Abstract: A first document is stored in a first format having an ordered sequence of data elements including characters and embedded objects accessible by index location into the ordered sequence. The first document in the first format is converted into a second document in a second format having a second ordered sequence including a subset of the data elements of the first document including the characters but not the embedded objects, such that the index location into the ordered sequence of the characters differs between the first and second documents. The second document is analyzed in the second format as plain text to identify a string of the data elements of interest. A document location of the string of the data elements of interest is represented as a relative location into the second document. The relative location into the second document is mapped into the index location of the first document.