Odd "Did you mean" results

[newuser]

We are using Zoom to index the online Help files for our product. We use RoboHelp WebHelp to generate the files. In testing, we have found the "Did you mean" results to include numeric results and other odd results that are not closely related to the misspelled search term. I am not sure what to try to improve these results.

Examples:
Misspelling "budgets" as "budgetes" resulted in Did you mean: 31 or 2010?

Misspelling "accounts" as "accountes" resulted in Did you mean: well or b or preposted?

Misspelling "general" as "generala" resulted in Did you mean: program?

Misspelling "ledger" as "ledgera" resulted in Did you mean: unmatched or span

[Ray]

There's definitely something wrong there.

What version (and note the build number) are you using? Click on "Help"->"About" in the Indexer to check.

Also, what script platform are you indexing for? (PHP, ASP, CGI, Javascript, etc.)

Have you modified the search script (e.g. "search.php") or the index files in any way?

[newuser]

We're using Zoom version 5.1 (build 1011).

The script platform we are indexing for is ASP.

Yes, a developer customized the search.asp and search_tempalte.html files and maybe more. Unfortunately, the developer who implemented and customized Zoom with our product was laid off with no opportunity for knowledge transfer.

Any hints on where to begin testing and troubleshooting will be of much help.

[Ray]

First, save the customized script created.

Then, you should revert to the original script that was provided. If he/she has modified the source script (in "C:\Program Files\Zoom Search Engine\scripts\PHP or ASP\search.asp") then you will need to re-install the package to retrieve it.

If you no longer have the install package, you can download the final V5.1 release from here (which would be a good chance to upgrade to the final build):
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/version5history.html

Once you have it working fine again with an unmodified script, use a text editor with a file comparison feature and determine what changes were made by your developer. Then port your changes over as necessary.

In most cases, we recommend against changing the search script for the reasons above. Many modifications are possible without changing the script (layout, appearances, SSI, headers and footers, etc.)

[newuser]

Thanks so much. We'll give that a try. One more thing...the search results often return the following error message--do you think this is related to the same problem or a separate issue altogether?

Error: Page number too big. Make sure ALL index files are updated.Error: Page number too big. Make sure ALL index files are updated.

[David]

Error: Page number too big

This is a definite sign your index files have become corrupted. Or that during the customisation of our script you broke it is such a way that the script thinks the files are corrupted. Most likely the former.