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Hi:
I am using a Mac with Mac OS Sierra. I would like to find all PDF files. Entering *.PDF in the search for Finder doesn't locate them. Does this work and if so, how can I locate these files? Thanks.
Mac Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)
Open a Finder window first, then the View menu options will be available to you.
Also, enter Spotlight into the Finder Help menu as shown in the following graphic, and then select the red arrow selection. This will give you more strengths in finding content on your Mac, provided that you have checked the appropriate selections in the Spotlight Preferences : Search Results list.
Open a Finder window first, then the View menu options will be available to you.
Also, enter Spotlight into the Finder Help menu as shown in the following graphic, and then select the red arrow selection. This will give you more strengths in finding content on your Mac, provided that you have checked the appropriate selections in the Spotlight Preferences : Search Results list.
In Finder Preferences, I have the following settings:
New Finder windows show: The house icon with short user name.
When performing a search : Search the Current Folder.
Also, it pays to have the Finder View menu : Show Path Bar selected.
Additionally, in your case of searching for PDF Documents, you should first have PDF Documents selected in System Preferences : Spotlight panel : Search Results.
Then you can perform a Spotlight search from either a new Finder window's search input (without ⌘+F), or from Spotlight itself:
kind:PDF
This will initially show all PDF documents in your home folder hierarchy, and by clicking the "This Mac" alternative on the Finder window's sub-toolbar, you can see all PDF on your Mac. Because you enabled "Show Path Bar" in the Finder, when you click on any PDF icon, you will see its path at the bottom of the Finder window.
The Spotlight icon from the menubar, when using the above query, will offer to “Show all in Finder...” which provides the equivalent of the “This Mac” choice from the preceding paragraph.
If you combine:
kind:PDF name:xyz
the query will find all PDF with the “xyz” string in the filename.
Thanks, this is very helpful. A lot to learn. The only thing that still didn't work is selecting the Show Path Bar in the View of Finder. It shows grayed out "Hide Path Bar" and cannot be changed..... But I have now what I was looking for and more.
Yes, you are right. It is always easy when you know what to do. Everyone doesn't know everything like you expert users, so while the shortcut did the job, seeing the options one has is also very helpful.
If not too much to ask about, how did you paste in the capture in your reply? I know how to create a capture for a selected area of the screen. However, usually I just do a copy/paste of it from the desktop, which in this case did not work...
There are two ways:
1 - use the camera icon in the tool bar which will ask you to locate and select the image file to include. It will be inserted wherever the cursor is located.
2 - click and drag the image file from the Desktop into the response window. It will be placed wherever the cursor is currently located.
cmd-F, select This Mac, in the criteria select kind is PDF.
I don't find using an Asterisk as "intuitively obvious."
I'd rather just type pdf and select a search token to find PDF documents
Now that's completely intuitive.
It's so obviously easy the way Barney suggested:
To see where each file is located Control (right) - click on it and select Show in Enclosing Folder from the contextual menu:
Thanks a lot for the quick and very helpful answer.
It is not exactly "intuitively obvious".... Why cannot Apple do what the rest of the world does and make it user friendly instead of cryptic?
Thanks for taking the time to provide these useful explanations and examples. I was not aware of all of them. I am saving your response for future searches.
As I was following your suggested approach, I could not select in the Finder View menu the Show Path Bar.
It is grayed out and it shows Hide Path Bar... I am wondering why.
Thanks. This did the job, I can now see where the file is.
I appreciate everyone's time and the help.
Thank you very much, now I know one more thing.
How can I locate all *.PDF files on my hard disk?
