Hello miditime
Thanks for the comments.
I still see command-F available for searching. In fact you should be able to even use control-shift-F to "Find by Name…". If command-F is not functioning switch to the Finder and go to the File>Find menu. It must be there. You should also note that the command-F is available as a keyboard shortcut option, as you already know. If the keyboard itself does not trigger this functionality, be sure that you are in the Finder.
It is possible that the Keyboard>Shortcuts options under System Preferences are playing a role in preventing Command-F. If you never used this panel, simply click on Restore Defaults and test. If on the other hand you use the shortcuts panel, simply go through each of the options on the left side and see if you have a conflict, aka something else using Command-F and remove it. I believe if there is a conflict, two or more items defined to use the same keyboard shortcut, a warning is displayed in the lower section of the shortcuts panel.
Let me know if the issue persists and whether you see the menu with command-F in place, as per the image I left at the top.
On a further note, with respect to search, I might recommend the following.
From the Finder Preferences window there is handy option, which I have set as per the image below. I personally prefer the behaviour I set but you may choose otherwise of course. When I click on command-F I like to search the Finder Window I am facing, perhaps you do too.
Additionally, from the search window, you can choose "Other" and you get a lot of options to isolate your files down to specific meta data or otherwise. I thought I would throw this in.
For the screenshot below I did the following.
1) I created a new folder on my desktop and titled it, Test Folder.
2) I went to the file menu and while holding control shift (search by name), I entered test folder
3) Spotlight found it instantly on "This Mac"
4) If I right click over the item, a folder in this case, I can shoos to show in enclosing folder, in which case a new window showing me the contents of the desktop folder would display.
5) You should also notice that the lower part of the Finder window displays the path to the Test Folder.
All of the items I noted above are standard and should work as expected.
If you are unable to achieve this then you might have limited spotlight search significantly by accident or otherwise. Try the following steps:
1) Go to the Apple menu and choose system preferences
2) click on spotlight
3) click on the "Search Results" and be sure to turn on all those categories that interest you so that they appear in search results
4) This step is significant as it relates to a potentially damaged or corrupt spotlight index.
- click the Privacy Tab from the same window
- You should see an empty list. Simply drag your internal Macintosh HD drive into this window. A message may come up that reads "Are you sure you want to prevent Spotlight from searching in “Macintosh HD”?". Choose OK. If you don't see this message it might be due to the fact you are on Mac OS 10.8.x. I am on 10.9
- Adding your Macintosh HD to the list essentially deletes a file known as the spotlight index file. It is this file that is referred to when searching, that's why it is so fast. The index file is also updated as you add and remove new files.
- After adding the Macintosh HD to the list spotlight won't really find anything, for obvious reasons now.
- If you now follow-up by removing Macintosh HD from the Privacy Tab, using the small + and - symbol spotlight will begin
With respect to the terminal command:
That command was offered as a solution to folks who are unable to search storage volumes that are not locally connected to the computer but instead are on a network.
If issues persist, please come back to me.
I hope the images helped and I am sorry for any typos.
Alex
