OS X Mavericks :: Getting Spotlight To List Search Results By Closest Name Match Not Document Type?
Sep 3, 2014
Example: when I type 'wireless info' into Spotlight on my computer the document 'wireless info' is the 29th search result listed. The top hit is a mail message named 'Re: Re: Reset the device, and new wireless info'. The other 27 items in the list above the document I was looking for are things like 'Introducing Portland.doc' and 'Les Amis B&B'.Â
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
I can type a search word into Spotlight. It will show results. I then open let's say an Appleworks text document from that search. Then I close that document and retry the same search: Now that same document will not show up in the search results for that exact word and it WILL NEVER show up again in search results. In other words after a file has been found and opened in search once , it will never appear in search results again for the same word.Â
I'm searching for a file in Finder. When I select "Preferences", which is the directory I'm in, it finds the file but when I select "This Mac" it doesn't.
I upgraded about a month ago from 10.6. I have since discovered that Spotlight will show up search results using a Western Digital external drive but no results when I use my Seagate Back Up Plus external drive, which is the main drive I use. How to get Spotlight to get to search the Seagate drive?Â
Info: iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 21.5" Mid July 2011
I have a list if 600 servers, and folder full of escalation documentation. What I'm looking for is the easiest way to feed spotlight that list and return a list of documents that contain at least one of those servers. We're moving a datacenter and I want to start figuring out what docs need to be updated.
I work everyday with my 21.5' iMac and it had OS Lion before I updated to Mavericks last month. As I work with lots of files, I have also a 1TB Lacie external drive pluged into it via firewire and I constantly access these files. After I updated though, I'm experiencing a strange problem. Everytime I search for a file on Finder, all the results that come up can't be edited or even selected. This is driving me crazy because I must open another tab and go all the way through the file I want as I can't select any file from the searches. All the search results come up written in gray color and with a empty circle on its left side. I can't even click on them! For better explanation, here is a picture of what happens:
Before the update, I used to normally access every result the search came up to.
I have another iMac here in the network with Mavericks too and all the searches returns with selectable and editable results.
I have a number of Mac's (all running Mavericks), connecting to a shared folder on a Mac we use as a 'server' (it doesn't run server software though, just Snow Leopard client).Â
Does Mavericks Mac's use the 'spotlight index' of this shared, networked, Snow Leopard Mac, or when we search it, it's just searching the actual file structure?Â
I'm having issues with searching this networked Mac (some files not being found and then a on later search they appear), and I don't know whether a rebuilding of the spotlight index on the networked Mac is a relevant troubleshooting step.Â
Since the latest upgrade of 10.9.3 my and other office computers have problems with searches using spotlight and Finder search on internal, external and networked volumes. This is a big roadblock to our office workflow. Reindexing doesn't fix the issue and we can see clearly that the files we are searching for are there.
I am unable to use the search window on the right to get results when Google is selected as the search engine.I type in a search term and I am directed to a blank google search page. I have to type in the search term again, then I see a list of "hits". But when
I click on one of these hits I am not directed to the URL displayed. I have quit out of Safari and relaunched. I have rebooted my Mac. Neither changes the problem... This is a Google problem: I have the same symptoms when I use Safari on Windows XP. When I switch the search engine to Bing, the problems go away, for both platforms Has Google been hacked? Is this a Google attack on Safari?  How can I enter GoGoDuck as a search engine choice? Â
Finder and Spotlight on my 10.6.5 Macbook are no longer returning results. Even within folders, querying ".pdf", for example returns no hits. Smart-folders with 'file kind' parameters also remain empty. How do I fix this?I have tried to find an answer using the MR "search forums" function, but can't figure out how to correctly enter the query to give specific results, (for example, it just returns lots of threads with "results" rather than "no results".
you can't sort your spotlight results by size unless you are in Icon view. How did they leave that out of List view? That is the only feature I'd hoped would be introduced in SL. It makes Spotlight searches as useless as they were in 10.5.
You know how you can calculate numbers in spotlight? It used to give me the answers but now it just says no results found. Oh and I enabled the calculator via the terminal command that I found through this and restarted but still doesn't do calculations
Since some time my search functions in Mail and Calendar aren't working properly. I can find my mails in the spotlight function from lion itself, but inside the mail program I get no results.
I tried several things: 1. Delete all my accounts on (is IMAP) and redownloaded them from the server. 2. Removed envelope files in Library folder mail 3. Add harddisk to privacy map on spotlight preferences and removed it (saw reindexing from harddisk) 4. Checked terminal with following command: 'sudo mdutil -s /Volumes/*', results:
(Backups is external network drive for backups). (Server Data is external USB drive for data from clients) (Server Systems is local drive, not shown in terminal ?!?)
Possible causes to problem: Reinstalled server software (and got it working properly this time), Renamed harddisk, installed back-up software named carbon copy cloner, setup VPN.
Say I search for "mp3" on my airdisk via finder. No results show up even though I know for a fact there are mp3's on the air disk.
I select "shared" and "filename" in the search bar when it comes up to search all shared drives with the filename (which has mp3 in it). Is this because spotlight doesn't index this drive?
My question is about "Preview". I have a very large PDF document that I am using preview to view. After doing a search for a specific word, preview has returned 1200 results. The results panel shows the page number the result is found on and the line of text on which the searched-for-word is found. My question is this: Is there a way to export this information from preview to something like an excel file? The end result would look like a table with two columns. One with the page numbers and one with the line of text in which the word appears.
Unable to see the search results in the iTunes App Store.
I'm using iTunes v10.6.3. Whenever I type in my search criteria, all I get is a black box underneath my search bar (see photograph, top right). Using my cursor, all I get when going down inside the black box area is horizontal white bars with no text.
I'm on a MacBook, 10.6.8. I just got an iPad 3 & iPhone 4GS. The Apple store set them up for me. They also set up Mail for me, which I've never had before (because I use Yahoo), and which totally confounds me and which I suspect is related to this problem. Now when I search for, say, a document, hundreds of emails are listed as well, making it difficult, time-consuming and frustrating to find the item I really want. Is there a way to filter out or turn off email results (and websites for that matter, since I don't search for them that way) in search results?
Some time in the past week or to, the search results that are returend from Finder, are now in descending order. I have no idea when or how that was changed, but I'd like to change it back to ascending. How do I accomplish?Â
I tried clicking and right clicking the column header. Nothing. Can't find anything Settings either. Â
Info: iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4), New hardrive installed may 2012
Safari keeps quitting on me due to a plugin called ".foxeasyvideo.png". When I search for the plugin in finder, I get no results. I look in my main and user library under "internet plugins" and nothing is in there under that name. How do I find and delete this plugin? Safari is quitting almost every time I use it.
Info: MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Using Safari 5.1.5
today i was on my macbook and realized that all of my alert sounds were not working. for example, if i got a new message in ichat or new email there would be no sound. Also, when i take a screenshot there is no sound, but there usually is one. My speakers are working because i am able to play music in itunes. Also, i system preferences, the search box does not show any results like it always does
when i run a search in mail it is totally cluttered up with what appear to be DRAFTS of outgoing emails that are in the TRASH.is there a way to stop mail from creating these or to hide them from my search results?it's like someone upturned my trash buckets onto my desk over here.
When I am using Google image search in Safari, my MacBook freezes for about 20-30 seconds before it shows the results. It just shows me grey boxes in the beginning and loads for a long time. I had the same issue with my old MBPro, but also with my beand-new one.
Info: MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I received my MBP last week. everything was great, no problem at all. but since few days ago, I can't type anything to the search panel at Finder! sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt!
i was wondering what can be the reason. it is so annoying problem, i transfered all my files, and i need to search to organize them
here is the place marked with RED where exactly I mean. but this problem is not only for Search Finder panel, it happens at any Finder panel.
I am pretty new with Mac and I am trying out my new macbook pro. I'm trying to get to know it. And a while ago I was trying the Spotlight feature. I have a file under User/Library/Preferences/ that is called [URL] I just thought I'd try to search for it on Spotlight if it can find it. I typed myname123 on spotlight but no results were found. Why? Are there any specific strings that should be entered if the search string is between a filename?
