How to see folders of results in finder search?

Question

Level 1

46 points

How to see folders of results in finder search?

When you have a finder window open and you do a search, the results will be displayed by filename, but I can't see a way to see the folders these files belong to.

If you do it with the command line, you can see the folders; if you use windows, you can see the folders.

But with the finder, I just see filename, there are a few columns you can enable, but none showing the location of the file.

Is it a (really really bad) deficiency? or is there an option I'm missing?

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6), 2017

Posted on Aug 23, 2018 11:31 AM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

136,169 points

Aug 23, 2018 12:26 PM in response to ThomasD3

ThomasD3 wrote:

Yes, I know about the bottom of the window, but you can't sort the results by folder of origin which is super useful.

For a complete search, the best is the console since you can sort results any way you want, but I was hoping that in 2018 the Mac would incorporate a feature that has been in Windows since 1995. Usually Windows is really not pleasant to use, but to sort files, it has better views and better sort options which is kind of a shame.

No idea why it would be "super useful" since even in Windows I never had a use to sort files by the folder they were in. Nonetheless, you can send Apple feedback: Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 2

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Aug 23, 2018 2:05 PM in response to ThomasD3

There is right/control click on the folder icon at the top of the screen.

R

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Answer 3

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Aug 23, 2018 11:55 AM in response to Old Toad

Yes, I know about the bottom of the window, but you can't sort the results by folder of origin which is super useful.

For a complete search, the best is the console since you can sort results any way you want, but I was hoping that in 2018 the Mac would incorporate a feature that has been in Windows since 1995. Usually Windows is really not pleasant to use, but to sort files, it has better views and better sort options which is kind of a shame.

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Answer 4

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Aug 23, 2018 4:15 PM in response to rccharles

Depending on the work you do, it can be extremely useful; if you have files with identical names because they refer to some products and the different versions are stored in different folder depending on the state, being able to have a column with names and another one with folders is essential.

With some workload, it probably doesn't matter, but in some cases it is really important.

Normally I do it with the shell, but when you need to clean a problem and visualize things and move files around, lacking this ability in the finder is a problem.

I will have a look at PathFinder, thanks for the info.

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

215,864 points

Aug 23, 2018 11:47 AM in response to ThomasD3

I don't know of a way to see all of the file paths in one window but you can see the file path for any selected file in the search results window at the bottom of the window: