Questions about Spotlight, a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system.
0
votes
2answers
966 views
How can I make spotlight ignore certain file types and directories?
Since spotlight continuously updates the index, sometime the file precedence gets changed around and I might type in "saf" and press return expecting to get Safari, but instead spotlight attempts to ...
0
votes
1answer
101 views
Base computation via Spotlight?
Is there a combination of math functions I could use in spotlight to accomplish change of base ? I know I can do it on a case by case basis with normal algebra.
0
votes
2answers
1k views
Change Spotlight's Top Hit?
Say I have two apps that match a search in spotlight (e.g. utility), it seems that Spotlight chooses the first application (sorted alphabetically) as the Top Hit. Is there any way to change this so ...
0
votes
1answer
434 views
How do I temporarily exclude a folder from a search?
I often use spotlight to locate documents quickly. The one annoying thing is that I often email documents to share them and spotlight will find the version of the document indexed in my mailbox ...
2
votes
3answers
520 views
Launch default browser spotlight shortcut?
I often switch my default browser between Safari and Chrome. I would like to create a shortcut that will launch the default browser, whatever that may be. This way I don't have to remember what my ...
3
votes
5answers
366 views
How to increase size of the Spotlight search results window?
Is it possible to increase window width of the Spotlight search results under Mac OS X 10.6.6? I mean the semi-transparent "instant search result" window appearing at the top right corner under ...
0
votes
0answers
195 views
How can I view the items in the Spotlight cache?
I'd like to view the data spotlight has imported. Is this possible?
EDIT: For example I can do this:
mdutil -svvv /Volumes/h8rdrive
and find out this volume was indexed.
I'd kind of like to ...
27
votes
8answers
17k views
How to stop OS X from writing Spotlight and Trash files to memory cards and USB sticks?
When plugging a USB stick into a Mac, OS X creates a number of hidden files on the stick, including a Spotlight index and Trash folder.
Example from the terminal for a USB stick "Untitled":
$ ls -a ...
2
votes
3answers
414 views
Editing iPhoto-specific metadata
Perpetua:2011-01-16 ashley$ mdls IMAG0107.jpg
...
kMDItemComment = "Cat with is tongue out."
So, here's my question. xattr can be used to modify some ...
1
vote
1answer
792 views
How to find a telephone number strored in contacts by searching for a substring on iPhone
I'd like to search my iPhone contacts using a part of a telephone number as a key (search by substring). The integrated spotlight search, however, doesn't return any entries when searching for a full ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I set Spotlight metadata to files?
I am looking for a command line utility (I need to use it in a script) that can set Spotlight metadata to files.
2
votes
2answers
226 views
How can I get Time Machine to ignore the data created by Spotlight?
I would like Time Machine to ignore the indexes and other metadata created by Spotlight, where are those kept on 10.6?
7
votes
1answer
935 views
How to ensure that spotlight indexes my entire drive?
Spotlight, is a fantastic tool. Took some years, but now I use the command line tools and it's awesome. However today, I found that spotlight does not index /System (!) I'd like spotlight to index ...
2
votes
1answer
174 views
Why is Spotlight listing some people from address book twice?
When searching Spotlight, certain Address Book contacts are listed twice. I have confirmed that I do not have two entries in Address Book for those individuals.
The problem is that one of the ...
1
vote
3answers
376 views
3
votes
3answers
291 views
Spotlight loses index of Applications
When I get warnings that my HD is nearly full (Macbook Air, 64GB SSD), spotlight always loses its index of applications. That means that I can't launch Safari or Mail or other apps, which is the only ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
How to use Regex with spotlight [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How Can I Search A Specific Type of File in Mac?
How could I use spotlight to search for example for files that end with jar or files that end with doc and at the same ...
0
votes
1answer
154 views
Is there a QuickLook app that will highlight search terms within MS Word documents?
I have a client with a large number of Word documents that he needs to be able to search. He's been using Spotlight and Quick Look, which has worked pretty well.
He asked me if there was a way to ...
2
votes
2answers
665 views
LaunchBar/Quicksilver as a replacement of Spotlight?
I asked about the usefulness of spotlight here, as I don't like the drag that spotlight causes all the time.
What I found useful in Spotlight is those two.
word lookup : spotlight opens ...
1
vote
3answers
344 views
Using Spotlight to play iTunes songs causes another song to play after resuming from pause
Spotlight allows you to play songs from iTunes. Unfortunately, when I pause the song and resume, iTunes goes back to playing what it was playing before I used Spotlight.
Is there any way to fix this ...
3
votes
5answers
275 views
How useful is spotlight?
Personally, I am happy with Spotlight in the sense I just use it for finding something. But, I'm also not happy with Spotlight, as I sometimes feel it slows down my Mac pretty much. Even, I can find ...
7
votes
1answer
8k views
Spotlight indexing appears stuck, what can I do?
My Spotlight index got corrupted, preventing me from searching messages in Mail.app. I added my HD to Spotlight's privacy list to delete the index. I then removed it from the privacy list so Spotlight ...
0
votes
2answers
264 views
Finding Firefox bookmarks in Spotlight
Is there a program that will allow me to use Spotlight to search my Firefox bookmarks and open the browser window?
6
votes
1answer
865 views
Why does my Spotlight index get corrupted?
Recently I have been having an issue where at least once a month my Spotlight index gets corrupted, and I can no longer search the content of mail in Mail.app. I can fix the problem by taking my HD ...
6
votes
5answers
4k views
How Can I Search A Specific Type of File in Mac?
Is there any way to search a specific type of file using Spotlight? I remember there was a special command or something that I had to put in front of the search phrase but I cannot remember it now.
...
3
votes
1answer
108 views
Search a phrase using Spotlight
I find Spotlight very very useful, however I would like to be able to search for documents that contain a given phrase, i.e. words appearing together, instead of anywhere in a document. Do you know of ...
