Customize Default COMMAND-F Search Criteria?

Works exactly the same as in Leo. If you are referring to where Spotlight begins a search, that is configured in Finder preferences under the Advanced tool icon.

I located the additional search criteria items I wanted from the Other list and checked the box on the right of each one. They now show up in the drop down list of any new search window.

Sorry, not familiar with that at all. I so rarely use Spotlight. I use Easy Find - VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Don't have to worry about search criteria.

I would anticipate that osx hints for Leo might not work in SL. Lots of areas that were potential security holes have been patched up in SL.

Did you figure out how to get this working?

In Leopard 10.5.x all you had to do was replace the default_smart.plist file and reboot for the changes to take effect. This no longer seems to work in Snow Leopard.

And what's with these Apple Discussion forums? I cannot seem to get answers to anything that I post and questions like this one go unanswered for months. This must be affecting tons of users, surely enough to have this answered already.

I guess I'll have to do some more digging.

Okay, so were are Mac users going to get answers? This forum apparently is not the place. Almost every question that I post or look up seems to go unanswered.

I'm is the same boat. This is the most irritating thing about Snow Leopard. Apple is telling us how to search, and in such a lame way that no professional users can function with. I guess if you are at the level of an iApps user this might be okay, but every pro I talk to is completely ****** off about this lack of proper search tools.

Apple, we want to search by file name by default, we don't want to search the contents, we want to search file names. Who is guilty of this travesty? Is the some "steve thing?"

My tip that you cite in your original post no longer works in SL. Apple's changed how things operate under Spotlight searches.

I developed a workaround incorporating Snow Leopard Services, Automator, and AppleScript.

Message was edited by: llee

Thanks for posting. I haven't tried it, but a couple of questions. When the saved search window pops up, is the cursor active in the search window? Do the two name contains criteria boxes muck up the search and are both required? It's too bad Apple in it's +infinitely p-poor *do it our way or no way* paradigm+ has so crippled the search function.

Thanks for posting. I haven't tried it, but a couple of questions. When the saved search window pops up, is the cursor active in the search window?

No. I sort of explain that in the instructions. It's not a completely equal substitute, but it requires no hacking, and because I find tabbing through multiple search criteria controls rather cumbersome anyway, I consider it a fairly robust workaround.

Do the two name contains criteria boxes muck up the search and are both required?

No, it works fine with a single text field, I just provided an example with two, which I find useful. Neither affects results of the other if left empty, I think. I'm using it with QuicKeys, so I've replaced the default entirely.

This workaround incorporates a GUI scripting strategy that is useful for selecting menu items that are hard to get at. I use different implementations to launch VPN and Character Viewer, for example, with a Services keyboard shortcut. None requires QuicKeys, it's only needed to workaround the hard-wired system shortcuts such as Finder's command-f.

Thanks for the details. My look was cursory, so I'll give a closer look.

Maybe you can find a way to get that cursor into a field after the criteria are displayed. I couldn't figure it out. Please post if you do! Honestly, I still think getting the criteria to appear automatically is a huge improvement over just opening a smart folder, though. It was enough to persuade me to propose the routine as an alternative to command-f, anyway. Thanks.

I'll look for it, but don't think it's doable. Similar to getting the search to default to name vice content. I've been complaining about the search since Tiger shipped which led to my fixes. Sadly, neither works in SL.