User content feeds from user storage devices to a public search engine

Abstract

Allowing unhosted user content feeds to a public search engine, such as a web search engine, involves a user easily identifying a file as a file the user wants to share with others by, for example, storing the file in a particular directory folder on the user's device. Once identified, the file is scanned and a corresponding entry is inserted into a search index. The storage location on the user's device may be captured, and that information added to the search index for linking to the stored file. The file may be uploaded to a caching server, for serving either primarily from the caching server or secondarily from the caching server when the file is not available from the user's storage. An access policy, which indicates what portion of the public has permission to access the file, may be associated with the shared file.