Finder Not Finding What I'm Looking For

[Waterdragon]

Hi Folks, It used to be that when I opened a "find" page ("apple" F) and typed in a word it came up with a few, very relevant results.Now I can be looking at the file icon (next to the find page), type the name in correctly and get a hundred results, none of which match what I typed. Other time it works just fine. I figure it's probably something I'm doing wrong--but what is it? Thank you!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Which version of OS X?
-Are you performing a Spotlight search in Finder?

C

 

[Waterdragon]

Hello and welcome.

-Which version of OS X?
-Are you performing a Spotlight search in Finder?

C

Hi again. El Capitan. No Spotlight search. (Haven't checked out that feature yet.) Just using the regular, old-fashioned "search" feature. ("Apple-F") (Which works well and predictably on my very old Mac running OS 10.4.)
Thank you again!

 

[Cory Cooper]

You could try changing the search parameters. In the Finder search window, just below Search: This Mac and the "folder" you are in, you should see some filter drop-downs. I believe Kind is Any are the defaults. Try changing them to say Name > contains > then enter your search text. That should return far less results. You can also narrow it down further by clicking the + button at the right side and adding more filters.

Let me know if that helps,

C

 

[Waterdragon]

You could try changing the search parameters. In the Finder search window, just below Search: This Mac and the "folder" you are in, you should see some filter drop-downs. I believe Kind is Any are the defaults. Try changing them to say Name > contains > then enter your search text. That should return far less results. You can also narrow it down further by clicking the + button at the right side and adding more filters.

Let me know if that helps,

C

Thank you. Yes, those things help. But not nearly as much as I need (or as makes sense)

You could try changing the search parameters. In the Finder search window, just below Search: This Mac and the "folder" you are in, you should see some filter drop-downs. I believe Kind is Any are the defaults. Try changing them to say Name > contains > then enter your search text. That should return far less results. You can also narrow it down further by clicking the + button at the right side and adding more filters.

Let me know if that helps,

C

Yes, I have tried all sorts of permutations and combinations. Both of those parameters and of the places from which I start the search. Which brings me to the same problem turned up-side-down. Sometimes I get no hits at all. Even when I haven't narrowed down the search. While I was first trying to figure out that part of the problem I tried searching for a document I knew existed, using just the name of the document with no other specifications, and even copying and pasting the name directly from it. Very confusing and frustrating to be looking right at the document, knowing I've spelled it correctly in the Finder, and yet the Finder can't seem to Find it! Very weird! I think i'm gonna start calling my Finder the Loser!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Understood. Maybe the Spotlight index is corrupted or incomplete:

Mac Basics: Spotlight helps you find what you‘re looking for

Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

C

 

[Iconodule]

I'm having roughly the same problem, but apparently just for PDF documents I've opened in preview. In my case it's the PDF form of a book I need to "flip" through quickly. The search function never comes up with any results, even if I type something like "the." Apparently "the" is never used in the document, which I know isn't true. I did not have this problem with my old OS X system (Snow Leopard, I believe). Ever since I switched to OS X El Capitan, however, the finder doesn't work at all for PDFs. It works fine for things like web pages, but not the books I have on file that I really need to search through quickly.

 

[Iconodule]

"In the Finder search window, just below Search: This Mac and the "folder" you are in, you should see some filter drop-downs. I believe Kind is Any are the defaults. Try changing them to say Name > contains > then enter your search text."

I don't see anything like what you're talking about. This is what my toolbars look like:

 

[Cory Cooper]

In the Finder search window, just below Search: This Mac and the "folder" you are in, you should see some filter drop-downs. I believe Kind is Any are the defaults. Try changing them to say Name > contains > then enter your search text.

What I meant is: After searching with Spotlight, when the Spotlight results window comes up, if you scroll to the bottom of that window you will see Show all in Finder... If you double-click that, another window will come up, which is where you will see the things I mentioned.

Let me know if you see that...

C

 

[Iconodule]

I don't know how to search with Spotlight as opposed to the plain finder/Command-F

 

[honestone]

At the top of the Finder window, the next to the last icon on the right looks like a magnifying glass (that same thing appears in most (if not all) applications one uses). If you click on that, you'll get a nice, easy to see horizontal "window" on your screen which says "Spotlight Search". Just enter your search term there, and hit the enter key. That will lead to a Spotlight search like Cory described above.

I myself do not use Spotlight, preferring to use the excellent freeware product entitled "EasyFind". I have an icon of it in my Dock, so I can just click on that to start a search. It has quite a few options, and it is very, very useful.