Finder only searching song titles

Question

Level 1

8 points

Finder only searching song titles

I'm having a problem with finder in El Capitan 10.11.4. If I go to a music folder (mp3s) on my MBP, and search for "ella", finder will show me all of the files with "ella" in the filename (~500 of them). If I tell finder to search "name: ella" or "filename: ella", it will return only the files with "ella" in the ID3 title field. Even when I specifically tell it to search by filename, it only returns files with "ella" in the song title. Every file with "ella" as the artist is ignored unless "ella" is also in the song title.

If I wipe my spotlight index, I can search by filename and it shows me all the files with "ella" in the filename for a short period of time. When the indexing gets to the music folder, it goes back to only showing songs with "ella" in the title.?

How can I fix this?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on May 19, 2016 6:39 PM

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Answer 1

Rysz

Level 8

44,455 points

May 19, 2016 7:17 PM in response to QuadMBP

Finder only looks at the file name, which is usually just the song name, sometimes with track number as a prefix.

To search any or all metadata tags, search from within iTunes.

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Answer 2

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,022 points

May 19, 2016 7:19 PM in response to QuadMBP

iTunes has it's own search function in the upper right.

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Answer 3

ChitlinsCC

Level 7

21,140 points

May 19, 2016 7:48 PM in response to QuadMBP

from > OS X Yosemite: Narrow down search results

...

...
kind:music by:“glenn miller” searches for music by Glenn Miller. <(this is the article's example)
kind:music by:“ella fitzgerald” searches for music by Ella Fitzgerald. <(my modification as example)
...

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Answer 4

QuadMBP Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 9:15 AM in response to Rysz

Rysz please re-read my post. Finder is *not* searching the filename, that's the problem. I don't want to search by meta tags, I want to search by filename.

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Answer 5

QuadMBP Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 9:17 AM in response to leroydouglas

Leroydouglas: Thanks for the response but I'm not interested in using iTunes. I do a combination of song editing and DJing, so searching for songs in iTunes doesn't help me.

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Answer 6

QuadMBP Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 9:20 AM in response to ChitlinsCC

ChitlinsCC: That requires "Ella Fitzgerald" to be in the ID3 tag. Finder works fine with the ID3 tag. My problem is that when I search

Filename: Ella

It doesn't find the files with Ella in the filename. It only finds files with "Ella" in the ID3 TITLE tag.

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Answer 7

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,022 points

May 20, 2016 9:21 AM in response to QuadMBP

Verify your preferences are checked. >System Preferences>Spotlight

You can try reindexing your spotlight search if still having problems

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 8

QuadMBP Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 9:24 AM in response to leroydouglas

Please reread my original post. I tried rebuilding the index. If I remove the index, I can search by files. That works *until* the indexer gets to the music files. Once the new index is built, I cannot search by filename anymore.

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Answer 9

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,022 points

May 20, 2016 9:26 AM in response to QuadMBP

QuadMBP wrote:

Please reread my original post. I tried rebuilding the index. If I remove the index, I can search by files. That works *until* the indexer gets to the music files. Once the new index is built, I cannot search by filename anymore.

What if you were to uncheck some boxes in Spotlight preferences

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Answer 10

ChitlinsCC

Level 7

21,140 points

May 20, 2016 10:02 AM in response to QuadMBP

watch your SPACES - try no space after the colon

filename:ella

(a long shot, but worth trying)

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Answer 11

QuadMBP Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 1:57 PM in response to ChitlinsCC

I tried with and without the space. No help.

If I uncheck categories in Spotlight, the files just stop showing up at all.

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Answer 12

ChitlinsCC

Level 7

21,140 points

May 20, 2016 2:01 PM in response to QuadMBP

Alas, I am at a loss - I cannot check with Spotlight versioned later than OS X 10.4.11 Tiger

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Answer 13

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,022 points

May 20, 2016 2:06 PM in response to QuadMBP

QuadMBP wrote:

No help.

Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You can try calling Contact - Official Apple Support

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Answer 14

dialabrain

Level 10

136,349 points

May 20, 2016 2:14 PM in response to QuadMBP

QuadMBP wrote:

Rysz please re-read my post. Finder is *not* searching the filename, that's the problem. I don't want to search by meta tags, I want to search by filename.

I must be missing something. You said in your original post…

QuadMBP wrote:

I'm having a problem with finder in El Capitan 10.11.4. If I go to a music folder (mp3s) on my MBP, and search for "ella", finder will show me all of the files with "ella" in the filename (~500 of them).

So it seems the Finder is indeed finding the files by filename. It seems you are just concerned you can't type "Name:" in the search?

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Answer 15

ChitlinsCC

Level 7

21,140 points

May 20, 2016 2:27 PM in response to QuadMBP

It may be useful to know your ultimate goal... what are you gonna DO with the results if you get 'em? (we may be able to offer an alternate method)

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