Patent ID: 8868498

Claim:
A machine implemented method of managing data, the method comprising: sending, by an operating system kernel of a data processing system in response to a modification of a data file, a notification identifying a file type of the data file; selecting, in response to the notification, a first plug-in software element from a plurality of plug-in software elements for a plurality of different software applications that create different file types, wherein the first plug-in software element is selected based on the first plug-in software element being for a parent software application that executes on the data processing system to create the file type identified by the notification, and wherein the first plug-in software element is configured to capture metadata particular to the file type; capturing, by the first plug-in software element, metadata from the data file, wherein a type of information in metadata for the data file differs from a type of information in metadata for data files created by a second software application, wherein the captured metadata includes a persistent identifier that uniquely identifies the data file, and wherein the persistent identifier provides a persistent association between the captured metadata and the data file even through modifications of the data file; and searching the captured metadata from the data file created by the parent software application, wherein the searching is through a metadata database storing the captured metadata.