Raw Search in Any File Format
Files stored inside other files
File Juicer extracts files mainly from composite file types like PDF, Word and Excel -- files that contain multiple types of data. Extraction is not conversion. A JPEG stored inside a PDF is extracted as a JPEG, and a WMV video in a Word document is extracted as a WMV file.
Any file
File Juicer examines binary data directly and does not need to understand the format of the file it is searching. You can drop any file onto File Juicer for a search. The descriptions of each format are guidelines on what you can expect to find.
Closed file formats
If the software that created a file deliberately stores its data in a proprietary format, File Juicer may find nothing because the data is not stored in any of the formats listed in the preferences.
Adobe InDesign is an example. It cuts images into chunks and stores them in its own internal format. File Juicer cannot extract much from InDesign files directly. However, PDF files created with InDesign are an open format that File Juicer can read.
Recovery from damaged files
File Juicer is not strict when retrieving files and will tolerate some errors to attempt recovery from damaged files. As a result you may occasionally get files that cannot open properly in Preview or QuickTime Player -- this happens when data resembles a standard format but is not quite valid, or when developers save files in near-standard ways.
For images, the easiest way to check which files are good is to see whether they generate thumbnails in Finder.
Compression versus encryption
File Juicer recognises ZIP, BZ2, RAR and deflate-compressed data and will extract it so you can decompress it with Finder.
File Juicer does not decrypt encrypted data.
Text
File Juicer's text extraction is raw and unformatted -- just the text as it is stored inside other files, with no style or formatting. Most files contain some text, even if it is just a note on what type of file it is.
The long list of file formats
More tips about specific file formats are on the alphabetical list.