Mac OS X 10.4 Help
Searching for items in the Finder
The Finder's Find command lets you search your entire computer and any attached volumes for documents, folders, and applications.
Because it uses Spotlight, the Find command can search your files' contents, as well attributes that describe what they contain, how they were created, and more. These attributes are called metadata. For example, you can search for photos taken with a specific camera model or for music files recorded by a specific musician.
To search for items in the Finder:
- In the Finder, choose File > Find. You can start searching immediately by typing in the Search field,
- Refine your search in the following ways:
- To search a specific location, click that location. Click Others to select a location that's not in the list.
- To search for a specific attribute, use the pop-up menus.
- Click Add (+) or Delete (–) for more attributes.
Select a found item to see its path at the bottom of the window. Double-click a folder or volume in the path to open it.
To see the metadata for a file, select the file in the Finder, choose File > Get Info, and look at the attributes in the More Info section.
To save your search as a Smart Folder, click Save.