--- a
+++ b/website/pages/recoll-windows-faq.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+= Recoll on Windows tips and tricks
+Jean-Francois Dockes <jf@dockes.org>
+:toc:
+
+== Using an alternate configuration directory
+
+This tip is useful if you want to manage several configurations, or if you
+really have some reason to not let the configuration directory stay in its
+default location ($HOMEDIR/AppData/Local/Recoll). If you just have a
+storage issue and do not actually want to manage multiple configuration
+directories, you can more simply change the index storage location from the
+GUI 'Index Configuration' panel.
+
+The easiest approach is to create a shortcut on the desktop and have it
+start the GUI with a '-c' option. For example, set the shortcut's 'Target'
+to something like:
+
+----
+"C:\Program Files (x86)\Recoll\recoll.exe" -c c:/path/to/my/configdir
+----
+
+_Do use forward slashes for the configuration directory path_. This will
+hopefully be fixed some day.
+
+You will need to create the configuration directory, Recoll will not do it
+by itself. You can just leave it empty, Recoll will then propose to start
+the configuration editor.
+
+You can find a more complete and general explanation about using shortcuts,
+for example http://www.rjlsoftware.com/support/faq/sa.cfm?q=6&n=61[on this
+page].
+
+
+== Checking that Python is in the PATH
+
+Recoll input handlers are the programs which extract the documents text
+content for indexing. Most of these programs are Python scripts. If Recoll
+can find documents by file name but not by content, the first thing to
+check is that you do have the Python interpreter in your PATH.
+
+NOTE: Only Python 2 is supported at the moment (2.7 and later were
+tested). This limitation is not caused by the Recoll scripts themselves but
+to some of the auxiliary libraries (e.g.: the one used for LibreOffice text
+extraction). If you also have Python 3 installed, you will have to arrange
+for Recoll to only 'see' the Python 2 version.
+
+For simple cases, to check that the Python interpreter is in the PATH, the
+easiest approach is to start a command window and type 'python' in it. You
+should see messages from the Python interpreter, which you can then
+exit by typing 'quit()'. If the command interpreter complains about Python
+not being found, you probably need to adjust the PATH.
+
+NOTE: To start a command window, type 'command' in the start menu input
+area and select 'Command Prompt'.
+
+If the Python interpreter is not found, check that Python 2 is indeed
+installed. Adding the Python binary to the PATH is an option during
+installation (so one approach to fix the issue is to just run the
+installation again).
+
+You can also edit the environment variable directly:
+
+ - Start the Control Panel
+ - Select 'System and Security'
+ - Select 'System'
+ - Select 'Advanced system settings' in the left panel,
+ - Select 'Environment Variables' at the bottom of the dialog
+ - Edit 'Path' inside 'System variables' and add:
+   `C:\Python27\;C:\Python27\Scripts;` to it.
+
+
+
+