Searching in the Finder is the first step to, well, find things on your Mac. Discover the ins and outs of looking for files on your Mac in this short article.
When you look for a file on a Mac utilizing Spotlight, Finder or another window with a search field, the default search variety is This Mac. Using the This Mac option suggests the search is carried out on the internal hard disk drive and all connected drives, such as external hard disks, USB thumb drives and even network-connected drives.
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While convenient, if you’re looking for a fairly unique text string and have no idea where the file could be, the results from such a broad search can be overwhelming or difficult to sort through, particularly when searching for a typical term or a string of characters used in a system file. Fortunately, you can quickly change the default search place for Apple macOS Finder.
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How to search the present folder or drive with macOS Finder
If you know the file’s basic location, such as the drive on which it’s saved or the folder where it lies, searching only that area will considerably narrow the results and assist you find the file faster.
To alter the default search location:
- Open Finder Settings by clicking anywhere on the desktop, clicking Finder on the menu bar and then selecting Settings (Figure A). You can also use the Mac keyboard faster way, Command +, in a Finder window.
Figure A
Open Finder Settings. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic. Select Advanced in the Finder Settings window to
alter the default search place( Figure B). Figure B Click Advanced. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic. Under When Carrying out A Browse, select Browse The Current Folder. Close the Finder Settings window. Now
other windows will browse within the presently picked folder. This is an excellent enhancement when you understand what folder the file is in however don’t understand exactly what the file is called(Figure C). You can always click the This Mac button to begin browsing the Mac once again. Figure C The search will now include only the contents of the folder you’re navigating within rather of the whole contents of your Mac. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic.
How to narrow macOS Finder search engine result
If you require to further fine-tune your the search engine result in a Finder window, you can use likewise the following techniques:
- Include requirements to your search, such as Kind, Last Opened Date and Name, on the search results page Finder window (Figure D).
Figure D
Narrow your search engine result by Kind, Last Opened Date and more.
- Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic. Consist of keywords in the initial search string– for instance: macOS suggestions kind: document(Figure E
). Figure E Usage keywords to narrow results inline with the search term. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic. Utilize a Boolean operator as part of your inquiry, such as AND, OR and NOT or a minus sign(- )for AND NOT– for example: macOS ideas kind: file OR kind: image (Figure F).
Figure F
Usage Boolean operators to narrow macOS Finder
search engine result. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic. More macOS Tips While this article concentrated on the Finder in macOS, you may also have other concerns such as:
Apple likewise revealed a lot of brand-new tech, such as macOS Sonoma, iPadOS 17 and iOS 17 at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this year. Take a look at TechRepublic’s cheat sheets to remain on top of the current in Apple’s ecosystem.
