Frequent Mac Gems readers know that we ’re both both fans and critics of Spotlight , Tiger ’s modern lookup technology . Most of our ill revolve around Spotlight ’s port — it ’s more difficult than it should be to perform simple search ; certain types of more advanced searches are inaccessible to the distinctive exploiter ; and the listing of results you get can be difficult to work with .
As a result , we ’re always on the lookout for ways to improve Spotlight or to comfortably take advantage of its technology . A while back I wrote about EasyFind , a liberal choice to Spotlight for finding substance on your hard crusade . Not long after , my confrere Rob Griffiths covered MoRU , a $ 10-$18 front end to Spotlight that practice Spotlight ’s own index to perform search but makes more ripe search proficiency approachable . I ’ve latterly discovered another such option , Matt Neuburg ’s freeNotLight 1.3 ( ) .
Like MoRU , NotLight uses Spotlight ’s own indicator , so the results you get are the same as if you ’d actually used OS X ’s own searching options . But NotLight render two important improvements over Spotlight ’s own search functionality : the ability to easily do more accurate searches , and a better effect listing . Not one to mince Good Book , Matt explain the appeal of NotLight thusly : Apple ’s Spotlight GUI front ends are stinking . The Terminal [ sic ] is excellent , but it ’s really for expert user . Somewhere in between , there require to be a dim-witted GUI front end that help the user take shape real Spotlight searches . And that ’s what NotLight is destine to be .
NotLight provides admission to Spotlight ’s advanced hunting capability without being overwhelming . First , you choose the character of search ( in Spotlight language , thesearch samara ) you require to perform : Display Name ( a standard “ name ” lookup ) ; Full Name ( which seemingly may differ from the exhibit name , depending on your system language and things such as secret file extensions ) ; Content ; Finder Comment ; university extension ; Type Code ( the older “ file type ” computer code from the classic Mac OS ) ; and Modified Date . Text in the middle of the NotLight window explain each option in detail ; for illustration , in the screenshot below , NotLight explains what a “ Display Name ” search does and how to use asterisks ( * ) to heighten your search :
( remark that Spotlight does n’t seem to index Full Name , Type Code , and Modified Date data about Indian file , so these lookup will be slower than the others , as they ’ll take piazza in real fourth dimension . )
Then you typecast your search bowed stringed instrument — what you desire to bump — in the text field . As noted in NotLight ’s onscreen description , you could habituate asterisks as “ wildcards . ” For example , to recover all file cabinet with name beginning with the wordpersonal , you would utilize the Display Name hunt and case
you may also specify extra search options via the checkboxes below the text field . Word - found entail a mates will be come up if a filing cabinet ’s name fit any word of honor of your lookup term . Case - insensitive mean case will be ignored during the search ; for example , a hunt forMacwill find bothMacandmac . Diactric - insensitive will disregard diacritical mark when doing a Display Name search , so , for representative , a search formöglichwill also findmoglich , and frailty versa .
Finally , there ’s an option to insert “ Contains ” wildcards — an star before and after the hunting terminal figure — as well as an option to make this the default search behavior . The latter selection emulates Spotlight ’s standard search mode by making all search a “ Contains ” search . ( As with Spotlight , with this option enable , you wo n’t actually see the star in your hunt field of battle . ) This is loosely the preffered approaching , as it means you ’ll get more results . However , there may be times when youdon’twant to search this way — perhaps you want to come up only Indian file with names that match your search term exactly . By handicap Auto - Contains Mode , you may easy do such a search .
( There ’s also a bulge out - up card that lists Boolean operator : = = mean “ is ” or “ match ” ; ! = mean “ is not ” or “ does n’t jibe ” ; > = means “ majuscule than or equal to ” ; and < = intend “ less than or adequate to . ” For most searches , specially schoolbook searches , you should give this menu alone . These options are useful chiefly for day of the month hunting and hunt involving numbers . )
penetrate the Search button , or closet return , and NotLight performs your search . By default , it searches your integral operose drive — or as much of it as Spotlight normally searches . ( Spotlight does n’t search a number of organisation - grade folder , nor does it search other substance abuser ’ menage folders . ) However , if you desire to specify your search to a particular pamphlet or a different book , simply cart that folder or mass to the “ Drop a leaflet here to search in it ” field at the bottom of the NotLight window ; only that directory will be searched . ( Even easy , if the desired pamphlet is the combat-ready Finder windowpane , you could just click the Finder button . ) If you require to search another folder at the same time , drag it into the window , as well ; you could search as many folders as you care . ( To get disembarrass of a search directory , click theXbutton next to it . )
Instead of the limited effect lean you get when using Spotlight ’s fare - streak hunt , NotLight displays a full lean of all results . And unlike Spotlight ’s results windowpane , which forces you to click a midget “ i ” button — foreachfile — to view important file information , NotLight ’s results windowpane tilt each file cabinet ’s name and file path and , optionally via the Options menu , its modified date and icon . ( Note that the latter two options may slow the lookup a mo . ) For the queer , the results window also displays the existent spot inquiry used by NotLight to perform the search . twofold - click a Indian file in the results listing reveals it in the Finder .
( I ’ve reduced the sizing of the above screenshot to match here , but it ’s actually a prominent , well-heeled - to - register window . )
NotLight also make it much easier than Spotlight to do more complex ( AND , OR , or NOT ) search . The light way to do this is to execute a search for one term , shut the results windowpane , then recruit the second hunt terminus — but do n’t flick the Search button . Instead , click Search Also ( for an OR hunting that provides result matching either term ) or Search Within ( for an AND search that supply only those results matchingbothterms ) . In other words , you ’re add up lookup resultstothe current resolution , or you ’re searchingwithinthe current results to specialise down your hunting , severally . ( The ! = choice , which basically means “ does not match , ” can be utilitarian here , when used with the Search Within button , for excluding special single file from an existing lookup . )
mogul user can take advantage of NotLight ’s ripe hunting draftsman , approachable via the “ umbrella ” clit . I wo n’t get into the nitty - gritty of this drawer here , but NotLight ’s assistant is excellent and explains how to use this feature to execute complex hunting in one stride , as well as how to look for usingSpotlight ’s modern hunting sentence structure . you’re able to also save lookup question for later exercise .
Date searches are also sluttish via NotLight ’s Date Assistant ( accessible via the Window menu ) . you could choose from among several pre - delimitate date - based enquiry , record a relative time ( time ago or from now ) , or go into a specific engagement / prison term . It ’s with these engagement searches that the > = and < = option come in ready to hand , as they let you , for case , search for all file modify in the preceding week . ( Although note that Spotlight ’s queries are a bit counterintuitive here : To search for file qualify in the past calendar week , you would embark “ 1 Weeks Ago ” in the Date Assistant window and then choose > = , since Spotlight is actually seek for all files with a “ larger”—later — date than a week ago , not for single file “ modify less than one week ago . ” )
Finally , if you ’re a Spotlight - syntax pro who frequently use other search keys , you may use NotLight ’s hunting Keys dialog to add yourfavorite type of Spotlight searchesto NotLight ’s pop - up menu .
There are a few lineament I ’d like to see in future versions of NotLight . For object lesson , the ability to search for visible / invisible files and an option to take in single file size in the results window would be welcome . I ’d also wish to see NotLight automatically switch the “ operator ” pop - up carte du jour to = = when you choose a hunting method other than Modified Date ( so you do n’t accidentally execute text searches with > = or < = , which will unremarkably provide meaningless upshot ) . It would also be useful to be able to miss particular folders , or to exclude specific paths , from a search , but Spotlight ’s lookup syntax allow no unsubdivided room to do this , so I ca n’t blame NotLight for this ommission .
Although I still have n’t find a perfect Spotlight port or alternative , with utilities such as NotLight , EasyFind , and MoRU out there , Mac OS X users have pile of quality searching options .
