Microsoft Office 2007 Filter Pack for Search (WSS3.0/MOSS2007)

I just noticed Microsoft released the Office 2007 Filter Pack yesterday for Search products (Sharepoint, Search Server, Desktop Search, Exchange, SQL, etc).

This is a welcome addition as the only way to get these file formats searchable previously was to install the actual products on your sharepoint server.

The pack contains iFilters for the following formats:

.docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, and .vtx

There's still some manual registry editing involved for WSS3.0 to enable them - but there's a link on the download page with full instructions.

I've installed the Filter Pack on my test server and also on my production server with no issues so far. There's no reboot or restart of IIS required - although you do have to restart the spsearch service.

Another nice thing - unlike the PDF iFilter - after installation you do NOT have to delete and re-upload any existing documents to get them indexed. It automatically identifies and indexes them on the next crawl.

Very nice.