Spotlight's Gone!....finally [Archive]

OutThere

May 20, 2005, 02:25 PM

I installed Tiger last night, and immediately hated spotlight. After spending 2 hours waiting for it to index my several full hard drives, I realized that this was not something I was ever going to use (I'm organized...I use the Find feature maybe once every 2 months), so I disabled it. To those who want to do the same:

1) Open the terminal.

2) Type sudo pico /etc/hostconfig

3) Change the YES in Spotlight:-YES- to NO

4) Write it back to the file.

5) To get rid of the menu extension go to System/Library/Coreservices and move/rename the Search.bundle file.

There you have it! It's all gone! My computer runs and starts up much more quickly now, and I have the space back on my menu bar. I'm really not living up the Tiger life....I would go back to panther but, as people have said, if you get a new car and don't like feel of the seats, you aren't going to abandon it for the old one are you?

wide

May 20, 2005, 02:36 PM

as people have said, if you get a new car and don't like feel of the seats, you aren't going to abandon it for the old one are you?

lol, do people really say that?

falcoboy7

May 20, 2005, 02:38 PM

hmmm....

maybe you should of at least tried it out for a few weeks

cool hack though :cool:

James Philp

May 20, 2005, 02:39 PM

what a pity.
If you would have just waited then you would have had a very useful tool on your hands.
How do you find mail now? Does the spotlight box in iCal, Mail, Automator, system prefs etc etc work?

Searching email without Mail open - great
Finding iCal events without having to open it - great
Finding duplicates etc - great
Finding the contents of pdfs word docs, text etc - great
being able to search images made by certain cameras, and specify apetures , focal lengths etc - great

Sorry you did this!

OutThere

May 20, 2005, 02:59 PM

what a pity.
system prefs etc etc work?

Searching email without Mail open - great
Finding iCal events without having to open it - great
Finding duplicates etc - great
Finding the contents of pdfs word docs, text etc - great
being able to search images made by certain cameras, and specify apetures , focal lengths etc - great

Maybe I'm weird, but...

I've searched mail once (1 time) in the past 2 years...I remember because the old mail searching feature was really bothersome when I did use it that one time.

I don't use iCal.

I'm extremely organized with my photos and video files...all sorted by date, project, purpose and the like. Maybe that's why it took so long...it was busy indexing my 15,000 odd photographs so that I could find all the ones I took at f/2.8! Brilliant! :p

I tested it out, realized that it served no purpose to me at all, and removed it, knowing that when I need to find something, it never takes me more than 30 seconds, with or without spotlight. Anyway, with spotlight bludgeoning my poor internal 4200rpm drive to death I won't get very far anyway, will I ;)

MoparShaha

May 20, 2005, 03:08 PM

MontyZ

May 20, 2005, 03:14 PM

loneAzdgari

May 20, 2005, 03:21 PM

A friend who is using Tiger (I am not yet) said that the one thing he hates about Spotlight is that every time he attaches an external drive, Spotlight immediately starts reindexing it. He does video work, so, keeps different projects on various external drives, but doesn't really need these drive indexed. Maybe there's a way to make Spotlight only index your local disks?

Easy, just drag the drives into the Spotlight System Preferences "Privacy" area. It'll no longer try to index those drives when you plug them in. Your friend will have to do this with each drive but it shouldn't be that much of a hassle.

andiwm2003

May 20, 2005, 03:23 PM

well, now you should find a way to put google desktop search in the menu bar that would be ... aeh ... can't find a word.

seriously, when i bring my PB home and connect it to my external HD will spotlite index it every time or only once?

MontyZ

May 20, 2005, 03:23 PM

Easy, just drag the drives into the Spotlight System Preferences "Privacy" area. It'll no longer try to index those drives when you plug them in. Your friend will have to do this with each drive but it shouldn't be that much of a hassle.
Thanks! I'll be sure to tell him about this.

bankshot

May 20, 2005, 03:25 PM

Maybe there's a way to make Spotlight only index your local disks?

I think you should be able to disable indexing on a per-drive basis. With the drive connected, open Terminal and type the following:

mdutil -i off "/Volumes/volumename"

where volumename is the actual name of the disk. [EDIT] Ah, I see I was beaten to the punch, and with an easier method, too. Silly me, always thinking of the Unix way first! :D

I just wish it would index network drives and offline media (CDs, DVDs, etc). Nothing I tried would work... :(

Balin64

May 20, 2005, 03:30 PM

Yeah, I don't use Spotlight either. My computer is painstakingly organized, so I know where everything is when I need it. I've thought of disabling Spotlight, but I guess it doesn't hurt having it there. In fact, I like the balance of the two blue things on each end of the menu bar!

Like you, both my Macs are extremely well-organized... as a matter of fact, I'm a little obsessive-compulsive about it
:o

For example, I have two halves of my Macs: work, and play. Never the two shall meet! iTunes, iPhoto, guitar tabs, recipes et al, on one half, Graphics, Photos (real work stuff), AIFF, Amadeus and Writing on the other. Also, the file structure must match exactly on both Macs; for example, you could swap the iTunes xml database between both computers and they would be EXACTLY the same. I know, I have a problem. :(

BUT, while I know where everything is, and know the exact difference and location of "HowthDublin12.1.jpg" & "HowthDublin12.a.jpg", Spotlight has it there fast: Boom! Like Steve-O says. It saves me the Finder navigation time... it also makes working with Automator MUCH easier.

I am enjoying Spotlight, and you of course have your own workflow and way of doing things... I am just saying that Spotlight lets you have the best of both worlds!

ravenvii

May 20, 2005, 03:51 PM

I don't have much crap on my Mac, so I never used search to find files I want or anything. Never used the search in Mail - I like to keep an empty inbox. I never keep email. I don't use iCal either.

But I still use Find/Spotlight occasionally, when I uninstall apps. Just trashing the app itself doesn't completely remove it you know. Hit up the search and you'll find pieces of the app in preferences and other places. That's what I mainly use search for; to find those buggers and put them in their place (i.e. trash). Spotlight IS the search system for the Finder. Find is no more. So if you ever need to search for something... You're screwed.

iJaz

May 20, 2005, 03:51 PM

There is apparently a program that you can use to turn off Spotlight, if you don't like the terminal.
http://www.fixamacsoftware.com/software/spot/
I haven't tried it, I don't even have Tiger, yet...

me_94501

May 20, 2005, 04:23 PM

I'm a little less than organized, so I'll take whatever I can get! :p

Lacero

May 20, 2005, 04:25 PM

I launch apps from Spotlight if it's not on my Dock. That's how useful it is for me, and launching apps from Spotlight doesn't require the use of a mouse. :D

jaseone

May 20, 2005, 05:02 PM

kgarner

May 20, 2005, 05:18 PM

I launch apps from Spotlight if it's not on my Dock. That's how useful it is for me, and launching apps from Spotlight doesn't require the use of a mouse. :D
Sweet. I never thought of using it for that. That will save a lot of time when I need something buried in a folder (Utilities, Games, etc). Thanks for the tip.

mcarnes

May 20, 2005, 06:16 PM

I was alarmed when I first installed Tiger that it was indexing my externals. Just choose not the search them in spotlight prefs under the "privacy" section. I guess it depends on what you use your externals for. For me, it's only for backups or big media files, so excluding them from spotlight works fine.

I didn't think I'd use it much either, but now use it quite a bit. After hating it I like it again. It's really pretty good. Just use it on your internal drive. Indexing those externals is where it gets ugly (for me anyway).

iBunny

May 20, 2005, 06:43 PM

Sweet. I never thought of using it for that. That will save a lot of time when I need something buried in a folder (Utilities, Games, etc). Thanks for the tip.

Im just alittle lost.. You didnt know you could do that?

I mean, I thought thats what it was for....

Flying Llama

May 20, 2005, 06:49 PM

I launch apps from Spotlight if it's not on my Dock. That's how useful it is for me, and launching apps from Spotlight doesn't require the use of a mouse. :D
Yep, a quick CMD+Space, a few letters of the app and there it is. That is what I mainly use Spotlight for, although once I move more of my stuff over here I'm sure I'll use it for searching as well.

You know there is a MUCH nicer way to do things like that.... MEET, QUICKSILVER!!! (http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/) TADADADA!!

Maybe you prefer using Spotlight for that, but the two apps are very different. They don't compete, they complement each other.

I love quicksilver, one of my favorite apps, along with Adium and a few others.

:)

jaseone

May 20, 2005, 07:00 PM

You know there is a MUCH nicer way to do things like that.... MEET, QUICKSILVER!!! (http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/) TADADADA!!

Maybe you prefer using Spotlight for that, but the two apps are very different. They don't compete, they complement each other.

I love quicksilver, one of my favorite apps, along with Adium and a few others.

:)

I tried both Qucksilver and Butler back with Panther, didn't much care for Quicksilver but Butler was nice enough although I hated waiting for it to load each time I rebooted.

I just use Spotlight now because it is there and works well, so as they say if it isn't broken then why try to fix it? :)

Maxiseller

May 20, 2005, 07:02 PM

I'm with the majority here:

I'm organized, I know where to find things - but god damn it's useful having every file at your fingertips in seconds. Plus, in my case, there are always one or two files that cross genres and I can't locate them etc. Spotlight does eliminate hassle, but like everything new, you have to get used to it.

Flying Llama

May 20, 2005, 07:05 PM

I tried both Qucksilver and Butler back with Panther, didn't much care for Quicksilver but Butler was nice enough although I hated waiting for it to load each time I rebooted.

I just use Spotlight now because it is there and works well, so as they say if it isn't broken then why try to fix it? :)

It's true that Spotlight is nicely integrated, makes a much better filesystem index than quicksilver and much more, I just "cataloqued" (as they call it) my applications folder and a few others, simply for quick file launching. But spotlight is much better at finding files.

I like Spotlight... Good job Apple! :)

Flying Llama

May 20, 2005, 07:08 PM

James Philp

May 20, 2005, 07:09 PM

It's true that Spotlight is nicely integrated, makes a much better filesystem index than quicksilver and much more, I just "cataloqued" (as they call it) my applications folder and a few others, simply for quick file launching. But spotlight is much better at finding files.

I like Spotlight... Good job Apple! :)
About cataloguing your apps folder - i find some apps really hate being put into another folder - dictionary for one. The key combo for dictioary didn't seem to work until I put it back into the apps folder direct.

terryhutchinson

May 20, 2005, 09:08 PM

I don't need the thing. It is a cute concept but at the moment it lacks the refinements I expect of any application. I can't tweek how it works. I can't easily opt in or opt out drives or folders from the indexing process. I can't restrict it to any metadata subset should I not want to see the whole load. I hate the way it starts producing results before I am finished entering my query. In spite of what is said in the scant documentation, it won't search for phrases only - it just finds files where all the words in a phrase happen to reside - crap. Since finder find is now a Stoplight slave, I can no longer reliably find files based upon data ranges or file size. I can no longer use it to find hidden files or files in my System folder. Basically I think it is a toy. If they would let me restrict it to just music files say, or photos, then I might use it.

I have used Tiger Cache Cleaner to disable the thing - GUI, switchable, and elegant.

I have installed Path Finder as a very sophisticated replacement for Apple Finder and now I have a system I can work with again.

slb

May 20, 2005, 09:15 PM

I don't need the thing. It is a cute concept but at the moment it lacks the refinements I expect of any application. I can't tweek how it works. I can't easily opt in or opt out drives or folders from the indexing process.

Drag anything you want opted out into the Privacy area.

I can't restrict it to any metadata subset should I not want to see the whole load.

Metadata subset? If you're talking about filetype, yes you can, using the "kind:" modifier.

I hate the way it starts producing results before I am finished entering my query. In spite of what is said in the scant documentation, it won't search for phrases only - it just finds files where all the words in a phrase happen to reside - crap.

Phrases only? If you mean exact phrases, yes it can. Use quotation marks.

Since finder find is now a Stoplight slave, I can no longer reliably find files based upon data ranges or file size.

Uh, clicking the plus signs in Finder allows me to add any kinds of range conditions, including file size.

I can no longer use it to find hidden files or files in my System folder. Basically I think it is a toy. If they would let me restrict it to just music files say, or photos, then I might use it.

Use "kind:music" or "kind:images" query modifiers.

I don't get you guys who disable Spotlight. I don't care how "organized" you think you've got your Macs. I have my filesystem well organized as well, a 200GB monster collection of data. I use Spotlight religiously because it's simply faster to type in what you're wanting to get instead of clicking through to get it. Instead of going to what you want, it's like you call it and it comes to you.

There's no way I'm going to go through a fishing expedition of my 2000GB file heirarchy to find a simple image I want to view. You think I'm going to click through a vast heirarchy of my photos directory, going through date, and so on, or am I just going to type the name in the Spotlight field and get it instantly? Come on.

You guys should have given Spotlight a chance. If you're concerned about resource usage, it really takes up no more than the normal indexing service that Panther had, except that Spotlight also happens to index metadata. Whiners!

James Philp

May 20, 2005, 09:19 PM

I don't need the thing. It is a cute concept but at the moment it lacks the refinements I expect of any application. I can't tweek how it works. I can't easily opt in or opt out drives or folders from the indexing process. I can't restrict it to any metadata subset should I not want to see the whole load. I hate the way it starts producing results before I am finished entering my query. In spite of what is said in the scant documentation, it won't search for phrases only - it just finds files where all the words in a phrase happen to reside - crap. Since finder find is now a Stoplight slave, I can no longer reliably find files based upon data ranges or file size. I can no longer use it to find hidden files or files in my System folder. Basically I think it is a toy. If they would let me restrict it to just music files say, or photos, then I might use it.

I have used Tiger Cache Cleaner to disable the thing - GUI, switchable, and elegant.

I have installed Path Finder as a very sophisticated replacement for Apple Finder and now I have a system I can work with again.
I'm sorry, but you're completely wrong in almost every point!
Want to search only music? do "kind:song".
Easily opt out files and folders? spotlight preferences - privacy tabs - add button (or drag a folder or file or drive into the list).
Wanna search for a phrase? try putting " " marks around it
In the finder you can do a + button and specify a size (greater less than etc - see attachment)
Sorry you didn't take a bit of time to learn these simple methods.

terryhutchinson

May 20, 2005, 09:20 PM

Phrases don't work as advertised. Try it.

In the state it is in currently in, it is junk.

Try finding a hidden file, or something in your system folder. Junk.

slb

May 20, 2005, 09:28 PM

Phrases don't work as advertised. Try it.

Just did. Works correctly.

In the state it is in currently in, it is junk.

No, it works just fine. I just tried it.

Try finding a hidden file, or something in your system folder. Junk.

It's "junk" because you can't get it to find hidden files? Are you for real? Hidden files aren't indexed because they're...hidden.

There are ways to index hidden and System folders (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2005050222125145) anyway. But like I said, it seems you're more interested in whining and calling it "junk" because you didn't spend the time to learn to use it.

Heck, if you whiners want, here's a way to enter raw query strings in the Finder (http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/how_to_execute_raw_spotlight_queries_in_the_finder), allowing you to do things like nested and boolean logic to find precisely what you're looking for. And, of course, you can save the query as a Smart Folder and everything.

From Apple's own documentation:

Spotlight Query Programming (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/SpotlightQuery/SpotlightQuery.html)

Query Expression Syntax (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/SpotlightQuery/Concepts/QueryFormat.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001849-CJBEJBHH)

James Philp

May 20, 2005, 09:45 PM

Phrases don't work as advertised. Try it.

In the state it is in currently in, it is junk.

Try finding a hidden file, or something in your system folder. Junk.
So out of all the things i suggested, only 1 didn't work for you? haha, you're funny!
Why would you want to find things in the system folder? Gonna edit/use them all the time? I can't see a use for indexing the system folder, for one thing it would take a LONG time!
So apart from system folder not being indexed and phrases being flakey sometimes, you cam actually do EVERYTHING else you said that previously you couldn't do! (Like file sizes, types of documents etc). How is it still a toy?

I can go though 1 TB of photos if I want to and find all the ones I took at 70mm with a certain camera, between certain dates if I want! - Then save as a smart folder and if someone gives me a bunch more files that meet the criteria they will appear automatically. All built into spotlight. Toy I don't think!

OutThere

May 20, 2005, 09:50 PM

About cataloguing your apps folder - i find some apps really hate being put into another folder - dictionary for one. The key combo for dictioary didn't seem to work until I put it back into the apps folder direct.

oog....I've found out the hard way about this many times, most of the bundled apple apps do not like being moved around.... :o

rand()

May 20, 2005, 09:50 PM

... haven't quite given this thing a chance. I could be wrong, and you can feel free to ignore me. I'm quite used to it :-)

Quite a few of the things you're asking for have been integrated into Spotlight, but either you haven't found them, or they aren't 'easy' enough.

I can't tweek how it works.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but you can add 'spotlight comments' to any file by simply going to 'get info.' That way, you can add words or phrases which effectively 'tweak how it works.' In fact, you can pretty easily add an Automator script that does this for you to the context menu in Finder.

I can't easily opt in or opt out drives or folders from the indexing process.
Again, maybe this isn't 'easy' enough, which I assume means the least-number-of-clicks, but you can add folders or drives to the Privacy tab in the Spotlight control panel. This can probably also be done in an Automator action.

I can't restrict it to any metadata subset should I not want to see the whole load.
Actually, you can use the kind: or date: keywords. You can also choose "Other..." when creating a Smart Folder. Go to Apple's Spotlight Tips page (http://www.apple.com/macosx/tips/spotlight.html) and you get pretty useful information on how all this stuff works.

I hate the way it starts producing results before I am finished entering my query.
Here I can't help you, because that's a Jobs-ian feature of Spotlight, and it's very like him to not include an on/off switch for that. But I'm sure many Apple programmers would tell you that there's no point in having "instant" results if they aren't instantly updating.

In spite of what is said in the scant documentation, it won't search for phrases only - it just finds files where all the words in a phrase happen to reside - crap.
I believe much like a regular search engine, you can use quotation marks to denote a phrase. But it sounds like you've tried this and it didn't work right for you, and that is odd. It does work for me, so something on your system seems a bit glitchy.

Since finder find is now a Stoplight slave, I can no longer reliably find files based upon data ranges or file size. I can no longer use it to find hidden files or files in my System folder.
I'm sure there is a way to restore that behavior. Many people prefer that they don't get random UNIX /etc or Library files when they run arbitrary searches - you're not one of them. You've found a suitable tool for finding them when you know where you're looking, though, so good on 'ya. Another great tool for that is "find" in the shell of your choice.

Basically I think it is a toy. If they would let me restrict it to just music files say, or photos, then I might use it.
Weren't you just complaining that the searches weren't robust enough to include the system folders? :D Sorry, cheap shot.

At any rate, sounds to me like you found a tool you're going to stick with anyway, which is great. I just thought I'd add this in case you didn't know some of the features you wanted... exist.

-rand()

James Philp

May 20, 2005, 09:51 PM

And for all those that said "My Mac is perfectly organised and I can find anything I want" I pose this question?
What is faster:
1. Opening a finder window and then navigating to the folder or file you want
2. Spotlight (key combo) - type in name of file/folder and open the one you want
?
9 times from 10 it will be #2.

rand()

May 20, 2005, 09:51 PM

long a$$ post

and everybody else beat me to the punch.

rock.
-rand()

CubaTBird

May 20, 2005, 09:56 PM

spotlight... is like... a big reason for os x tiger's existance.. y would u disable it... :confused:

slb

May 20, 2005, 11:21 PM

Because people are...wait for it...whiners.

:p

terryhutchinson

May 21, 2005, 01:24 PM

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@283.0aPwaK2dRiD.242402@.68b01fc4

A utility must be trusted to produce predictable results. For now, in my book, Spotlight is still a toy.

James Philp

May 21, 2005, 01:34 PM

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@283.0aPwaK2dRiD.242402@.68b01fc4

A utility must be trusted to produce predictable results. For now, in my book, Spotlight is still a toy.
Search for the apple widgets a lot do you? hard to find in your perfect folder system? Try /Library/widgets - wow!

This is pretty lowly evidence for the "Toyness" of spotlight if ever I saw it!
The ability to search Focal Length in pictures and email from any application outweighs this 1000/1
I know about the apple widgets, and I know where they live - so why do i need to search? anyways i can always just type in "widget" - 2 more letters - damn!
I don't get why people wanna search in the system and library folders!? If you know what you're doing then fine - and you will know how to navigate, but if you're an end-user (like 90% of people) you want spotlight to find YOUR stuff, not a bunch of random files in the system!
Meh

terryhutchinson

May 21, 2005, 01:47 PM

It may work well for you as a retrieve tool for your photo collection. But it is not an adequate replacement for 10.3 Finder Find. A shame Apple tried to force it into a roll for which it was not ready.

Interesting that you chose a sheep for your avatar.

James Philp

May 21, 2005, 01:54 PM

slb

May 21, 2005, 01:59 PM

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@283.0aPwaK2dRiD.242402@.68b01fc4

A utility must be trusted to produce predictable results. For now, in my book, Spotlight is still a toy.

I just did a search for "wdgt", which brought up my widgets. Every time you claim something, I try it on my iBook and Mac mini, and it works fine. It's beginning to make me wonder about you. I notice searching for "widget" also works, which makes the most sense since that's what people would search for. More and more, Spotlight proves just how smart it is.

It may work well for you as a retrieve tool for your photo collection. But it is not an adequate replacement for 10.3 Finder Find. A shame Apple tried to force it into a roll for which it was not ready.

Interesting that you chose a sheep for your avatar.

It sounds like you're upset that 100% of every one of your criticisms has been shot down. It's one thing to simply not like Spotlight, but you've been stating falsehoods to criticize it. From claiming you can't search by kind, to crying that it can't search your System and hidden files, all of these have been responded to with info on how to do it. Your only response is to lamely mock someone's avatar.

Apparently, you're unable to figure out how to use this "toy." Fine, disable it and let the big boys use it.

James Philp

May 21, 2005, 02:05 PM

At this stage I feel the need to to do 2 things:
Re-iterate this thread:
What is faster:
1. Opening a finder window and then navigating to the folder or file you want
2. Spotlight (key combo) - type in name of file/folder and open the one you want
?
9 times from 10 it will be #2.

And to state this:
The wdgt problem was to do with extensions of files being hidden to users that didn't "own" the file (widget) right?
What if you put in "pdf" and you get EVERY USER's pdf documents in the results- slightly annoying no?

And one more thing...
What can you not do in spotlight that you can't in finder?

bentley

May 21, 2005, 02:11 PM

terry you're very patronising and aggresive.

maybe we'd take your points more seriously if you didn't act in such a way.

Many people are loving Spotlight, me included, and it does everything I want it to. I've kept Private the things I don't want indexing and I've not had a single problem finding what I want.

Sorry it's not worked out for you but that's no reason to come on here and belittle the people that are using it effectively.

slb

May 21, 2005, 02:16 PM

And to state this:
The wdgt problem was to do with extensions of files being hidden to users that didn't "own" the file (widget) right?
What if you put in "pdf" and you get EVERY USER's pdf documents in the results- slightly annoying no?

I guess basic security features are "inconsistent." Yet another criticism debunked.

mj_1903

May 22, 2005, 09:15 AM

One of the most annoying things about spotlight is how it breaks Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. It states quite clearly that the user interface should not be moving around but that is what it does when you do a search. More often than not I press the down arrow button to select the Top Hit and a new Top Hit emerges and takes its place. This is _not_ good behaviour and something that Microsoft would implement not Apple.

Oh well, we can probably never have it as fast as iTunes so I guess I will have to deal.

James Philp

May 22, 2005, 09:37 AM

More often than not I press the down arrow button to select the Top Hit and a new Top Hit emerges and takes its place. This is _not_ good behaviour and something that Microsoft would implement not Apple.
Waiting 1 second more too much eh?
I don't think MS could have come up with spotlight in another, oh shall we say, 8 years!

daneoni

Aug 31, 2006, 08:34 AM

I tried the disabling but the whole search system seems to be disabled which isnt ideal so i just re-enabled it but removed the icon still. Much better IMO

AvSRoCkCO1067

Aug 31, 2006, 08:41 AM

I never thought I'd use Spotlight either...

...but it's so much damn easier than Finder, even if you know exactly where the file is.

As long as you know the file name (which I almost always do), then finding the file takes a lot less time by typing in a few letters into Spotlight and bypassing the Finder altogether.

Foxglove9

Aug 31, 2006, 08:43 AM

I never use Spotlight either. Truthfully, I'm not even sure what it does. I usually just use the Command+F in Finder and that always seems to do the job for me.

I'm usually highly organized with my files though. I wouldn't disable Spotlight because it's good to know there is another tool available on my OS in case the need comes up.

In the beginning I never used Expose either. But that grew on me with time.

Killyp

Aug 31, 2006, 08:47 AM

whooleytoo

Aug 31, 2006, 10:23 AM

I find Spotlight pretty annoying too - I generally use it only as a launcher now.

- I have 3 Macs, and on all three I've had to manually rebuild the Spotlight index. On one of my G5s, it couldn't find a file, searching by name, on the desktop - surely the easiest case for any search engine. On my MBP, I had to rebuild the index yesterday when a search for "we" didn't turn up any hits. Rebuilt the index, and now it finds several thousand. That's not "buggy", that's "broken".

- Spotlight is case sensitive, to a degree. If you search for "timemovie", it will find a file named "QuickTimeMovie", but won't find "QuicktimeMovie". That example is spurious, but as a programmer I have thousands of files named with mixed-case, and this case-sensitivity doesn't help.

- If Spotlight finds the file you seek straight away; and you scroll down the menu (using the keyboard) to select and open it; Spotlight auto-highlights the first option. I've lost count of the number of times I've opened the wrong file/launched the wrong application because Spoglight is moving the selection in the menu.

- The Spotlight search results window doesn't 'belong' to any application, so you can't switch to it by Cmd-Tabbing, or by tabbing while using Exposé.

- The "i" (info) buttons in the search results window don't work (well, perhaps one click in 3, they will). Don't know why, but it's pretty annoying.

solace

Sep 1, 2006, 01:36 PM

Gawd what's wrong with Spotlight?!?

It's an amazing technology IMO. Don't be so quick to judge something...

It has completely changed the way I use my computer! Just hit Apple Key + Space, type in a file name you want, hit enter and boomph! It's there.

I use an external drive, and it has no problems with indexing lag or anything. I have it formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). No issues at all...
it's fine, it's just that there's 3rd party apps (that came before it) that are better at what it does... and way faster...

see Launchbar for one... Quicksilver isn't bad either

anyone know how to disable the Spotlight menu in Leopard? the Search.bundle trick no longer works, as that directory/file no longer exists

sunfast

Sep 1, 2006, 01:47 PM

In fact, I like the balance of the two blue things on each end of the menu bar!

I'd never noticed that - but I like it too!

iMeowbot

Sep 1, 2006, 01:54 PM

I never use Spotlight either. Truthfully, I'm not even sure what it does. I usually just use the Command+F in Finder and that always seems to do the job for me.
In Tiger, Finder's Cmd-F is Spotlight, just with a nicer interface.

dextertangocci

Sep 1, 2006, 02:02 PM

I feel sorry for you!

I would be lost without spotlight!!!

solace

Sep 1, 2006, 02:04 PM

ah, i figured out how to disable in the user Menu in Leopard, just chmod Spotlight.app in the same directory that Search.bundle used to be in to 0000 and then kill Spotlight in the activity monitor

dexter, give Launchbar a try, it's quit amazing and well worth the $$ imo

GimmeSlack12

Sep 1, 2006, 02:12 PM

Ahhhh, that's much better.

I've been trying to disable Spotlight for a long time. My solution: Quicksilver.

stcanard

Sep 1, 2006, 02:25 PM

Ahhhh, that's much better.

I've been trying to disable Spotlight for a long time. My solution: Quicksilver.

If you consider Quicksilver a replacement for Spotlight than you are completely misunderstanding Spotlight.

Spotlight is searching contents and meta-data, Quicksilver is searching names / locations. The metadata search capabilities in Quicksilver is just an interface to Spotlight.

If you type "Dinner Tuesday" into Spotlight, it will show you the email message where you made plans. In Quicksilver you will get a file that has as many of those characters as possible.

The are two completely different, but complimentary apps.

GimmeSlack12

Sep 1, 2006, 05:15 PM

If you consider Quicksilver a replacement for Spotlight than you are completely misunderstanding Spotlight.
I don't consider it a Replacement. I know the differences.
But Quicksilver rules!

Scruff

Sep 1, 2006, 06:09 PM

I use Spotlight to find songs quickly and open them in iTunes :p. I use it a fair amount I suppose. I'm pretty organised, but it's still very handy.

stcanard

Sep 1, 2006, 06:18 PM

I don't consider it a Replacement. I know the differences.
But Quicksilver rules!

Okay that's a start then :-) I'm surprised how many people don't know the difference.

Quicksilver is indespensible as an app launcher. But Spotlight is worth it for its ability to search email alone! So often at work I VNC to my home system so I can spotlight for that server migration plan we wrote 3 months ago, instead of taking 1/2 hour to find it in Outlook.

I don't use it nearly as much for files. The set of files I've worked on in the last week its faster to hit them through finder. But if my wife wants me to find that daycare invoice for $1200 we issued two months ago, spotlight is the way to get it!

trainguy77

Sep 1, 2006, 06:21 PM

I thought I would never use spotlight when i first installed to. But once you start using it you never want to go back. I can find any application any utility with just a couple seconds......a fraction of the time it tacks to drill down to the applications folder and find it. But I guess its your choice, but I would suggest give it a try you might like it.

clevin

Sep 1, 2006, 06:42 PM

lol, spotlight is really a better feature in tiger. going into application folder to find ur app is such a hassle.

amin

Sep 1, 2006, 06:48 PM

I use Spotlight a ton. I find it to be the single best feature since 10.2. Much more useful to me than Expose or Spaces.

huck500

Sep 1, 2006, 07:24 PM

Quicksilver is indespensible as an app launcher.

I just don't get how it could possibly be easier to launch an app than using Spotlight. I'm going to install Quicksilver and try it out for a while...but it takes me 2 seconds to launch any app on my computer, is QS faster than that?:confused:

Super Macho Man

Sep 1, 2006, 08:00 PM

Plus, why would you even take the time to disable Spotlight? Uses to much RAM? CPU usage? I don't see any reason to disable it, even if you don't use it. Even if you'll only use it once in your life. But why?? :confused:
The Spotlight indexes do use drive space... possibly several GBs depending on how many files you have on your drives. One of mine was 1.5GB when I ran Spotless to delete it and turn off Spotlight (550MHz G4, need all the free CPU and disk I can get). I reckon when I get a new iMac, I'll leave Spotlight on since the performance/disk impact will be much less.

clevin

Sep 1, 2006, 08:07 PM

I just don't get how it could possibly be easier to launch an app than using Spotlight. I'm going to install Quicksilver and try it out for a while...but it takes me 2 seconds to launch any app on my computer, is QS faster than that?:confused:
quicksilver need less key punches than spotlight

stcanard

Sep 1, 2006, 09:52 PM

quicksilver need less key punches than spotlight

More than that, Quicksilver has a huge advantage over Spotlight as an App Launcher:

Its adaptive. The more you use an item, the higher on the list it is.

If I spotlight "i" right now, I get iMovie as the top hit. Below that I get Preview, Sharing folder, and "My Great Movie".

Quicksilver "i" suggests iTunes -- because it knows I use that far more than the others.

OTOH if (from my previous example), I spotlight "Dinner Tuesday" I get an email confirming my hotel reservation that includes dinner at their restaurant on Tuesday (from a month ago, but oh well).

It I use Quicksilver I get "APEX DVD Firmare Naming Requirements.txt"

Very definitely not as useful. Each is incredibly efficient at its own domain.

clevin

Sep 1, 2006, 09:59 PM

sry, retract this post.

ghall

Sep 2, 2006, 12:12 PM

I could not live without Spotlight. I have files all over my hard drive, and I end up forgetting where I put something. I wish my house had spotlight!

huck500

Sep 2, 2006, 12:36 PM

After using QS for a day, I do like the fact that you can type in the name of an app and then just hit Return, instead of having to move down one on Spotlight. It's automatic for me now, but it would shave a couple of tenths of a second off... and it's just silly that Apple doesn't give you the option to default to the #1 choice.

The learning aspect of QS is a cool concept, but one I can live without... it might shave another fraction of a second off, but I'm not in that much of a hurry. I like running my OS as cleanly as possible, and QS just doesn't add enough to justify it. Great freeware, though!

QuarterSwede

Sep 2, 2006, 02:31 PM

- If Spotlight finds the file you seek straight away; and you scroll down the menu (using the keyboard) to select and open it; Spotlight auto-highlights the first option. I've lost count of the number of times I've opened the wrong file/launched the wrong application because Spoglight is moving the selection in the menu.

Yeah that is annoying. All it would take to fix is programming Spotlight to stop searching as soon as you start arrowing down the list.

Also, to highlight the Top Hit just hold the command key after entering search text. That helps cut down on opening the wrong file.

- The Spotlight search results window doesn't 'belong' to any application, so you can't switch to it by Cmd-Tabbing, or by tabbing while using Exposé.

Never noticed that ... haven't needed to use it that way I suppose. Yeah, I hope they have fixed that in Leopard.

SC68Cal

Sep 2, 2006, 07:34 PM

Talk about nitpickers and whiners. I have a 667 TiBook and Spotlight has never bogged down my system.

stcanard

Sep 2, 2006, 08:02 PM

and it's just silly that Apple doesn't give you the option to default to the #1 choice.

Just for a lark, next time you use spotlight, try command-enter and see what it does ;)

GimmeSlack12

Sep 2, 2006, 08:28 PM

But Spotlight is worth it for its ability to search email alone!
You can use a search in Mail, or Entourage easily enough to find a particular email.

This thread will probably go on forever, but I am glad to have Spotlight turned off for good (and the icon gone). I used Spotlight a lot and that is what lead me to Quicksilver, but now what I use QS I have found that searching my whole HD is not as important as I had originally thought.

Spotlight=System Wide Search (fast)
Quicksilver=What you want searched (faster)

OldCorpse

Sep 2, 2006, 08:41 PM

Yep, put me down as another Spotlight disser/hater. The idea itself is not bad, but the implementation is atrocious. First, it is indeed buggy... just like many users report, Spotlight simply cannot find files which should be easy for it to do. Really, it's so bad at this, that I just quit using it. Then, on rare occasions I go ahead and use it again, I want to dig out a file quickly, and sure enough the POS can't find it. Then I have to use the finder (another broken app) to actually bring out the file. Not to mention the extremely annoying fact that Soptlight doesn't bother to list various system files. And when it actually lists the file, well, it's a bitch to actually see the path to where the file is located... you have to hover your mouse over it, and a tooltip briefly displays the info in tiny print... bleh! Why can't there be an option to show the path without this grotesquely anti-ergonomic work-around? Awful.

Luckily, I don't much need Spotlight - I'm pretty organized and don't tend to lose files etc. Yes, it would be great if one could use it to access a file quickly, but again, it's so buggy, using it is not worth the aggravation.

As far as I'm concerned this is alpha level implementation of an idea. Apple better make HUGE improvements to Spotlight in Leopard - and I mean by 200%-300%, or I want it off my system. Right now, it's a useless POS.

dsnort

Sep 2, 2006, 08:50 PM

I am not highly organised. I am highly disorganised! :eek: I could not live without Spotlight, although I do admit it seems a little buggy at times. I have noticed that it does not search email on third party apps, (ie CRMs). Has anyone else seen this?

dextertangocci

Sep 3, 2006, 03:50 AM

What was the point of disabling it? If you don't want to use it, just don't, but if you want to find something very quickly, you could just use spotlight:)

I am also extremely organised, but I don't want to open hundreds of folders just to open a document I created 2 years ago:rolleyes:

Spotlight is also a great app launcher:)

GimmeSlack12

Sep 3, 2006, 07:11 AM

Grrrr..... After disabling Spotlight, something that I never use, I find a use for it.

It is turned back on now, I hope you're all happy!

stcanard

Sep 3, 2006, 11:08 AM

Last word on this from me :D

You can use a search in Mail, or Entourage easily enough to find a particular email.

Ever notice how Mail's searching abilities inmproved dramatically with Tiger? When you use "search" in Mail, you are using spotlight.

Find in almost all the Apple apps is based on spotlight, so they don't have to reinvent the wheel all the time.

Take control of your correspondence with Mac OS X Tiger Mail 2, now featuring Spotlight search technology. Find email instantly and accurately, organize messages using Smart Folders and share, save or view emailed images easily.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail/

I think a huge part of the misunderstanding with people who claim spotlight is bad, is they associate spotlight as being what you get when you click the blue spyslass on the right side of the menu bar, and don't realize all the other searching is also spotlight based.

For a true look into what can (and hopefully in Leopard will) be done with spotlight, go to the terminal and man mdfind.

Spotlight=System Wide Search (fast)
Quicksilver=What you want searched (faster)

You search differently than me then. The searches for which I use spotlight, Quicksilver will not find items under the same terms (mostly on content).

It is turned back on now, I hope you're all happy!

Very :D

stcanard

Sep 3, 2006, 11:14 AM

Last, last, word...

It just ocurred to me that as a database architect, my mind is very well organized to searching large, unordered, sets of data to find the item I want.

Maybe that's why spotlight is so useful to me.

Soulstorm

Sep 3, 2006, 11:29 AM

I use spotlight a lot. I couldn't imagine myself not using it on Tiger. Probably the best feature of Tiger, IMO.

uaaerospace

Sep 3, 2006, 12:37 PM

Spotlight is like so many OS X features. When Expose was first announced, I thought to myself, how would I ever use that? Now, when I'm using a machine without it, I realize just how much I have come to rely on it. Spotlight is the same way. I am fairly organized, but even if I know where a file is located, I can find it faster with Spotlight. It has never failed to find a file that I have searched for. Granted sometimes it has taken me a few tries at the search criteria, but that's my fault. I can't expect any search program to find a file unless I actually give it something accurate on which to base its search.

My point is that you should try a feature before saying it's rubbish. Try to find some hidden shortcuts/features (like the one I mention below) that may solve some of the problems you think it has. I have been using OS X since the day it was released, however I still learn new and useful shortcuts/tricks all the time.

For those of you complaining about how Apple didn't build in a way to select the top hit (previously mentioned I think), try command-enter to select the top hit without using the arrow keys.