Is there no way to do a "Wild Card" (e.g., *.doc) search in Mac 10.9?

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Level 1

13 points

Is there no way to do a "Wild Card" (e.g., *.doc) search in Mac 10.9?

I have searched the FAQs and have not found an EASY answer that makes sense. I am looking for an old Powerpoint '03 template that I know I stored on my Mac HD, but can't find it. So I thought I could go to Finder (after all, that's what the name implys [no face avaliable for sarcasim]) and find where I stored all of them two years ago when I transferred data from my old "inferior" Windows computer to this new "superior" Apple Mac. You know, in WIN search, I can EASILY do <*.pot>, and find all of my old powerpoint templates in seconds. It seems that there is no EASY way to do this in Finder or on my Mac. Please tell me I am in error and I have overlooked this simple easy, even easier than Windows feature. IF Mac can't do this, geeze, where is the Mac superiority? Someone needs to fix this.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), Run Parallels

Posted on May 1, 2014 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

chattphotos

Level 4

2,481 points

May 1, 2014 9:23 AM in response to revdrw

Forum etiquitte, don't bash the function/OS you're seeking help for...

When using wildcard serarches, don't use the star * when searching the drive for the extension you seek.

For example: Just type in- .pptx > select Kinds > Powerpoint

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Answer 2

revdrw Author

Level 1

13 points

May 1, 2014 10:10 AM in response to chattphotos

chattphotos, I stand corrected on several levels. Etiquitte is always appropriate. Sarcasim comes easily for me, 😟. Thanks for the help. Is there an easy link to this answer i missed? I did look for about 20 minutes, did not find.

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Answer 3

varjak paw

Level 10

170,200 points

May 1, 2014 10:22 AM in response to revdrw

Mac OS X has never used the wildcard character in Finder searches, so there's no document that I know of that tells you not to use one. These might be of help, though:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2470

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-the-search-box-in-mac-os-x-lion -finder-.html

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/apple-in-the-enterprise/expanding-spotlight-adv anced-tips-for-the-finder-window/#.

Regards.

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