Is there a way to get Spotlight to search Quicken files? That would be most helpful.

Thanks,

There would need to be a spotlight plugin installed from either Intuit or a 3rd party and I don't believe one exists yet, maybe with the upcoming Quicken release.

That's what I figured but was just hoping one might exist. Thanks.

I'd be happy if Spotlight would find all files/folders installed by the OS!
...and all Word and Excel files I've created,
...and just about anything else I search for, knowing it's somewhere on my hard drive!

I use Word X and Spotlight works just fine with it, with both both Leopard and Snow Leopard. Does not work with FileMaker Pro 9
After reading Hal Itosis's post I realize I misread the post by Gregg and he wanted to know if he could find ALL the Word Files he created. It can be done as Hal pointed out by choosing various options in the Find other selection. In this case File Extension. Thanks Hal for clarifying the question.

Oh, but it gladly will... if we open a window and add the (System files) (include) criteria.

It doesn't do it by default (like in the menubar for example) because Apple feels there's no need to clutter every search users do with system items.
[though quite naturally, *any* search is subject to directory read permissions, etc.]

For example, if i search my entire Mac (with backup disk attached) for filenames and i type in the word 'base' --- i get 199 results. When i add the (System files) (include) criteria, i get 1,238 possibilities. Those extra 1,000 hits really don't need to show up every time i run that filename search... else i'll have more scrolling to do... or maybe i'd have to go and set the criteria to (System files) (don't include).

Saved searches are great timesavers. Just bring up a pre-configured search, and alter the search term. [i have a Stack on the Dock devoted exclusively to saved searches.]

--

btw Gregg: by all rights, i could retitle my post from "Spotlight / Quicken" to "Spotlight / System" !

Well, perhaps starting with my throw-away comment, this should be a separate thread... called Spotlight is pretty dim or something like that. And thanks for not changing the title. I didn't know it was your right, however.

I don't understand your first sentence. "a window"?

I also wasn't at all clear in my post above. I can see that I didn't say what I meant to say, which is this: Spotlight just doesn't work very well. I didn't mean that I was wanting to find all files installed by the OS. I meant that, when doing searches with Spotlight, it doesn't find everything containing the text string I enter, even some things that are installed by the OS. And, the same goes for other types of files, such as Word, Excel, and just about anything else.

Spotlight just hasn't worked for me. In my prefs, I have 8-11, 13, 14 unchecked since I don't deal with those things. (OS 10.5.8) But it doesn't find much for me in the other categories that I do have checked.

I have no idea where to find this. Obviously, I don't know how Spotlight is supposed to be used. I thought I just had to type something in the box and it would find all instances of what I typed. It doesn't seem to do that. From day one, I've always thought it didn't work very well. Mind you, I went from OS9.2 to 10.5.1 about two years ago, so I missed the OSX learning curve, and still have some catching up to do.

It looks like you are unfamiliar with the Find option. In the Finder (finally, Apple's name for it has caught up with its function), click the File menu and then click Find. You can refine your search in more ways from the Find window than from the Spotlight window. Click the Kind popup menu to get to Other. The menu that says Any can be changed to Other in the same way.

No, I'm quite familiar with command-F. I thought Spotlight was supposed to be an improvement. I really don't use either one very often. I happen to have things very well organized, and I remember where I put them most of the time. When I don't recall, I can usually find whatever I need in a minute or two.

P.S. I'm glad the OP was quickly given a resolution to the issue with Quicken. I really didn't think my sarcastic comment was going to be interpreted as a plea for help.

In Leopard and Snow Leopard Command+F or File > Find or using the Search bar in a Finder Window IS Spotlight, but with far more options to either widen or narrow the search than Spotlight on the menu bar. The Spotlight search on the menu bar is a minimal subset of the search options.

To put it another way Spotlight is the Swiss Army Knife of search tools that drives much of the "gee whiz" technology in OS X. Among other things Spotlight is:

1. a quick tool for finding most files by name or content using the Spotlight bar on the menu bar
2. It is Smart Folders in Finder that can be saved as automatic "indexes" to files anywhere on your Mac meeting criteria that you specify
3. It is "Smart Playlists" in iTunes
4. It is "Smart Albums" in iPhoto
5. It is the search function in AddressBook, Mail, iCal, etc.
6. It is the "Find" in Finder providing searches based on nearly 100 different criteria including such esoterica as:
   1. Album title for record albums
   2. Whether or not an image has an alpha channel
   3. Text content of an item
   4. Country where an item was created
   5. whether or not a file is invisible
   6. Whether or not to include system files
   7. Latitude or Longitude of an item such as an iPhoto image
   8. UserID of the owner of a file
   9. Encryption method used to make a file secure
   10. Video bit rate
   11. Version number of the item

Whether or not you consider all of this an improvement or not is entirely in the eye of the beholder. Personally I think it is a vast improvement over the Find function in the past and it works which is more than can be said for some of its predecessors.

As jmb just pointed out, everything (in terms of Apple-built-in searching) **is** Spotlight.

So then, are you really quite familiar with command-F ?
How about conditional searches (e.g. *not* a pdf)?
Here is Rob Griffith's excellent article: "Add conditions to Finder searches"
I.e., the secret is to 'option' click on (+).  [why does Apple hide this stuff?]
EDIT: Wow... looks like Macworld lost the link to Rob's movie file. That's a most crucial part of that article. Too bad.


How many things?

I have...
over 900 pdfs
over 1,900 rich text files
over 10,000 plain text files
over 10,000 html text files

Should i remember the exact location of all those?
Contents?!?  I probably haven't fully read even half.

And as time goes on, the situation only gets worse.
[i.e., docs increase while memory decreases. ]

Yes, I know about conditional searches. I'm saying that I enter a word that I know exists in a file name, but Spotlight does not find that file. So, I go find it myself, and, lo and behold, it's there.

No, I don't have that many things! The sum total of what I consider important enough to backup (files mostly) amounts to less than 500MB at present.

There where? Was it in a Library folder? Is that why it didn't show up? Or was the file of some type which Spotlight is currently unable to delve into? Else the index probably needs rebuilding. [which not only makes Spotlight search better... it usually frees up a small amount of disk space.]

I don't know, but it is frustrating and too often there is no easily accessible or good documentation — if you even knew what to look for. I was not aware of the Option+Click on the plus sign for example. However this has prompted me to pay a visit to Apple - Mac OS X - Feedback and post a suggestion to have a "switch" to turn on more in depth hints of this type of feature. Maybe it will have some effect if enough people make a similar suggestion.

No, I'm sure I've never found something in one of the Library folders that Spotlight didn't find. I haven't documented my frustration with Spotlight, so I can't give an example. Any skepticism on that count is probably warranted.

My Mini is indexed once a week whilst I sleep. At least I think so. I can't remember where to set that. Couldn't find it just now. Another weird thing is that Mac Help has disappeared from the Help menu when I'm in the Finder! I did an end-around and got it, but Indexing is not listed in the, um, Index.

I am sorry you are having so much trouble with Spotlight. To force Spotlight to re index
Go to System Preferences/Spotlight and go to the Privacy panel
Drag your Hard Disk into the Box that says Prevent Spotlight from Searching these Locations. Wait a few seconds and then click on the Hard Drive in the box and hit the minus down below. It takes 8 minutes on my computer to re index. I only have about 28 GB. You can use Cocktail or Onyx to also force a re indexing. I can not help you with the help menu and there may be a link. On my machine I can find through text, (thought not in Quicken or FileMaker), title or in the find by type of file etc. I hope the re indexing helps or one of the Pros can find a deeper solution.
How is your Mini indexed once a week?

Mark, I did as you suggested. When I clicked the "-" button, the hard drive icon vanished instantly. I don't think anything else occurred.

Indexing used to be scheduled through Sherlock in OS9. I thought I had set OSX up through Spotlight's preference pane to index once a week. Perhaps I was mistaken.

Which OS are you using? I don't have any options to schedule indexing in 10.5.8 and I don't recall seeing it in 10.4 either. Are you using 10.6 and is this an option there?

I am assuming and hoping it disappeared from the System Preference Spotlight window. that is supposed to happen. When you drop it in there it and take it out it forces a new one index to be rebuilt. Was a little dot blinking in the middle of the Spotlight magnifying glass next to the Clock on the top right of the screen? When it is blinking it is rebuilding. Did it help spotlight to find items, even the simplest of searches? If not the Pros as I call them will have to take over. Spotlight should work very easily. The find allows more complex searches. I don't want to suggest an archive and reinstall or an erase and install for that is out of my jurisdiction. I am writing this on Leopard and did not see any indexing choice in the preferences, but perhaps I missed something. What I do want to impress on you though is that spotlight is easy and does work and should do some of the things you want it to do. One of the features I like is that I can type random words in spotlight that are in a document and it will find all items with the random words in it.

No. I guess I was mistaken. I was just so used to the weekly indexing in OS9, that I thought I'd set it up in OSX as well. Leopard... I skipped all those other cats.

It's too bad that option was lost.

Yes.

Was a little dot blinking in the middle of the Spotlight magnifying glass next to the Clock on the top right of the screen?
No. Nothing else happened. The disappearance was instant. Gone. Idle.

Did it help spotlight to find items, even the simplest of searches?
Well, no. Nothing has changed. But, I haven't searched for anything since.

Spotlight doesn't "index" your drive at all in the sense you're referring to—that is, as a periodic, full inventorying of content.

Instead, a drive's content—not merely filenames and text, but copious amounts of file metatdata as well—is inventoried when you first install OS X on it*, and the index is kept updated in realtime; i.e. only new or changed content is updated.

One might be tempted to test this out by googling an abstruse word—say, flibbertygibbet—then conducting a Spotlight search on same. Yep, there it is:


Visited at 9:24 my local time, already in the index for a Spotlight search a minute later.

*That's an incomplete explanation, but should suffice for the point at hand.

This is a long shot but was anything else of any significance in the privacy pane? I don't have a lot of data, but it still took 8 minutes to index. Hopefully someone else can help you.

The box was empty, if that's what you mean. The keyboard shortcuts are both checked. That's all. According to the post above yours, it indexes on the fly. So, that means I shouldn't have these frustrations. Next time Spotlight fails to find something that I can find, I'll post it. That could be months from now.

When you drop it into the privacy pane, it for all purposes erases the index, when you remove it from the pane, it is forced to recreate a new one and that is what takes time. Normally when the index is already created, new editions are added on the fly and one does not even know it is happening. Anyway Good Luck,

Cocktail, MacPilot, Onyx, and TinkerTool System all support specific functionalities for enabling, disabling, and rebuilding the Spotlight indexes. There are those who hold that periodic rebuilding of those indexes is good housekeeping. I tend to follow the rule that rebuilding is only necessary if there are obvious problems.

Greg appeared to be having a lot of trouble and not being able to find anything so I thought rebuilding the index would help. What I don't understand is when he did it, the little dot in the center of the magnifying glass never showed. I have used both Cocktail and Onyx, but it seems just as easy to drag the hard disk into the pane. Anyway I have no idea what his issue is.

I've found that the behavior of "the little dot in the center of the magnifying glass" is inconsistent as a means for determining whether or not Spotlight indexing is going on.

A more reliable way is to launch Activity Monitor and see whether the mds and/or mdworker processes are active and responsible for a significant share of ongoing CPU usage. (That amount will vary depending on your system; roughy half of my mini's single 1.25 GHz G4 processor cacpacity is typically occupied by these two processes combined when reindexing is going on.)

On my drive when it's doing a total index from a zero point) , I am not able to search until it is through.

spotlight is also used by Mail.app. if you disable spotlight on your boot drive, mail search stops working. (and doesn't say WHY, just finds nothing)

That is normal behavior

Thanks Joe, I am aware that it is normal not to be able to find anything while it is indexing from the start. Gregg said" I meant that, when doing searches with Spotlight, it doesn't find everything containing the text string I enter, even some things that are installed by the OS. And, the same goes for other types of files, such as Word, Excel, and just about anything else." I was hoping by reindexing it would help, and he said he never got the dot in the magnifying glass. My spotlight works fine and his doesn't and I was trying to find if he had other issues.