Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip 182
Be Ultra-Accurate with Spotlight
Spotlight is precise in providing files that match your search query, but you
can also force it to be even more specific, returning only certain types of files
in the results, for example, or only those files with certain characteristics.
Searching for Types of Files
To force Spotlight to search only for a particular type of file that matches your
search term, such as images, type KIND: and then the type of file you're looking
for. For example, to search only for audio files matching the word BIEBER , I'd
type the following:
KIND:MUSIC BIEBER
To search for documents matching the word REPORT , type the following:
KIND:DOCUMENTS REPORT
You can see a full list of words that can be used in the following table.
Remember that Finder includes a Spotlight search field at the top right of
each file browser window, and this technique works there too.
If specified without anything following, Spotlight will return a list of every
particular file type on your system.
KIND: modifier
Description
KIND:ALIAS
Returns only file aliases.
KIND:APP
Returns only applications within Spotlight results.
KIND:BOOKMARK
Returns only Safari bookmarks (not those of other browsers
you may have installed) and also entries within your
browsing history.
KIND:CONTACT
Returns entries from the Contacts application.
KIND:DOCUMENT
Returns documents, although this is a broad term applying
to any file that is a container for text and not just office
documents. You can use KIND:WORD to return only Microsoft
Word documents and KIND:PAGES to return only iWork Pages
documents.
Returns only mail messages ( KIND:MAIL can also be used).
KIND:EMAIL
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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