Abstract: Method and apparatus to enable scanning one or more documents, from within a word-processor program, wherein said method and apparatus automatically identifies key topics and phrases in a document's text, and inserts identifying tokens for the index-generation program in the word-processor to generate an index to those key topics. One embodiment provides an apparatus and method for automatically identifying semantically important key topics within an integrated word-processor environment. A document is scanned from within a word-processor program, automatically identifies significant key topics in the document, and creates and inserts index tokens for these key topics.

Abstract: A computerized method for searching one or more electronically stored documents is disclosed. The method comprises four steps. The first step searches each document for a search expression. The second step analyzes each document containing the search expression to determine one or more significant concepts within the document. The third step generates an abstract for each concept of each document containing the search expression. The fourth step searches each abstract for the search expression or alternatively for related expressions or ideas as well. In a further embodiment, the method also comprises the step of sorting the abstracts in order of significance of their corresponding concepts. In yet a further embodiment, the method also comprises the step of sorting the abstracts in alphabetical order of their corresponding concepts.