Mac Search Options

When Searching a file or data in Mac OS X does not have to be done with Spotlight; there are also many other search tools available in most Mac applications. Here I will explain the different search options available in Mac OS X and in the common programs that come with the operating system.

Spotlight & Finder

Spotlight allows you to search files on hard drives which have been indexed. You can search files from the Finder in three ways:

(1) Use the search box on the Finder toolbar.

(2) Use the Spotlight options at top right side of the Mac OS X menu bar.

(3) Use the keyboard command Cmd-F to open a Finder search window.

When you enter a search keyword in the Finder or Spotlight text box, the search results will come up immediately below the search box. If the desired file is shown, just double-click on the file name to open it.

Spotlight & Mac OS X Applications

Spotlight also allows you to search songs in iTunes, email messages in Apple Mail, addresses in Address Book and for other similar functions in Mac OS X programs.

When a word is searched in a Spotlight application, results come up immediately. Some programs even use more than one function of Spotlight. For example Safari uses Spotlight for searching RSS feeds, browsing history and bookmarks.

Some programs do not use Spotlight inside the program but they give ways to highlight a document so that the files could be easily searched with global Spotlight searches. Some programs let you select keywords, which can be used for Spotlight searches later.

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