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Turn off email search in finder search

*Is there any way to turn off email content in Finder search?!* I use the Finder to search for files and folders not archaic references to 5 year old email content. There has got to be a way to turn this off by default. Terminal/Command line fix? Any fix? Any solution? Anyone?

iMac27", Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 13, 2011 3:33 PM

Reply
83 replies

Dec 3, 2015 4:49 AM in response to SG_OND

BRILLIANT! Using -kind:mail WORKS!!!

Of course, a simple "does not contain" for "Name" or "is not" for "Kind" (the equivalent of this solution) option from Apple would make more sense (everyone at Apple forgot the grandmother rule, which is what made iOS so great - until v7 and on!), but FINALLY!


I'm already on Mavericks and Yosemite and this is not changed in El Crapitan. Apparently, Apple's too busy turning OS X into iOS and MAKING new bugs to bother fixing old ones, and then telling bug reporters that the "fix" is to upgrade to a newer OS X release - just swapping old bugs -if even- for newer ones (still waiting for the fix to Mail's recurring word wrap issue that has cropped up again regularly since Mavericks). I'm not sure why Apple thinks treating an OS like a browser with insane version rapid releases is a good idea...

Yay.


Keep being ignored, but at least logging complaints via http://bugreport.apple.com or

https://www.apple.com/feedback

Dec 3, 2015 5:03 AM in response to Bret B

For those using Outlook (my sympathies!), with the one fix of -kind:mail in searches, I then tried my search and added this:

NOT .emlx

...and that ALSO worked to avoid Mail results! So, try adding "NOT .olk" and there's the Outlook fix.


Wow So easy, yet years to uncover. Pathetic how easy Apple could have just used the +/- equivalents for existing options. That's not asking for the moon or even half as insane as their OS rapid release schedule, but a simple and logical request (polishing existing work, which is a dead art it seems). Thank goodness for Google-esque search term hacks and SG_OND's post!

Dec 3, 2015 11:22 AM in response to vinoflyr

Glad to see others still on the SL forum. I have several up to date macs out in the lab but my own machines in my office are still on SL. Why? Because its faster. What a bummer that the old system is faster than the new one. Even worse, the new versions of iPhoto really suck and you cant run the SL version on the new machines.

May 20, 2016 11:13 AM in response to DataChris

The best work around I've found is to simply use Spotlight for all searches but first uncheck "search mail" in Spotlight prefs. At least you can narrow down pretty quickly what you're looking for with less clicking around. For instance, when I wanted to find only .png extension images in Finder I had to select only images after the search, to clear the Mail BS, but Spotlight offers that choice to you and auto opens the correct Finder window once you click on it.

Sep 19, 2016 3:17 PM in response to DataChris

Open a finder window and search for a term, such as "invoice". A new bar will appear below the search bar with "Search:" and a few options - on the far right will be a plus icon. Hold the alt/option button and mouse over the plus icon, it will become 3 dots - now click on it.


Change the rule to say "None of the following are true".

User uploaded file


Then add a rule that says "Kind is Other [insert whatever your mail type is]" for instance I was constantly seeing mail from outlook so my rule was "olk14_message" because of the file type.

User uploaded file

Save your search (I named mine "Search - No Mail"). Now when you search you can click the button to filter out your mail results.

Turn off email search in finder search

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