IFilters in SharePoint – What is that? why should I care about? How do I configure them?

What is IFilters in SharePoint? Well, as per Microsoft: “The IFilter interface scans documents for text and properties (also called attributes). It extracts chunks of text from these documents, filtering out embedded formatting and retaining information about the position of the text.”

Out of the box, SharePoint will index many types of content. This includes a lot of popular file formats (.ppt, .doc,  .xls, etc). But for some special file types like PDF, TIFF we got to install IFilters in order to index those file types.

You can now index the following files with free ifilter pack: .docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, and .vtx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17062

You can download the PDF IFilter from https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025. Follow this article to configure it: Configuring iFilter for PDF Search in SharePoint 2010 – Step by Step. 

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack - Information Technology Expert with Two-decades of hands-on experience, specializing in SharePoint, PowerShell, Microsoft 365, and related products. He has held various positions including SharePoint Architect, Administrator, Developer and consultant, has helped many organizations to implement and optimize SharePoint solutions. Known for his deep technical expertise, He's passionate about sharing the knowledge and insights to help others, through the real-world articles!

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