I just had a client ask if it was possible to search on zip file contents from within their Windows SharePoint Services site that I host for them. After a little digging I found that Microsoft has just released (10/9/2008) the Microsoft Filter Pack that not only handles zip files but the Office 2007 file formats as well:
Installing the downloaded filter pack was easy. I then had to go into the registry with regedit and check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\GUID\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList to make sure that each of the new extensions was listed. In my case, .zip was the only one I had to add.
A second step involved making sure each extension was also listed at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension along with the correct GUID. I had to add each file type here. (The MSKB article below gives you the details)
Once these were all loaded, I restarted the SharePoint Search Service and now my zip files were getting indexed! Thanks Microsoft - I was afraid I'd have to shell out for a third party product here.
The Microsoft Filter Pack can be downloaded from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=60c92a37-719c-4077-b5c6-cac34f4227cc&displaylang=en
Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 registration instructions:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=946338
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