I would like to do the following: I have a folder a) with lots of files I have a folder b) which is empty I would like to search the folder a) for string "blablabla" and if this string exists in the file then copy the file to folder b). There is a previous response by Mechanix2Go that does the job beautifully for most files including .xls. However it does not recognize .xlsx files. Is there a way to solve this. Thanks Kåre

Does it not recognize the .xlsx files or does it not want to look into them? What is a .xlsx file? ===================================== Helping others achieve escape felicity M2

OK, Found this: http://filext.com/file-extension/xlsx It is a combination of XML architecture and ZIP compression for size reduction. Looks like you're out of luck. If compressed, the text won't be readable. ===================================== Helping others achieve escape felicity M2

Thank you very much. I will stick to the standard uncompressed Excel file format. Thanks again. Kåre

Well, know that both XLS and whatever type derived from that, is a binary file, and when you start doing text searches in binary files, your result will be based on luck, and luck only. It was a coincedence already that you've found the text in the XLS already. If you know the other format is a compressed one, don't even bother doing text search in there. My advice would be to not do text searches in binaries, over which you have no control, which obviously is the case for XLS files (that is, if they are true Excel files). Your result may be questionnable. It may work, it may not, it may not work tomorrow, but if may also do.