reason to invest.