Searching In Finder WithOUT Searching Through EVERYthing!

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Level 1

13 points

Searching In Finder WithOUT Searching Through EVERYthing!

Good afternoon, all.

A while back, my Finder search seemed very tidy. I could type a search term into my finder window and anything in Dropbox (where I save many things), Documents, Pictures etc would be searched. That was great! For a while now, however, my Finder searches EEEEEVVVVERYTHING. Things that I don't even know what they are. (one image of three screenshots attached to show one example of the "junk" that shows up).

I think there is a place to specify the settings regarding what comes back in general Finder searches, but I don't recall where that is, or what to do (sadly). Typically I'd say music, documents, applications, Dropbox etc is what I need. I'm not looking for things tech-savvy folks might need per se, because I don't even know what they are. I also DO NOT want to search my emails. I frankly can't stand the MAIL app on my Desktop and wish it would never open...and I'd love Finder to stop adding that to the searches (I have to type in -kind:mail to weed that out - I'd prefer to just have emails excluded.

(MAIL application on MAC Desktop is a separate issue - I'd love to ditch it completely. I use Gmail primarily, and Outlook's hotmail (secondary) - on occasion a website might have a "contact us" which directly opens Mail on my MAC (versus allowing one to use a contact form on that website). I'd rather it open Gmail in Firefox but I'm sure one can't do that. Any ideas, do share)! :)

I'm not sure I've explained this perfectly... I'd love to eliminate some of these search items, as they are really frustrating to weed through.

As always, thanks for any advice. This forum is always amazing!

iMac 27″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Apr 16, 2021 1:10 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TinenTech

Level 1

95 points

Apr 16, 2021 1:24 PM in response to PLMFB

Caution, I'm using Mojave, the following may be outdated for you.

Are you using the Spotlight search (right side of top menu bar) or searching using CMD-F in a Finder window?

If the former, go to System Preferences/Spotlight and it gives a long checklist of where to search...including a box to uncheck for Mail and Messages.

If the latter, before using CMD-F, open the folder or location or divide in the Finder first, then open File/Find to get the Searching "This Mac" window. It will offer you the option to search just the previous Finder window (e.g., Documents) instead of your whole Mac.

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Answer 2

Apr 16, 2021 2:53 PM in response to PLMFB

I actually don't use the search field. I'd rather open up the "Searching..." window first and use the search attributes, particularly Name contains... if I'm sure of something in the name.

The default search is Kind is Any. I usually change that to something like File extension is .doc and by pressing the + sign on the right, you can add more filters that narrow it. My favorite is Name contains ....xxx. Clicking on the column heading Date Modified sorts it by date, instead of alphabetically by name.

If you open a search attribute and select Other... you can add about a hundred different things that I find of limited use, like the Aperture value of a photo, or the Audio channels in the data. Almost anything.

I wish it had a not criterion...like, "Name does not contain xxxx", but, not that I can see.

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Answer 3

Apr 17, 2021 10:17 AM in response to PLMFB

You can click the + button to add the different criteria you want to search for.

For example:

Kind is PDF

Name begins with ....

Date Modified is within last 7 days

Contents include ...

and many many more - if you are searching for images you can choose things that are relevant like pixel width is less than... etc etc etc

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Answer 4

Apr 16, 2021 1:56 PM in response to PLMFB

When you do a search in Finder there are two buttons featuring prominently at the top: one says “This Mac” and the other is the name of the folder from which you initiated the search. For example, you have a window open on your Documents folder. Press Command-F. You can search the whole mac or just Documents.

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Answer 5

PLMFB Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 16, 2021 2:08 PM in response to TinenTech

Hello and thank you! I am not using spotlight - I prefer to use the Finder window (so I presume that means CMD-F - so sorry I am not familiar with the term). I do see "This MAC" and whatever I was just looking in (for example "Dropbox"), but I only see that after putting a search term into the upper / far right search area (next to the tiny magnifying glass in the Finder window). It doesn't seem to matter if I go to a specific location first (for example, if I select Documents from the left-hand bar (where I have "Favorites," "Locations," a list of devices etc), it doesn't make a lick of difference. It still brings up everything and the kitchen sink, emails included.

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Answer 6

PLMFB Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 16, 2021 2:11 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hello, and thanks so much! When I search under This MAC," I still see everything. I actually typically do want to search the MAC, but I don't want all the emails and all those odd tiny files cropping up. Any way to eliminate those from search criteria?

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Answer 7

PLMFB Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 16, 2021 3:15 PM in response to TinenTech

I super appreciate this information. Embarrassed to ask but...how do I open up a "Searching..." window first? I had no idea that there are certain commands to add (other than -kind:mail, which I do...but it still has those odd files I couldn't care less about seeing!) or that I can open a "search attribute." Apologies again for not being super savvy - I'm really grateful for the help. The below is the location that I use when putting in a search term.

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