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Spotlight no longer shows the path?

I just installed Lion yesterday and have had a few problems. This is one. In the past, hovering over an item found by Spotlight would reveal the path. This no longer seems to work. Instead, a pop up box gives some info about the file, but not the location! Help?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 1:23 PM

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41 replies

Aug 14, 2011 7:06 PM in response to ragnu

Ok, I just learned that with Mac OS Lion the functionality of Spotlight has changed. If you want to see the path of the file you where searching for you have to …

Just press and hold down alt + cmd. You'll see the path below the popup.


But how do I reveal that file in the finder? Just found out myself. You press and hold down alt - cmd and release the mouse. The finder window opens.

Jan 5, 2012 8:35 PM in response to ragnu

Alt-Command works for the path, but why not just show the path in the new pop-up without us having to take the extra step? It's really unobtrusive with the light text. this would save a step. I have so many files, and use Spotlight a great deal, so this would save me time. thank you. I like that you can get a quick view of certain types of files in Spotlight now. That's nice.

Jan 10, 2012 12:03 AM in response to nadodave

The file path issue is another missed opportunity for Apple with Lion. Win 7 nailed it and allows the file path to work like bread crumbs to provide easy upward navigation and location-at-a-glance very elegantly. In Lion's, Finder prefs>advanced tab there are only about 5 items. Why not have about 20 items (it's the "advanced area"), including "display file paths"? The idea (as alluded to above) of copying in a file name, going to spotlight, pasting it, then using key commands to view a file path is really arcain.


I'm a long time Mac user but have been forced to use Win 7 at work. I am not a PC guy, windows just got it right on this issue, that's all.


That said, I'll change my view if someone can tell me, without 3rd party plugs or hacks, how I can simply view and copy a file path when it's right in front of me? I'm curious to know.

Spotlight no longer shows the path?

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