My New Mac, Snow Leopard Edition, 2nd Edition

Using Smart Folders

Spotlight can find specific types of files by name or contents. The problem with Spotlight, however, is that you must type a word or phrase each time you want to find certain files. For example, if you're organizing tax information, you could type the word Taxes in Spotlight every time you need to find a file related to your taxes. If you added a new tax file or deleted an old tax file, you'd have to retype Taxes into the Spotlight search box to see all the current tax-related files.

To automate this process, you can use a Smart Folder instead. A Smart Folder saves a Spotlight search (such as the word Taxes), so every time you add or delete files that contain the word Taxes, the Smart Folder updates its contents automatically ...