I discover myself frequently needing to restrict a search to a specific form of file, like photos or mail messages. Or I do know that I’ve a restricted variety of recordsdata on my Mac of a sure variety, like these created by OmniGraffle, and I can’t keep in mind the file identify—simply that I created it in OmniGraffle!
You need to use Highlight within the Finder or create a wise folder for repeated makes use of that may match this want. Within the Finder, press Command-F to carry up a brand new window with the main target within the Search discipline.
From right here, you possibly can sort freeform, getting into one thing like variety:omnigraffle or variety:picture statue when you’re searching for all picture recordsdata in any format with statue within the title or metadata.
You’ll be able to refine this additional by, as a substitute of utilizing the Search discipline, utilizing the standards fields slightly below. By default, macOS prefills the search window with “Sort” and “Any.” From the primary popup menu, you possibly can select completely different standards, however Sort is an effective place to start out. From the second menu, which reads Any, you possibly can select completely different common classes, like Picture, Doc, or Textual content. The Finder teams all of the completely different recognized file sorts for these classes into that search.
What when you’re searching for one thing extra specific, like each video within the .mov file format in your Mac? I’d say begin with Sort set to Film, in any other case, you’ll get matches in different recordsdata that finish with .mov that aren’t film recordsdata, as I did!
Then click on the + signal on the proper of the Sort line and select Title, Ends with, and enter .mov.
If it is advisable to repeat this search, click on Save and it can save you the question as sensible folder to entry once more with out rebuilding your request.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a query submitted by Macworld reader Leonie.
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