Comments on: Saving Private “Scout”

By: Rich Thurman

Rich Thurman — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:58:43 +0000

Scout is alive and well, and public:

http://www.officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx

By: Joe Zapert

Joe Zapert — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:26:06 +0000

Command-search is a MUST HAVE in Office 2007. The Office team admits that the apps are overwhelming because of their bredth and number of features, which was the point of the Ribbon. But I, too, find myself doing the ribbon dance (i.e., scouring through the ribbon tabs looking for the feature*.)

Another company has implemented this in a way very well-received by its users: Adobe. In InDesign CS3, hit CTRL-ENTER and the “Quick Apply” pallete appears. Start typing the name of the command or style and hit ENTER once you’e typed enough to select it. It’s quick, and power users now says its invaluable. Microsoft should not only release the “Scout” feature, they should optimize it for keyboard-only use.

* Here’re some reasons I think people find themselved doing the Ribbon Dance. Firstly, the tab category names aren’t always descriptive of the features found there (hello, “HOME” ?). Secondly, features on the ribbon don’t always catch your eye because they are designed so differently from one another. It’s a visual jumble that can help sometimes, but is a nightmare if you just know what you’re looking for.

By: Samuel S

Samuel S — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:37:02 +0000

Some Guy: I’m still interested in this plugin and I can help you in developing a clone. I suggest it to be in C#, as I love the .NET Framework and work on it in a day-by-day basis.

I’ve subscribe myself to any updates of this comments so leave a reply here.

By: Some Guy

Some Guy — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:17:51 +0000

Is anyone still interested in this plugin? A little research turned up all I need to know to make a clone, and I want to know if it’s worth the trouble.

By: Dave H

Dave H — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:43:21 +0000

Also wanted to add… Scout should allow users to ‘tag’ any tool icon with their own search words. I can’t tell from the screen shot, but I would also hope that the list of tools shown are dynamic, changing with each character pressed rather than having to hit a ’search’ button. Plus, that ‘10 most recent’ I mentioned is a bit limiting – it should show as many as can fit in the window, as well as mirroring Outlooks ‘Today/Yesterday/Last Week’ approach.

By: Dave H

Dave H — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:36:22 +0000

After seeing the ridiculous ribbon in Office 2007 I switched to Open Office rather than upgrade. However, just seeing that shot of Scout *SCREAMS* at me that it would be the single most useful feature of any application. It’s also what the future is becoming: my kids, despite my regular moans, will *always* type a website address into the Google search box then click on the website link that appears rather than typing the full address into the URL box.

Scout, with the addition of ‘10 most recent tools’, would certainly negate the need for toolbars or the ribbon entirely.

Great post, but demoralising knowing that politics are preventing true innovation.

By: Geekyone

Geekyone — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:27:56 +0000

Even after using Office 2007 since the betas, there are plenty of times I lost things that *should* be on the ribbon but are not.

Scout sounds like a complete godsend and should be released – several of the users at my workplace are “power” users of excel especially and office 2007 would be ideal for them in many ways… unfortunately it would also be a nightmare as they’d never find the advanced tools they use daily.

MICROSOFT – RELEASE SCOUT NOW.

By: Office 2007 “Search Commands” prototype demo - istartedsomething

Office 2007 “Search Commands” prototype demo - istartedsomething — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:00:37 +0000

[...] Sometimes what customers want is not always what customers get. Take “Scout” for example, a little piece of Microsoft Research ingenuity that really helps users with the new Office 2007 “Fluent” interface. As religious as I am about the Ribbon and contextual interface, I suffer just as much knowing a feature exists somewhere in the application that I just can’t find in the Ribbon. I mean how do I know what context it’s in? And I’m almost certain I’m not the only one suffering. [...]

By: "superfluous and confusing"

"superfluous and confusing" — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:02:34 +0000

“adding another search tool on top of it (Ribbon) would be superfluous and potentially confusing”.

hmmm

“News Break!”

Office 2007 I S superfluous and confusing . . .

DO NOT BUY if you expect any of the ~skills~ acquired in previous versions to apply here . . .

(especially with no ~Scout~ to help one out)

By: SteveC

SteveC — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:20:20 +0000

I’ve also had this … where is that feature … with the new Office

Scout sounds like a good option

Cheers,
Steve C.