You know that file is somewhere on your Mac. You’re pretty sure about the name. Maybe. Or at least part of it. Spotlight shows you a bunch of results that definitely aren’t it.
This happens to me more than I’d like to admit, which is why we keep working on HoudahSpot. Version 6.7 is out now.
What’s new in 6.7
Polish localization. Big thanks to Lukasz Preihs for translating the entire interface. If you work in Polish, HoudahSpot now speaks your language.
The Text Preview got faster. When you’re searching through documents or code, Text Preview shows you where your search terms appear, highlighted in context. I use this constantly—it saves you from opening a dozen files just to find the right one. In 6.7, we optimized how it loads and renders, especially for larger files. You’ll notice the difference if you search through a lot of text documents.
macOS 26 Tahoe compatibility. If you’re running the latest version of macOS, HoudahSpot just works. We still support back to macOS Mojave.
Why use HoudahSpot instead of Spotlight
Spotlight is fine for launching apps. For actual file search? I don’t know, it just never quite gets me what I need.
HoudahSpot lets you stack multiple search criteria. Find all PDFs created last week, larger than 2MB, in your Projects folder but not in the Archive subfolder. Or all photos from a specific camera between two dates that you haven’t tagged yet. That kind of thing.
You can save these as templates. So when you need to run that “invoices from this quarter” search again next month, it’s already set up.
If you’re managing thousands of photos, digging through code, or organizing research documents, this makes a real difference. The Text Preview feature—now faster in 6.7—is particularly useful. You see matching text highlighted in the results panel instead of opening each file individually.
Try it out
Download the free trial and see if it works for you. Fully functional, no credit card, no time pressure.
If you decide to buy it, HoudahSpot costs $34 + tax. One-time purchase, no subscription. Works on both Intel and Apple Silicon. Get it here.
What’s next
The Polish localization came from a user request. The Text Preview performance improvements came from watching how people actually use the app. If you have ideas for what should be in 6.8, we want to hear them.
Full details in the release notes.