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Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
kevs #38675 02/05/16 09:27 PM
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Under System Prefs > Spotlight I see a check box that says "Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Spotlight and Look up".

If that box is checked, try unchecking it.

Can't you stretch the window by dragging from the lower right corner? You should see a bi-directional arrow when you over your cursor over it.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
artie505 #38679 02/06/16 01:58 AM
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Thanks Artie, did the uncheck,and reboot, yet still it sitll does suggestions, and I tried for 10 minutes and still cannot find any handles to move the box beyond vertical up and down. Would love to see a screenshot or video on someone moving the box horizontally or diagonally.

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
kevs #38680 02/06/16 02:20 AM
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The problem with a screenshot is the cursor doesn't show.

There's no visible "handle" like the hash-lines in the lower right corner of some windows (in my El Cap), but if I move my cursor to that corner - overlap the window and my desktop - the cursor turns into a diagonal two pointed arrow with which you can drag the window longer or wider.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
artie505 #38681 02/06/16 02:23 AM
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Artie, just tried again, no go.

Definitely with finder windows, everything is available, up, down, diagnole, but with the Spotlight window, I only see up and down. Can anyone else verify Artie?

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
kevs #38682 02/06/16 02:33 AM
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Hi Kevs,

In El Cap, I too see only an up/down adjustment for the Spotlight window....no way that I can see to make it wider.


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Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
MacManiac #38683 02/06/16 02:36 AM
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Thanks Mac for confirming that — or diagonal; so the files names and paths are cut off per force.

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
grelber #38684 02/06/16 05:45 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
The discussion prompted me to update my version of OnyX which was still a beta version. I downloaded, installed and ran version 2.4.8 (for Lion) and experienced no issues at any point.


That's good to hear. I do not use any beta software, preferring stable products.

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
kevs #38685 02/06/16 06:35 AM
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In a virtually unheard of ( tongue ) "Oops!" moment I realized that I was reporting on a command-F Finder window which (and I'll never understand why) is not the same as a Spotlight window and that this is at least the second time I've confused the two. (I can't even access a Spotlight window on my deuced Mac(hina).)

Sometimes I'm not so sure that consistency deserves all the hype it gets.

Sorry for the confusion, kevs. crazy


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
honestone #38689 02/06/16 08:16 AM
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Originally Posted By: honestone
Originally Posted By: grelber
The discussion prompted me to update my version of OnyX which was still a beta version. I downloaded, installed and ran version 2.4.8 (for Lion) and experienced no issues at any point.

That's good to hear. I do not use any beta software, preferring stable products.

I agree. I had also forgotten that when I first acquired OnyX several years ago the only version available for Lion was a beta version; when I tried updating it via its own update feature, I was informed that a beta version couldn't be updated. So I had to revisit Titanium's website and download 2.4.8 in a chunk; fortunately, OnyX comes with a "Remove" option, so removing the old version prior to installing the new version presented no problems.

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
kevs #38691 02/06/16 01:09 PM
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Originally Posted By: honestone
You might want to try and use the excellent freeware product EasyFind. It has been around a while, lets you put in exactly what you want to search for, and is fast.

Originally Posted By: kevs
I have easy find for years, use it in tight jams every year or two.

Originally Posted By: honestone
I find EasyFind to be easily fast enough. That is one reason why I prefer it over Spotlight. It has always served me well.

Originally Posted By: kevs
This morning, I type in an easy search and Spotlight just sits there. Nothing happens. At least Easy find the gears start turning. And Spotlight got the full index done.

We have quite different experiences.

With the mentions of EasyFind I recalled that I once tried it but didn't recall why I don't still use it....so I downloaded the latest version and gave it a whirl.

I typed in a single name, specified "File Contents", tried all the Operators while asking it to Ignore Case. EasyFind found nothing.

I popped the same name into Spotlight and immediately got:

4 documents
8 messages
1 contact
4 PDFs
10 web pages
1 spreadsheet
2 web searches

I'll be sticking with Spotlight.

Last edited by ryck; 02/06/16 01:10 PM.

ryck

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Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
ryck #38692 02/06/16 01:23 PM
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Try clicking on the "Settings" icon and checking the "Scan all files" box and see what happens.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
artie505 #38693 02/06/16 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Try clicking on the "Settings" icon and checking the "Scan all files" box and see what happens.

I have now tried that two ways. The first was simply scan all files using the single name I was seeking.

I soon had a huge list of items and, very clearly, most of them would not be related to the name I sought. I'm guessing that the program brought up every file that contained the name within another word. For example: Seeking "for" would generate a list of every word like forget, forgive, Ford, et cetera.

That's not very helpful.

I then tried by putting in both the first and last names. That search generated another long list except that the name I sought absolutely would not be in even one of them.

Even less helpful, especially considering that the Spotlight search generated results in which every single item was pertinent.

Last edited by ryck; 02/06/16 02:32 PM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
ryck #38702 02/06/16 09:26 PM
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That sounds like a huge score for Spotlight!

If I had so much data on my deuced Mac(hina) that I actually had to search for stuff it would probably induce me to enable Spotlight, but things being as they are, EF suffices.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
artie505 #38704 02/07/16 12:44 AM
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Ryck, I am actually appreciating Spotlight more (as I'm reading the OS X, the missing manual, which has a lot of tip/ tricks for it)

That said, I have had, every year or two a situation where Easy Find, nabs something quickly that Spotlight is struggling with.

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
kevs #38722 02/07/16 09:57 PM
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Fortunately, I keep my Macs "lean and clean", and thus do not need to do many searches for something. But, when I do, Easy Find always works for me.

Re: The sluggishness of Spotlight
honestone #38724 02/07/16 10:38 PM
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Originally Posted By: honestone
Fortunately, I keep my Macs "lean and clean", and thus do not need to do many searches for something.

I don't think the need to do searches has anything to do with streamlining. After 31 years of using computers I still have only 187 GB used, including all system and applications files. However, there are always several ways to file any particular document, the person, their organization, the activity, et cetera.

It's like the old days of paper filing.."Where did I file that?" Digital searching just makes everything easier.


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
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