# Back Issue Library



## Dusty56

Hi Karson , all the ads that I've seen claim that this is supposed to be fully searchable. Thanks for the heads-up : )
Still debating if I really need this for $99. I have so many other woodworking magazines that are full of projects and plans that I've yet to accomplish.
Have a great night , my friend : )


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## Karson

It is searchable using the search in the main screen. I just searched for Walnut in the supplied search and it found 17 occurrences. None of them were from issue 10 where I found 6 occurrences after I did an OCR conversion.

The search are 1(Search Title, Article Summary, and Index ONLY)
2(Search Full Article Text (including Title, Article Summary, and Index))

So they are doing article summary and not each word in the article.


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## Karson

I just searched for Walnut in issue 200. I found 9 occurrences in that issue. The Woodsmith search found zero in issue 200 It stated that there were 17 occurrences in all 200 issues. I would assume that there are more than that.


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## TopamaxSurvivor

Thanks for the review Karson. Sounds like it may be a browser's CD. You can curl up with it in front of the fire on a cold winter night while the missus is doing the dishes ;-))


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## JoeLyddon

Very NICE Review, Karson!

On any of the issues, can you click on the Table of Contents items and go to That article?
... or is it enter Page# & Go to it… (if they are in Sync. with the File)??

Very interesting…

Thank you very much!


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## Karson

Joe: No you can'r click on anything in the index and go to that page. The index is like a page of text.


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## a1Jim

Interesting I would hope it would be like the FWW archive ,that work really well.


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## matt1970

karson…you are clearly just too tech savy….you must be a lumber jock! Good review…


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## KMTSilvitech

Good info to have. Thanks Karson


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## Roger Clark aka Rex

Nice review Karson. Do you believe the Library is worth it?


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## Kentuk55

good review Karson. sounds like there may be a few glitches in there. you should contact Woodsmith to see if there is a patch


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## Karson

Roger: You are getting 200 issues of Woodsmith for 50 cents an issue. The alphabet index for the issues allows you to find articles that might interest you.

So it's in line with the other DVD magazines issues so I believe that it's worth the value.


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## Chipncut

*Thanks Karson!

This reminds me of a looseleaf notebook I have.

It holds issues 1 - Jan. 1979 thru 22 - July 1982 with index tabs.

I must have more of these early issues in a box somewhere, I'll have to look.

I didn't remember this until today. I just got thru flipping thru it. It brought back many memories.

When you look at it, you can see a lot of projects that keep coming back on various magazines nowadays.*


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## JoeLyddon

*Dick n Barb,*

Yes, I've noticed that too… in several magazines… seems like they "get together" to see what they can show this month!

*Like WOOD *March 2012 issue… *One Bookcase 3 Ways!*
I'll bet I've seen that same title at least 3-4 times over the years!

*What Goes Around, Comes Around…*
... just stick around long enough & you will see it too… LOL

*Gives you a Reason to keep on a Kickin! LOL*


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## dakotawood

Thanks for the review. I ordered mine a few days ago.


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## Chipncut

*Joe!

That's what happens when you hang around long enough.

You can make only so many things. You have to start all over again! LOL*


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## KenFitz

Karson,

I take it from what you said these are not in pdf format. I ordered mine a couple of weeks ago and it hasn't arrived as yet. Not being a pdf is very dissapointing to me. I have a number of the compilations of other mags, i.e. Fine Woodworking, Wood, Popular Woodworking ect. The pdf's work well and those that weren't indexed and searchable can be made searchable with Adobe Acrobat 10 full version. What I have done is place those mags in a folder on the computer and run the indexing in Acrobat. Acrobat creates an index. From then on you are set.

I don't understand when these companies go to another format in stead of pdf. Just about every piece of software out has some sort of pdf accomodation. It has become the standard for just about everyone. I'm sure the deep seated reason must have something to do with the ability to share the pdf''s, but people are going to firgure out a way to do it anyway. I'm a firm believer in honoring copyrights and don't share any files that haven't been put out there for free on their sites. In this day and age of just about everyone having an scanner available, paper copies are being scanned and shared all the time.

These publishers have sold all of these magazines in paper format already. They are now getting a second bite selling the digital versions to all of us who love the material they have put out. I don't begrudge them this one bit and am happy they have cleared a lot of my shelves of old mags. I think they are just going to have to trust us to do the right thing. I really wish though they would all do it in an acceptable and easily accessed format. Just my opinion.

Thanks for a review that is very well done.

Ken.

Ke


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## Karson

Ken they are pdf. and their process is all browser driven. You check on an issue and it brings up the pdf of that issue.

There are 200 pdf files on the DVD and the issues are complete. Issues 1 - 102 are like pdf's make of jpg or scanned images. issues 103 - 200 seem to be made from the pdf that went to the printer.They are fully searchable in a pdf reader program for words.

I'm going through a process now. Currently in issue 70 where i'm converting the first 102 issues into searchable pdfs. It takes about 10 minutes an issue but getting longer because the issues are getting bigger. Issue 1 was 8 pages, issue 70 is 32 pages.


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## KenFitz

Karson,

Mine just arrived a few minutes ago and I see they are pdf. Thank you, Thank you Thank you Woodsmith. I was having bad feelings about this thinking they had to be converted when you said that you were using Nuance pdf converter. I am happy to see another publisher has seen the light as they say.

I'm gonna give Acrobat 10, a try at an index for the first 100. They probably didn't run an OCR on them thats why they are just images and not searchable. Will let you know how I make out.

Now we have to bombard them with requestes for their Shopsmith Library. That would be something I would jump on in a heartbeat.

I've been donating my paper mags to local woodworkers who are just starting out. Like I said above the dvd clears a lot of room in my bookcase where I have kept all these for so many years. So my Woodsmith collection is going to get some serious use in the near future from some newbee makers of sawdust and I hope future LumberJocks.

Well today is turning out much brighter. You see it doesn't take much to make me happy, lol. 
Still a good review Karson and thanks for your efforts.

Ken


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## Karson

I stated in an earlier posting on this review that when you are browsing an issue that you are unable to do a search.

I found out that if you do a <ctrl> F it will bring up a search box that you can type in the word that you are searching for. I tried brass in one issue and found 60 some occurrences. So that makes it more useful.


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## Frank17

I have the same problem that Karson had, not being able to search. I believe it is a computer hardware problem. As far as being worth it. I would say YES! There is no advertising in the magazine and I have gained about 2 feet of space in my shop by going to the CD version. I am sure I will find some use for that space.


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## Karson

Frank: Try the Ctrl F when browsing an issue. You can only do it from issue 103 and greater. On the earlier issues it states nothing found. I've almost fot it beaten. I'm up to issue 80 now.


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## REK

Nice review, sounds like you have plenty of reading to do now!!!! Converting files for fast searches should already be a part of the dvd set up, as the dvd blanks are cheap 25 cents each and the info was already published. It would be nice if the publisher added value to the disc with a quick easy search method…


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## Frank17

I wrote them a e-mail asking if there was something wrong? I will let you know if I hear any thing back. Thanks for the update.


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## TopamaxSurvivor

Sounds like they took the files they had, slapped them on a disc as is and published.


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## Karson

I've finished converting all of the pdf files to be fully searchable.


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## Karson

An addendum for my original review.

There are 7,598 files on this dvd. Most of them are jpg's that are of a thumbnail type for posting on their search page.

The search that is used in this dvd seems to be searching in a summary of what the article is trying to present. It's also has about a two liner description to help you make the determination if this is the article that you want to view. So the publisher has gone to an effort to make a *"Cliffs Notes"* summary of the article.

Along with the small summary you also get a picture of the cover of the issue and the first page of the article. So it you kind of remember something, the pictures will help you in that search. I've been unable to find their indexing file and it does get copied to the Hard drive if you do that manually.

I searched for toy and found one issue that had three articles on toy making so they were all grouped together. It is a great reacting product.


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## JoeLyddon

*Karson,*

You might *try* contacting them… You could sell your files Back to them as *"Fully Searchable".*.. ending up getting yours for *FREE!*


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## Karson

I'd be willing to take a ShopNotes DVD in exchange.


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## Dusty56

http://www.woodsmithstore.com/back-issue-dvd.html

*Link to dvd for anyone interested : )*


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## Frank17

This is what I heard back back from Woodsmith. So Karson I thought the problem was hardware driven. Looks like it was software.

Hi Frank, 
Thank you for writing us. We forwarded your email to our IT department here is what he had to say:

"Both of those features that he mentioned rely entirely on JavaScript, so it must be something weird going on there.

Sounds to me like JavaScript could be disabled, either due to security alerts that he may need to approve, or because it's an older browser that doesn't like all the scripting.

Internet Explorer tends to show a security prompt for local web pages that do a lot with scripts-that should just be a matter of clicking an "Allow" button at the prompt.He could ensure JavaScript is enabled in the general settings of the browser, but if it weren't I would think he'd be having a lot of trouble with other web pages totherwise upgrade the browser or try a different flavor if possible."

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Tammy


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