In the past, there was a good program that would search your Mac for filenames and then show you where it was located. I used to use the Find function in the "Finder", but ever since switching from OS 14 to OS 15. It doesn't work very well, forcing me to dig through my computer to find what I need.
I have OS 15.1 and I'm using a Mac Studio.
Thank you for reading.
While Spotlight is working quite well for me with Sequoia 15.1 I also use a little free app called EasyFind that you can configure to find just about anything. I use it all the time when trying to find/delete the myriad of little turds some apps spray all over your system.
I used it just recently to remove the flotsam left by Agilebits 1Password app. I followed Agilebits instructions to “fully remove” 1Password and then used EasyFind to search any file that contained “agilebits” or “1password”. It found over forty small files scattered all over my system. Been using it for years.
M1 Studio Max, macOS 15.1 Sequoia
https://www.devontechnologies.com/apps/freeware
While Spotlight is working quite well for me with Sequoia 15.1 I also use a little free app called EasyFind that you can configure to find just about anything. I use it all the time when trying to find/delete the myriad of little turds some apps spray all over your system.
I used it just recently to remove the flotsam left by Agilebits 1Password app. I followed Agilebits instructions to “fully remove” 1Password and then used EasyFind to search any file that contained “agilebits” or “1password”. It found over forty small files scattered all over my system. Been using it for years.
M1 Studio Max, macOS 15.1 Sequoia
https://www.devontechnologies.com/apps/freeware
Maybe try using Spotlight instead of Finder.
see > Search for anything with Spotlight on Mac - Apple Support
There is a free app that you can try out. It works quite well. It's called FAF. (Find Any File)
You can do an online search for it to find it.
Ziatron wrote:
Yes, I've tried that. The problem is it gives me way too much. It searches the Internet, it searches my contacts.
You can reduce a lot of the Spotlight clutter by unchecking some of boxes in the System Settings.
When I went to the App Store, I can see that I had purchased FAF previously on an older Mac. I just had to download it again.
I wonder what "Find Any File" knows that Apple does not know about the operating system that allows them to locate things?
That little finder window in the upper right hand corner of every finder window was very handy. Perhaps it will start working better in the future.
You can get ~anything you want with the find command (and act upon that with xargs) at the command line.
It’ll be slower than Spotlight or another caching server, but with full control.
Speedier but with some initial setup is the command-line locate command.
Another option: use Spotlight in Finder. Enter the search criteria in the Finder search box, and add whatever other criteria you need. Finder has some useful and file-targeted capabilities too, as you can build up a patterm of what type of file, partial name, dates, whatever.
Narrow your search results on Mac - Apple Support
Yes, I've tried that. The problem is it gives me way too much. It searches the Internet, it searches my contacts. Even if I click on "search the Finder" it still gives me pictures it found on the Internet. I only want to look on my computer and nowhere else.
I've been an apple customer since 1979, this is why I hate updates. Everything was working great until they decided to add "features". Anyway, I do thank you for helping me.
Thanks, I did that already. Maybe the computer has to be restarted for those things to take affect?
Looking for a program that will search my Mac for file names
