
Ask HN: How do you search across multiple tools (Slack, email, Gdocs)? - noeltock
With all the tools a team runs these days, are there any global search apps (with Spotlight&#x2F;Alfred) integration that search across Slack, GSuite, email, etc.?
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jamesmcintyre
There's a whole category of apps that attempt to help with this problem:

getstation.com (yc w2018)

tryshift.com

slapdash.app (yc w2019)

meta.sc

IMO search is only one facet of a larger problem created by both the way we
build modern productivity software (still mostly siloed and only sometimes
having one-to-one integrations) and the number of apps we use on a daily
basis.

Search is one of the more obvious problems but if you zoom out you'll see that
workflows are broken and inefficient but we just don't realize it yet (or at
least we do not realize how much better it could be in the same way a person
using a blackberry in 2006 couldn't really imagine how much better a
smartphone could be a year later).

Once a solution comes along that fixes this problem it'll likely introduce a
new platform and a new level of user experience but the solution isn't going
to be as obvious as global search + "put all my apps in a dedicated browser".

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noeltock
Thanks James, really appreciate the list & thoughts, super valuable.

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Jefro118
This seems like the closest fit: [https://usefyi.com/](https://usefyi.com/).
(at least judging from the landing page - haven't actually used it myself)

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tmaly
Microsoft has this all built into their 365 solution so that email, chat, docs
are all covered.

This is actually a very critical feature for e-discovery and is required in
many regulated industries.

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throwaway13000
Good question. I think I saw a YC company which searches Slack. Can't remeber
the name. This is a startup idea waiting to be implemented.

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drstewart
[https://swiftype.com/](https://swiftype.com/)

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seektable
there was a startup that addresses exactly this (findo.io) but it is dead now
- I guess they didn't get enough traction.

The idea to have 'personal google' is good, however it fails as
cloud/proprietary solution. If I give access to my gmail/drives/messangers I
want to be sure that this data will not be tracked/used by 3rd parties (even
as 'telemetry') - this is possible only with open source self-hosted software.

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tdhz77
I would just like a tool that can search my computer that was written in
NodeJs and has an api. Does this exist?

