File tags are keywords you assign to files. They allow you to organize and find files.
File tags allow you to organize files when a simple folder structure won’t do. Better yet: file tags can improve your existing filing strategy and make files easier to find. Continue reading Use Tags to Organize and Find Files
Objective Development’s LaunchBar is an adaptive app launcher, document browser, and much more.
HoudahSpot is a powerful file search tool. It takes the guesswork out of Spotlight searches and helps you find files hidden deep in the “haystack” of files accumulated over the years.
HoudahSpot 5 includes a LaunchBar action that provides an elegant way to start a HoudahSpot search using LaunchBar. You can install this action from HoudahSpot > Preferences > Extensions.
The action is selected by typing the hs abbreviation in LaunchBar.
Continue reading How-to: Customize the HoudahSpot LaunchBar Action
In HoudahSpot you can open as many searches – windows or tabs – as you like. Sometimes you end up with more windows than you care for.
You found your file. The search is over. The next search is up. You open a fresh window. But first, you have to close the previous search. But what you actually do is delay housekeeping and clutter your screen with disused HoudahSpot windows.
HoudahSpot 5.0 works with St. Clair Software’s Default Folder X to deliver files where you need them.
Default Folder X enhances open and save file dialogs on macOS. It provides quick access to favorite folders and recent files. With Default Folder X you can manage and organize files without having to jump over to Finder.
Searching by file size can be very useful – not only to find and clean out large files, but also to limit search results to files large enough to be relevant.
When you add a new file size criterion to your HoudahSpot search, it defaults to searching for files that match a size you specify in MB. When searching for files larger than 1 GB, you might be tempted to type 1000 so as to avoid reaching for the mouse to change the unit from MB to GB.
Actually, there is a much easier way.
Continue reading Quickly Switch Between File Size or Time Units
In HoudahSpot, you can choose between hundreds of criteria to search for files. HoudahSpot also lets you specify in which folders to search and how to sort results.
Lots of options to choose from – and settings you don’t want to make over and again.
Search criteria, results display, and sort order are a matter of personal preference and habits. You may, for example, find yourself frequently searching for files by file name extension. You may prefer to search your full hard drive rather than just your home folder. You may want search results to always list file size.
Let’s see how you can set up HoudahSpot so that a fresh search window matches your preferred way of searching.
When you open HoudahSpot – and have not yet changed the default setup – you will see three preconfigured search criteria in the Refine section:
Continue reading What Search Criteria are Available in HoudahSpot?
MacOS file metadata holds many useful and diverse file facts. This is not limited to file size, extension or creation date. Depending on the type and the application that created it, there is a whole lot of information available on a file’s properties.
For e-mail messages, this can be sender name, e-mail subject and attachment type. Or duration, bit rate and musical genre for audio files. In photos, you can even find information on camera model, f-stop number and exposure time.
This metadata is useful when organizing files by specific criteria or searching for files with certain properties. E.g. images with a resolution higher than 72 dpi, audios shorter than thirty seconds, or e-mail messages containing PDF attachments.
But what metadata is available for a specific file type? How is it labeled? And what kind of information does it contain? HoudahSpot can help you find out.
The Services feature in macOS allows you to quickly perform actions – no matter what application you’re working in. HoudahSpot provides the following Services to start new searches from right where you currently are:
Services are available system-wide. Just choose Services from any application’s main menu or from the context menu. Assigning a keyboard shortcut to a Service makes access even faster.
Continue reading macOS Services: Quick Access to Searching with HoudahSpot
When you export your photos for viewing in Google Earth or Google Maps, HoudahGeo creates a KML file from one of two templates: “Default” or “Extended Track Info”. The later includes more details and thus produces larger files. This makes the “Default” template the better choice for use with Google Maps.
There are occasions where you may want to customize these templates:
Please note that KML template customization is not an official feature of HoudahGeo 5. It is very much a work in progress and still has rough edges. Moreover, the template system is subject to changes. The intrepid may read on and learn how to create custom templates for KML output in HoudahGeo.
You will need a basic understanding of HTML, XML, the Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language as well as the Mustache template system.
Please let us know if you use custom KML templates. But do understand that we cannot provide support for template customization. Malformed templates may produce unexpected results or cause HoudahGeo or Google Earth to crash.
Continue reading Create Custom KML Templates for Google Earth Export
