DocuGUIDE
A better alternative to Ctrl+F for long documents
DocuLocate is Ctrl+F for meaning. Ctrl+F searches for matching characters and words; DocuLocate searches for concepts, intent, and meaning. When you know the question but not the author’s wording, describe what you need and jump to the passage that answers it.
Where Ctrl+F falls short
Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F) looks for a string of characters. That works well for names and numbers, and it breaks down in a few common situations:
- Different wording. You search “cancel” and the document says “terminate” or “discontinue.”
- You have to guess the term. Several searches later, you are still trying synonyms.
- Too many hits. A common word appears 200 times and none of the hits is the one you want.
- Long documents and workbooks. Finding the right spot in a 48-page agreement or a multi-sheet spreadsheet by exact words alone is slow.
Search by meaning instead
With DocuLocate you type what you are looking for, in your own words:
CTRL+F
Can I cancel early? → No matches
DOCULOCATE
“…Customer elects to discontinue Services prior to expiration of the Initial Term…”Illustrative example · review the full terms in context
The result is the relevant source passage, highlighted in the document viewer, so you can read it in context and verify it rather than trusting a summary. Try a question like “How can I improve visibility?”: the passage can be found even when none of those words appear in it.
Ctrl+F vs. DocuLocate
| Ctrl+F | DocuLocate | |
|---|---|---|
| Finds | Exact text you type | Passages related to what you describe, plus keyword matches in Hybrid mode. Lexical mode finds exact text like Ctrl+F. |
| Best for | Known words, names, numbers | Questions where you don’t know the wording |
| Result | Every occurrence in order | Passages ranked by relevance, with weaker matches separated (Lexical mode lists every occurrence in order) |
| Formats | Depends on the app you use | PDF, DOCX, TXT, XLSX/XLS, CSV |
| Source | Highlights the word | Highlights the passage or spreadsheet row in a viewer |
Keep Ctrl+F for what it does best
You do not have to give up exact search. When you need a specific name, number, or phrase, choose Lexical search in DocuLocate. It works like Ctrl+F: it finds every occurrence of the text, including part of a word, and highlights each one in the viewer. Turn on Match case if capitalization matters. For everything else, Hybrid, the default, combines meaning and keyword matches.
Queries that work well
- “what happens if I end the agreement early?”
- “when does a purchase need approval?”
- “how does the system recover from a failure?”
- “what limitations affected the findings?”
Prefer specific questions to single words. If the first results are off, rephrase or switch search type.
Questions, answered
Is DocuLocate a replacement for Ctrl+F?
It is an alternative for the moments when exact text search fails. DocuLocate’s Lexical mode works like Ctrl+F for an uploaded document: every occurrence, in order, highlighted in its own viewer. It searches one uploaded document, not the page you happen to have open.
Can it search PDFs and spreadsheets?
Yes. The app accepts PDF, Word (.docx), plain text, Excel (.xlsx and .xls), and CSV files. PDFs need extractable text, because image-only scans need OCR first and DocuLocate does not perform OCR.
What if the answer isn’t in the document?
The app can report that no strong match was found and show lower-confidence matches separately. When a question has no answer, the Answer label is shown struck through (hover it for the reason). Try rephrasing the query or changing the search type, then review the source yourself.