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Mac OS X has a feature where if you use any search box in any app, it automatically overwrites every other search box with the text you searched.

I find this rarely useful and it often interferes with any workflow where I expect an individual app to stay pre-filled with what I last searched in that app. Is there any way to disable it?

(I've also never seen anyone discuss this feature anywhere. When was it introduced? Does it have a name? Is it mentioned anywhere in the documentation on developer.apple.com?)

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It's usually called the find pasteboard or find clipboard, and I think it has been around since before OS X.

I tried using strings to search in frameworks, but I didn't find any hidden preferences for making it application-specific.

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Thanks. Your answer helped me find out it's known as NSFindPboard and appears to have existed since early versions of NextSTEP. Still no closer to figuring out how to disable or control it... – grahamparks Jan 16 at 19:45

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