finder - search feature

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Level 1

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finder - search feature

I would have assumed that when you type in .pdf the finder would have only found files ending in pdf. It doesn't. I get other files ending in other extensions.

Searching for pdf returns files that do not have any characters with the letters pdf as a file name or extension. (I get file names that end in .zip or .css and others.

Searching for *.pdf returns nothing.

I clearly need help understanding how the finder locates files with partial searches.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Oct 13, 2022 11:54 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,248 points

Oct 13, 2022 1:19 PM in response to prunk606

Understand how to use Spotlight keywords in Spotlight or Finder searches. Just entering the string "pdf" allows Spotlight to search inside documents, PDFs, anything where that "pdf" string can be found. Instead, narrow your search to just PDFs by using either of these searches which will restrict the search to PDFs and not everything else.

kind:pdf
name:.pdf

and if you were looking for a PDF with less than 100 pages that has a blue tag and a PDF keyword named dog:

kind:pdf pages:<100 tag:blue keyword:dog

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finder - search feature

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