I've just recently switched over to MySQL from MS Access ODBC and have so far been very happy with it. I am trying to get fulltext searches to work and they do, except they require at least 4 characters in each search term. The database is a small one of pictures where I am trying to search the descriptions. Small word searches are a must since they are short descriptions (like "ski trip" or "cub scouts"). I have tried implementing ft_min_word_len through the MySQL Administrator program, the my.cnf file, and even the -O ft_min_word_len=3 command line option. None of these work so far. I have been rebuilding the indexes by removing the index using MySQL Control Center and then recreating it, so I'm relatively sure it's not that.

Which MySql Version do you use ?
Only 4.0.10 and sup support this feature