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Tag: Search

What’s New in Tembo 3.0?

macOS 11 and 12 have introduced a dramatic new look representing a significant aesthetic departure from previous macOS versions. Tembo 3.0 adopts this refreshed Mac user interface with a fine-tuned new look, a new icon, and a redesigned toolbar. 

Moreover, Tembo 3 adds support for Macs with Apple Silicon processors. It gives you the best performance on the latest Mac hardware.

Apple Mail Plug-in

Tembo 3.0 can again search Apple Mail messages.

Starting with macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple Mail messages are no longer available through the Spotlight index used by Tembo .

Tembo 3.0 can nonetheless find your Apple Mail messages. Tembo installs a plug-in that runs within the Mail application. This plug-in allows Tembo to include Mail message files in your search results.

Enhanced Grid View

In Grid view, you can turn on additional file information which will display information like an image’s size, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, and other metadata directly below the file name.

File Tags

Your favorite file tags are now available from the context menu. Customizable keyboard shortcuts allow for quick tagging.

Further Enhancements

  • Search By Date: Tembo 3.0 adds new options to search for files by time frame
  • Options: New options menu to quickly adjust your search parameters. Set default options in Tembo preferences
  • Apple Silicon: Tembo 3.0 works with the latest versions of macOS and fully supports Apple Silicon Macs

 

Non-Recursive Search: Find Top-Level Files Only

HoudahSpot searches “recursively” descend into subfolders: results will include files from the folder where you are searching as well as files from folders nested within that folder.

In HoudahSpot you can list folders where you want to search. You can also exclude folders (and their subfolders) from the search: just drag the folder from the breadcrumb path at the bottom of the HoudahSpot window to the Locations/Exclude list.

In most cases, you want search results to include nested items. You have organized your files in a folder hierarchy and are using a search tool to find files anywhere in a folder tree of related files.

Sometimes you want to see only results from the top-level folder. You can repeat the above procedure to exclude more folders. Excluding all subfolders, one by one would be tedious. We will use a filter instead. Continue reading Non-Recursive Search: Find Top-Level Files Only

Efficient File Searches using Filters

HoudahSpot uses the Spotlight index maintained by macOS. This allows for lightning-fast file searches and enables HoudahSpot to find all kinds of files by name, text content, and metadata.

Spotlight does have its limitations. Some of these affect HoudahSpot. While HoudahSpot lets you combine any number of search criteria to hone in on specific files, you however cannot find or exclude files by their path.

You can, of course, use HoudahSpot to search in multiple folders at once. HoudahSpot also allows you to exclude folders from your search.

Screenshot: Smart Folder Exclusion
Multiple search locations. Smart exclusion

You do, however, need to list the folders you want to search or exclude. Since the Spotlight index does not know about file paths, you cannot set up a criterion on file paths.

For example, you cannot configure a search to ignore all files where some parent folder is named Temporary. You’d need to explicitly list all such Temporary folders.

Fortunately, HoudahSpot can filter search results to hide unwanted results. A single filter can prevent all Temporary files from cluttering up your file search.

Continue reading Efficient File Searches using Filters

Hook-ed on Files

Hook by CogSci Apps lets you create links between your documents, emails, web pages, and notes. On the Internet, links between web pages allow you to discover related content and navigate a vast sea of documents. Likewise, Hook puts files into order on your Mac.

Much like HoudahSpot, Hook is a productivity tool in the guise of a utility. Rather than solve problems you wouldn’t have without a computer, these tools empower your Mac to help you get your work done.

Of course, HoudahSpot and Hook work great together.

Continue reading Hook-ed on Files

HoudahSpot: The First 15 Years

Fifteen years ago, we released the first version of what came to be one of the most popular search tools on the Mac: HoudahSpot.

🎂 Happy Birthday, HoudahSpot!

When Apple introduced Spotlight search with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger in 2005, we felt that the Spotlight technology held a lot of promise. It allowed for blindingly fast file searches by relying on an index. We soon realized that the Spotlight interface left much of that promise unfulfilled. It lacked the finesse needed to hone in on the files we were looking for.

Thus was born the idea for HoudahSpot: “unleash Spotlight”. HoudahSpot should combine the speed of the Spotlight index with the flexibility and precision of standard file search. The idea came to life on May 8th, 2006, with the release of HoudahSpot 1.0.

Continue reading HoudahSpot: The First 15 Years

What’s New in HoudahSpot 6.1?

HoudahSpot 6.1 distills the feedback we received on the HoudahSpot 6 upgrade into a series of refinements: small changes that will subtly improve your file management.

Apple Mail Messages and MailTags

HoudahSpot can now find Apple Mail messages tagged by SmallCubed’s MailTags plug-in. HoudahSpot searches message keywords and project names. Requires MailSuite 2021 for macOS Big Sur.

Search tagged Mail messages
Find Mail messages by MailTag keywords

Continue reading What’s New in HoudahSpot 6.1?

Working With the File Info Pane

HoudahSpot uses the macOS Spotlight index for ultra-fast file searches. By building upon Spotlight, HoudahSpot can find files by name, text content, as well a wide variety of file properties and metadata.

Spotlight in turn relies on importer plug-ins to read all kinds of files. When indexing a file, Spotlight calls upon the plug-in that specializes in the file type at hand to extract text and metadata. Such importers are installed with the system and with applications that introduce new file formats.

The Info pane in HoudahSpot shows the information available for a given file. This is the metadata that the importer plug-in has shared with the Spotlight index.

File Info Pane: All Metadata
Photo file metadata

Continue reading Working With the File Info Pane

Video Tour of HoudahSpot 6.0

Finding files on your Mac can be a difficult and sometimes a frustrating task because of their sheer number — we all have so many!

HoudahSpot is an application that allows you to do refined searches to get just the files you are looking for and includes several useful presets right out of the box.

Todd Olthoff of ScreenCastsOnline revisits HoudahSpot and shows you all that is new in version 6.0.

Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline has covered HoudahSpot in the past so this screencast from Todd focuses on the updates that version 6 brings to the search party.

Below is a short preview. Watch the full show for free with a 7-day trial ScreenCastsOnline subscription. Continue reading Video Tour of HoudahSpot 6.0

Customize Your HoudahSpot Search Setup

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.

There are 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 extension. You may prefer to search your full hard drive rather than just your home folder. You may want search results always to list file size.

Let’s see how you can set up HoudahSpot so that a new search window matches your preferred way of searching.

Continue reading Customize Your HoudahSpot Search Setup

Was ist neu in HoudahSpot 6.0?

Read the English version of this post: What’s New In HoudahSpot 6.0

Mit macOS 11.0 Big Sur hält ein drastisches neues Aussehen Einzug – eine bedeutende ästhetische Abkehr von früheren macOS-Versionen. HoudahSpot 6.0 passt sich dieser aufgefrischten Mac-Benutzeroberfläche mit einem fein abgestimmten neuen Aussehen, einem neuen Icon und einer neu gestalteten Symbolleiste an.

Zudem kommt mit HoudahSpot 6 Unterstützung für Macs mit Apple-Silicon-Prozessoren.  Das bringt beste Leistung auf der aktuellsten Mac-Hardware.

HoudahSpot 6.0 hat selbstverständlich viel mehr zu bieten als gutes Aussehen. Es enthält eine Fülle von Funktionen und Verbesserungen, die deine Produktivität verbessern werden.

HoudahSpot 6 screenshot Continue reading Was ist neu in HoudahSpot 6.0?