Chapter 5: Searching with Spotlight
In This Chapter
Understanding how Spotlight works
Conducting simple, fast Spotlight searches
Conducting criteria-based Spotlight searches
Working with Spotlight's search results
Using Spotlight within applications
Most people have far too many files on their Macs to remember where to find all the information they need at any given moment. That's why OS X has the Spotlight search tool: to help you find the files you need when you need them.
Searching with Spotlight can be either extremely simple or very sophisticated. Spotlight can search for files and folders by name, in much the same way that traditional search tools have operated on computers for countless years. It also can search for combinations of attributes, such as a file's size, creator, modification date, and label color.
Where Spotlight starts to get particularly clever is when it's searching through files themselves. Spotlight can look through the contents of Word documents, PDF (Portable Document Format) files, and even the metadata attached to music and image files—such as the genre or image size. Spotlight also searches through the information in OS X's built-in applications, such as your e-mail messages, contacts, and calendar events. You'll quickly find yourself turning to Spotlight not just to find information you've lost, but also to quickly access e-mails, contacts, and documents without diving through the Finder. You can even open applications by just typing the first part ...
