In OS X, Spotlight is an effective way to search your entire hard drive for a file or folder, email, or any other file. There are many other things Spotlight can do, and searching for files is just one of them. Spotlight is also capable of looking up dictionary definitions, launching apps, performing calculations, previewing audio, video, documents, and other files. This article will outline some of the benefits of using Spotlight and how to use Smart Folders, which allow you to search for a file even if you don’t know its name.
Open the PDF file that you wish to search by tapping on the file. Then tap the magnifying glass that is the upper end on the right side. Type the text or term that you want to search for, then you can click on the search section of the keyboard. You will see the search results provided, scroll to jump on the one you would like. An Outlook search includes the file names of attachments but not the text inside attachments. The keyboard shortcut for starting an advanced search is SHIFT + + F. To save a search as a Smart Folder, on the Search tab, click Save, and then enter a name for the Smart Folder.
Basic searchingOn a Mac, Spotlight can be used to search your hard drive for any file, folder, or email based on the search criteria being in the title or the body. So, if you have a document that you’ve lost, and you aren’t sure of the title, you can search using a word that you know is in the body of the document. This also works for emails.
For example, in the search result above, the Documents section displays Evernote,_Getting_Started_925.pages because the word “article” is in the body of the document.
Previewing files in SpotlightWhen the search result is displayed, you can mouse over the file name and a preview of it will appear to the left.
This works for many types of files such as images, documents of all kinds, and more. For audio and video files, you can play or preview the file right in Spotlight, by moving your cursor over the file and clicking the play button.
Determining the location of the fileHowever, when you see the search result in Spotlight, it does not reveal the location of the file. To determine the location of the file in the search result move your cursor over the file name, and press and hold the Command key, or click “Show All in Finder” at the top. If you press and hold the Command key, first the file name, then the location of the file will be displayed.
If you click “Show All in Finder”, it opens a new Finder window that displays all the files that meet the search criteria. If you single click on a file, its location is dispayed in the Path Bar at the bottom. If you are not sure if you have located the correct file, press the spacebar to preview it.
Double-clicking on the folder name in the Path Bar to the left of the file name brings you directly to the folder the file is in.
The result of the search might include a large number of files. If that occurs, you may be able to find the file more easily by clicking the List View icon, and then Arrange icon and changing to sort by Date Modified or Name. Also, typing a more specific search in Spotlight may narrow the search result.
Moving documents with “Move To…”Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and TextEdit have a handy “Move To…” option on the File menu. For documents like those, it make sense to simply open the document by clicking on it in the Spotlight search result, and the using File > “Move To…” and save the file to the location you want.
Searching by file extensionTo search for files by file extension, type the “.” in the search. For example, if you are trying to locate all the Pages files on you your computer you would type “.pages” in your Spotlight search.
Tangentially, if you have ever burned DVDs on your Mac, you may be able to free up significant space on your hard drive by searching for “.dvdproj” in Spotlight. If you decide you no longer need a (typically large) DVD project file and delete it, it does not delete the movie from iMovie or Final Cut.
Launching appsA simple but efficient way to take advantage of Spotlight is to use it to launch apps. To quickly launch an app that is not on your dock, just type the first few letters in Spotlight and press the Enter key.
Using Spotlight as a dictionary or calculatorIf you type a word in Spotlight, one of the results is a dictionary definition of that word. Moving your cursor over in the search result displays a definition. Clicking on Dictionary opens the Dictionary app, where a thesaurus and Wikipedia view are also available using the buttons at the top.
Customizing SpotlightTo customize Spotlight, type anything in the search area and click Customize Spotlight at the bottom. You can exclude different sources from the search result by unchecking the corresponding checkboxes. This can be worthwhile if you use it frequently.
For example, I choose to exclude Mail & Messages, Contacts and Web History from Spotlight searches because I find those results distracting. If I want to search for data in any of those apps, I can simply open up the app and search within it.
Using Smart FoldersIf you are looking for a file that you don’t the the name of, Smart Folders can be helpful. This can be especially true of image files where you don’t know the name because it was assigned by a camera. To search for files when you don’t know the name, open Finder and choose New Smart Folder from the File menu, or on the keyboard, use Command-Option-N. Click on the + sign on the top right and change “Any” to the kind of file you are looking for, such as “Image” or “Document.”
Then, click the + sign again, and and choose an additional criteria to search with such as Created Date. Type a number in the box to the right of “within last.” The example below would narrow your search result to all images on your computer that were created within the last 7 days, regardless of their name.
If you need to search for a file within a specific date range, you can do that using the After and Before operators, and setting the dates accordingly.
Remember, if you single click on a file, its location is revealed below in the Path Bar. If you are not sure if you have located the correct file single click on it, and then tap the spacebar to preview it.
If you close the Smart Folder a prompt will display asking if you want to save it. If you have located the file you were looking for, there is no need to save the Smart Folder. If you do save it, you will be prompted to name it, and add it to the Sidebar. If you do this, files that meet the criteria, even if you add them in the future, will be displayed in that Smart Folder. In other words, it becomes a saved search.
Everyone who owns a Mac should be aware of Spotlight and Smart Folders and their capabilities because they can make OS X more efficient and enjoyable. Please feel free to comment if you are using Spotlight in other ways, or want to add insight.
Notepad finally got some much-needed attention in Windows 10 1809. It’s been around since the first version of Windows and has always been a very basic text editor.
Well, Notepad is still a basic editor, and the interface is pretty much the same. But Microsoft added new features, made performance improvements, and fixed some bugs in Windows 10 1809 to give it a long overdue boost.
Here’s what you need to know about the improved Notepad in Windows 10 1809The Best New Windows 10 Features in the May 2019 UpdateThe Best New Windows 10 Features in the May 2019 UpdateHere are all the best new features in the latest updates to Windows 10.Read More.
Zoom In and Out
Prior to Windows 10 1809, if you wanted to view bigger text in Notepad, you had to change the font size of the text.
Now, you can zoom in and out on the text without changing the font size.
Go to View > Zoom and select Zoom In or Zoom Out.
You can also use the Ctrl + + (plus sign) and Ctrl + – (minus sign) keyboard shortcuts to zoom in and out, respectively. To go back to the default 100% zoom level, press Ctrl + 0 (zero).
You can also use a combination of the keyboard and the mouse to quickly zoom in and out. Press and hold the Ctrl key and scroll up with the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or scroll down to zoom out.
Wrap Around, Find and Replace, and Search AutoFill
Previously, when you started searching in the middle of a text file in Notepad, the search would go to the end of the file or the beginning of the file (depending on the selected direction), but not search the whole file.
In the new improved Notepad, Microsoft added an option to wrap the search around so you can search the whole text file from wherever the cursor is in the file.
When you press Ctrl + F and enter a word or phrase in the Find what box, check the Wrap around box to search the whole file.
Notepad also remembers the options you select now, so when you check the Wrap around box, it will stay checked the next time you use the Find dialog box to search.
Microsoft also added another handy feature—Search Autofill.
Say you want to find other occurrences of specific text in your file. Select the text you want to find and press Ctrl + F. Notepad automatically inserts the selected text into the Find what box on the Find dialog box, allowing you to quickly start your search.
Display the Status Bar with Word Wrap Enabled
Previously, when you enabled Word Wrap on the Format menu in Notepad, the status bar would disappear if you had it enabled. You couldn’t display both at the same time. When Word Wrap was enabled, the Status Bar option on the View menu was grayed out and unavailable.
Now you can enable Word Wrap and display the Status Bar at the same time. And you can disable both if you want.
Support for Text Files from Linux and Mac
Before Windows 10 1809, Notepad only supported Windows Carriage Return (CR) and Line Feed (LF) (CRLF) line endings for text files. When you opened text files created on Unix, Linux, or Mac, the line endings wouldn’t display correctly. The file would be a mess and line endings occurred in unexpected places. You had to open the file in WordPad, save it there, and then reopen the file in Notepad.
Notepad still uses Windows Carriage Return (CR) and Line Feed (LF) (CRLF) line endings by default. But Microsoft finally added support in Notepad in Windows 10 1809 for line endings in Unix and Linux (LF) and Mac (CR). So text files created on Unix, Linux, or Mac will now display correctly when opened in Notepad.
When you edit and save text files created on Unix, Linux, or Mac, Notepad preserves the type of line breaks from the operating system it was created in.
Search Bing Directly From Notepad
Notepad now allows you to search Bing directly from a text file.
Simply select a word or phrase and select Search with Bing from the Edit menu or press Ctrl + E. Notepad searches the web using Bing and opens the results in Microsoft Edge.
Unfortunately, you can only do searches from Notepad using Bing and Edge. There is no way to change to a different search engine or browser.
Other Changes, Improvements, and Bug Fixes
Microsoft made other small changes and improvements to Notepad. And they fixed some bugs.
Mac Finder Search Text In Files
Use a Keyboard Shortcut to Delete the Previous Word
Notepad already supports the Ctrl + left arrow and Ctrl + right arrow keyboard shortcuts to move through whole words at a time. You can also use the Shift + Ctrl + left arrow and Shift + Ctrl + right arrow keyboard shortcuts to select whole words at a time.
Now you can also use Ctrl + Backspace to delete the previous word.
Find Files On Mac
Using Arrow Keys on Selected Text
Previously, when you had some text selected and you used the left or right arrow key to move the cursor and deselect the text, the cursor would jump ahead or back one character.
Now, when you move the cursor with the arrow keys while some text is selected, the first key press deselects the text and puts the cursor right after or before where the selection was. The cursor is not advanced an additional character away from the selected text.
Improved Performance When Opening Large Text Files
If you often work with large text files, you’ll be glad to know that Microsoft promises improved performance when opening large files in Notepad.
Some Display Bugs Fixed
Microsoft also fixed some display bugs.
Although we haven’t noticed this bug, Notepad now correctly displays lines that don’t fit entirely on the screen.
Also, when saving a file, the line and column numbers on that status bar don’t reset to 1. They continue showing the correct position of the cursor in the text file.
Increase Your Productivity With the New Notepad
Although there are good Notepad alternatives out there with many more features, Notepad is there by default and still useful for tasks like taking quick notes, editing configuration files, writing scripts and code, and more. There are also some cool tricks you can do with Notepad. And now, with the new features and improvements, you can be more productive in Notepad.
If you still want a text editor with more features than even the improved version of Notepad has, we offer a list of Windows Notepad alternativesThe 6 Best Windows Notepad AlternativesThe 6 Best Windows Notepad AlternativesWindows Notepad is too simple, but Microsoft Office is overkill? If you're looking for a Notepad replacement, here are the leading alternatives. One will be perfect for you.Read More.
Mac Search Files By Date
Explore more about: Note-Taking Apps, Notepad, Windows 10.
Search For Text In Excel
Only 20 years late! Who still uses Notepad on Windows PC? Thats the first thing to go on any new PC of mine. And then to 'update' it with these totally useless updates as well? OMG!
Meh, I'll keep my Notepad++
I always found notepad too rudimentary since I stopped writing batch files to fix dos issues in windows 3.1
I have always used wordpad to open text files since I find it more functional than notepad, and it is also in Windows 10, but I will bet nobody even knows it is there. Can you tell us how the new notepad compares with wordpad?