With the release of IFilterShop Google Desktop Search plugin, users of Google Desktop Search can take advantage of existing IFilter components for indexing of wide selection of file formats.

FilterShop Google Desktop Search (GDS) plugin allows Google Desktop Search to use IFilter components installed on your machine. IFilters are COM components that are used by Windows Indexing Service to index files of different types. Many IFilters are already available from Microsoft, IFilterShop and other vendors. IFilterShop IFilters are now available under a free non-commercial license.

IFilters exist for many file formats including those not supported by Google Desktop Search. IFilter API is more advanced than GDS plugin API and allows for indexing of compound documents, such as ZIP archives.

IFilterShop GDS plugin setup file is a self-extracting archive that must be downloaded and opened on the machine where you run Google Desktop Search. Google Desktop Search must be running during installation. You are asked to enter the list of file extensions that should be indexed by this plugin. It is recommended to install IFilters you will be using before installing IFilterShop Google Desktop Search plugin.