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"Document container" search problem

I swear this worked yesterday. Today "Document Container" criteria only works for iCloud documents. Anywhere else on my Mac, it simply produces 0 results whatever I do to it. Reindexed entire Mac, restarted, repaired disk permissions -- no change. Document Container search on anything other than iCould simply stopped working. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 3, 2014 7:37 AM

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Posted on Feb 26, 2017 1:23 PM

Is there still no way to search by enclosing folder? For example, I really want a search that only finds files and folders directly inside my Documents Folder, but not anything that is a subitem of one of those folders.


For example say I have this structure:


/Documents

  • Folder A
    • File A
  • File B


I want to be able to make a search that outputs Folder A and File B, but not File A.

8 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Feb 26, 2017 1:23 PM in response to Almir.R.

Is there still no way to search by enclosing folder? For example, I really want a search that only finds files and folders directly inside my Documents Folder, but not anything that is a subitem of one of those folders.


For example say I have this structure:


/Documents

  • Folder A
    • File A
  • File B


I want to be able to make a search that outputs Folder A and File B, but not File A.

Sep 8, 2014 6:56 PM in response to Almir.R.

It looks like I have a rare problem here. I tried everything I could find.

  • I repaired permissions using Disk Utility.
  • I reset permissions from the Restore menu.
  • I dragged the hard drive to Privacy window and deleted again to reindex. Also tried restarting before reindexing.
  • I tried using the command line to stop, clear, restart indexign.
  • Finally, I revealed hidden files, deleted the Spotlight package, restarted and started Spotlight again.
  • ...and I tried several other smaller command line tricks to no avail.


There is really nothing else I could find. I still have the same situation. Document Container filter only works on iClouds documents. Hard drive shows 0 results. Does anyone have any suggestion or went through similar situation and found a solution. I created a list of smart folders to help me quickly access certain files and folder using Document Container filter. Worked one day, the next day they all showed 0 results.

Sep 8, 2014 7:09 PM in response to Almir.R.

The "Document Container" criteria doesn't seem to represent what you think it does. I haven't figured out what it represents, but the enclosing folder doesn't seem to be it (although the description seems to indicate it should). Perhaps it will work in some future OS.


It may be that the iCloud documents are tagged with the "Document Container" metadata whereas other files are not, currently.

Sep 8, 2014 7:25 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks Barney-15E for responding. But I have to disagree. It worked originally exactly like I understood it -- "Containing folder of item". I was able to build a Smart Folder that showed (among other things) documents that were added to the Downloads folder within the last 7 days. It worked beautifully. The Downloads location was conditioned by [Document Container] [matches] [Downloads]. Then I also created a few other Smart Folders that did similar searches for specific folders. I used these smart folders for a day to quickly access files and was really happy with how that worked and how I had to spend less time looking for things and browsing through folders/files. Then the next morning they showed 0 results and after a bit of investigation I realized that Document Container filter now only worked on iCloud. For whatever reason, from that morning on it just stopped working on the HD folders. I can also add that the filter stopped working on external drives.

Sep 8, 2014 9:42 PM in response to Barney-15E

You know, I have to concede here that I fooled myself into believing this worked. I never had the filter running on its own -- always with some other filter. And it was probably these other filters that produced results. Thanks for giving me this clue, though. It only took testing on my other MBP to confirm what you are saying.


Now, there is something to be said to Apple about the whole Document Container filter: Why make it available without stating that it only works for iCloud...

"Document container" search problem

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