Tembo includes a couple of hidden features and settings. Read on for instructions to enable or configure these features.
- Default search scope
- List mounted volumes
- Maximum result count
- Sort by date added
- Grouped results: Date and time values
- Show results with no value for the sort attribute
These settings are intentionally hidden.
If things go wrong, you may need to trash your Tembo preferences file.
To update one of these settings use the defaults command
- Quit Tembo.app
- Launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
- Paste the suggested command into the Terminal window
- Hit Return
To access your Tembo preferences file
- Quit Tembo.app
- Hold down the option key as you select Library from the Go menu in Finder
- This will open the ~/Library folder
- Within the Library folder, locate and open the Preferences folder
- Within the Preferences folder, locate the com.houdah.Tembo.plist file
If you wish to reset preferences
- Trash the ~/Library/Preferences/com.houdah.Tembo.plist file
- If you are running Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you need to restart your Mac
1. Default search scope
New Tembo searches open to search “Local Volumes”. This is controlled by the defaultSearchScope setting. You may set this to any valid path or one of these values: kMDQueryScopeHome, kMDQueryScopeComputer, kMDQueryScopeNetwork.
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo defaultSearchScope "~/Documents"
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo defaultSearchScope "kMDQueryScopeHome"
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo defaultSearchScope "kMDQueryScopeComputer"
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo defaultSearchScope "kMDQueryScopeNetwork"
To revert this setting to the default behavior, use:
defaults delete com.houdah.Tembo defaultSearchScope
2. List mounted volumes
Tembo can be configured to list currently mounted volumes in the “Where:” section of the main sidebar.
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo listVolumeScopes -bool YES
To revert this setting to the default behavior, use:
defaults delete com.houdah.Tembo listVolumeScopes
3. Maximum result count
By default Tembo displays up to 2500 results in drill-down views. This limit can be adjusted by updating the maxCount setting.
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo maxCount -integer 5000
To revert this setting to the default behavior, use:
defaults delete com.houdah.Tembo maxCount
4. Sort by date added
Tembo offers options to sort results by date last opened, date modified or date created. There is also a hidden option to sort results by date added.
The date added attribute records the date when a file was copied or downloaded to your Mac. This may be significantly more recent than date created or modified. Not all applications or versions of Mac OS X record values for this attribute.
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo enableDateAddedSorting -bool YES
To revert this setting to the default behavior, use:
defaults delete com.houdah.Tembo enableDateAddedSorting
5. Grouped results: Date and time values
By default, Tembo displays the date last opened in the grouped results list. This may show no value if a file was – to the knowledge of Spotlight – never opened.
Alternatively you may have Tembo display the date the files were created, modified or added to the system. This behavior is controlled by the groupedResultsViewDateAttributeKey setting.
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo groupedResultsViewDateAttributeKey "kMDItemContentCreationDate"
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo groupedResultsViewDateAttributeKey "kMDItemContentModificationDate"
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo groupedResultsViewDateAttributeKey "kMDItemDateAdded"
You may also set the grouped result list to always show the date value used for sorting results:
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo groupedResultsViewDateAttributeKey "-"
To revert this setting to the default behavior, use:
defaults delete com.houdah.Tembo groupedResultsViewDateAttributeKey
6. Show results with no value for the sort attribute
By default Tembo excludes files from the result list when there is no recorded value for the attributed used for sorting. E.g. when sorting by date last used, files which – to the knowledge of Spotlight – have never been opened will not be listed.
defaults write com.houdah.Tembo applySortKeyFilter -bool NO
To revert this setting to the default behavior, use:
defaults delete com.houdah.Tembo applySortKeyFilter