jehillert / ms-word-global-match-highlighter

global-match-highlighter

README

This repo contains a tool I created and used as a patent attorney to search patent documents for concepts, contexts, and exact text. Instead of using highlighting for memorization and marking passages found to be notewworthy, which is mentally intensive, the tool uses highlighting in an exploratory capacity. Users select key words and short passages that stand out as they become familiar with a document. For each selection, the user clicks a different color from a palette (alternatively, similar terms can be assigned a common color), and each instance of that term is then highlighted in that color throughout the document. A global view command then allows the user to zoom out and scan for significant color groupings. Groupings of several different colors together clumped together, and regions where one or more colors has a high color density, tend to indicate passages and regions in the document that are relevant to what the user is searching for. From the global view, the user can click on these areas and zoom in. Text selection, color assignment, and using the global view to identify and hop between high-relevancy portions of the document can all be done quickly and without touching the keyboard.

The tool also offers a shading palette that can be used for local markup. A font color palette and some individual global font styling commands add further flexibility in marking up the document. In addition, the way the tool responds in different contexts, particularly with respect to text selection and color priority, has been refined year after year, making it natural, fun and cognitively effortless to use. The end result is a tool that reduces boredom and contributes less to cognitive fatigue (compared to conventional key word searching) during long document reviews involving tedious subject matter.

text_search_utility_demo_video.mp4