I often use SpotLight to find files in macOS Mojave.
However, many times there are multiple files with the same name. Is there a way to display the full path for each file in the spotlight window where the found files are listed?
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4 Answers
If you want to view the path to the file directly in the spotlight search you can simply hold down cmd ⌘:
Without cmd ⌘:
With cmd ⌘:
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This does not show the full path and the Finder does. Still, I learned something new. Commented Mar 30, 2020 at 10:26
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@DavidAnderson it gives enough for you to know where the file is more quickly than running a search in Finder (in the case that you have many files with the same name). This is probably OK for 99% of the time but your method is better for the few cases where it doesn't give you enough to know where the file is, for example with files with really long paths/names. Commented Mar 30, 2020 at 10:29
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@n1000 if you navigate to a line with the arrow keys as before and hold down cmd once there, the line itself will change to display the path Commented Apr 26, 2021 at 10:11
When Spotlight is selected from the Menu Bar, the window does not show the full path, as shown below.
However, if you select Show all in Finder..., then the full path is shown in the Path Bar at the bottom of the Finder window. In the image below, the full path is shown as ~/Desktop/Dave.txt. If there is not enough room to display the full path, then the full path can be read by placing the mouse over the text. Also, any part of the path (including the full path) can be dragged and dropped into a text window.
If you need to preview a document in the Finder window, the highlight the file and press Cmd-I, as shown below.
When Spotlight is not being used, the Path Bar in the Finder window can be toggled between hide and shown by pressing Opt-Cmd-P. You can also select Hide Path Bar or Show Path Bar under View in the Menu Bar.
answered Mar 30, 2020 at 7:55
Wanted to elaborate on @compuphys that now you can even open the file in finder by pressing cmd ⌘Return ↵.
By default, macOS includes a shortcut to invoke "Finder search results": option-command-Spacebar. This is simply a different view from Spotlight's same index.
To customize the shortcut, open System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts, select Spotlight and click once on the entry to the right of the option. (For example, you could disable the typical Spotlight results, then update the Finder results with the original command-Spacebar shortcut.)
