When you select Other from the first pull-down menu, youll see a list of all the file attributes Spotlight recognizes.

The Spotlight menu is often the quickest way to start a search.

And with the right keywords and Boolean operators, the Spotlight menu can dish up impressive results.

But finding the files you need isnt always as simple as typing a few words.

For large or complex searches, open a Finder window and run your query from there.

This will let you access a wider range of attributes and search criteria, let you combine multiple criteria to define your searches more precisely, and give you more options for sorting and viewing your results.

You can open a generic Finder window and use the search box at the top, press command-F to convert any open Finder window into a search window, or press command-option-spacebar to open a brand-new search window.

You can limit your search to specific areas of your system or network.

You can also access the Finder window after youve started a query in the Spotlight menu (useful if youre having trouble narrowing down your results).

Simply choose Show All at the top of the menu, and Spotlight will display the results of that search in a Finder window.

Note that Tigers dedicated Spotlight results windowwhich appeared when you chose Show All Resultsis now a thing of the past.).

If the Finder displays your search results in Icon view, youll probably want to switch to List view to get a better look at your results.

If you prefer a more graphical approach, switch to Leopards new Cover Flow view to look at previews of your files.

The Finder windows search bar contains several options for tailoring your results.

You can click on the File Name button (new in Leopard), which forces Spotlight to search only for file names rather than names and contents.

If your computer is connected to other Macs, click on the Shared button to search networked machines as well.

When your Mac is connected to other Leopard machines, Spotlight will search both file names and file contents.

But when your computer is connected to a Mac running Tiger, Spotlight will search only file names.

On the right side of the Finder windows search bar is a plus-sign button.

Clicking on it brings up two pull-down menus; by default, the first is set to Kind, and the second is set to Anybut there are other options to choose from.

To narrow down your results, start by selecting one of the criteria in the first menu, such as Created Date, Last Opened Date, or Name.

Or choose Other to call up many more options, including Authors, Audio Bit Rate, Email Addresses, Recipients (people who received a certain file), Layers (names of Photoshop layers), and much more.

Click on the check box next to an item if you want it to appear in the main pull-down menu for easy access in the future.

As you select different options, the second menu changes dynamically so you can set the appropriate parameters (such as dates, numbers, and so on).

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