HT204014: Mac Basics: Spotlight helps you find what you're looking for

Learn about Mac Basics: Spotlight helps you find what you're looking for
jbersier
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Highlight the result of a search with Spotlight

Hi Community,

 

Question regarding SPOTLIGHT (Maverick)

 

Is there any way to highlight the searched element in the document viewer (on the right of the list of items displayed).

It would be extremely helpful to see actually where the search element appears in the document viewer (e.g. a word in a document or an email).

 

I am doing translations and therefore frequently want to see in which context a word was used. When I search this word, I get a (long) list of documents and the document selected is "viewable", which is nice. However, in order to precisely find the word in the document, I have to open this document and to search the word again to locate it in the text. Some utilities on Windows (such as Copernic Desktop Search) shows you the list of document, and when you select this document, you actually see the first occurence (at minima) of the searched word highlighted in yellow.

 

Thanks for support.

 

JP

Posted on Apr 12, 2015 9:52 AM

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jbersier

Q: Highlight the result of a search with Spotlight

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  • by VikingOSX,Helpful

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Apr 13, 2015 2:25 AM in response to jbersier
    Level 7 (20,638 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 13, 2015 2:25 AM in response to jbersier

    You are not on WIndows, and the short answer is no. You must still open the file and use the application's Find facility to identify the selection. Once Spotlight finds the file object that satisfies the search critierion, it is effectively done. You may wish to investigate further in the OS X App Store to see if there is an application there that achieves your search and highlight goal.