Spotlight cannot find files in ~/library/preferences

[friendyou]

Hi experts,

I just got the new MBP recently. Everything works fine. Just a bit curious. When I try to find some file in finder, the files in ~/library/preferences don't come up. Why is that? Is it a common behavior?

Thanks,
Fan

 

[JediMeister]

This is expected behavior in OS X. Spotlight will not display any search results for files in /Library, /System, nor the Library in the home folder.

 

[PeggyD]

When Spotlight can't find a file I'm looking for I use Find Any File.

 

[psid]

But you can make spotlight show system files as well.

First bring up the spotlight search window with option-cmd-space or just start searching in a finder window.

Then click the + button on the right and from the pop-up menu where it says "Kind" select "Other…". This brings up a dialog box where you can select various extra search attributes. Find the one that says "System files" and select the "In Menu" checkbox. See attached image.

From now on you can just click the + button and "System files" will be one of the options in the pop-up menu. So just make sure to choose this and set it to "are included" whenever you need it.

 

[friendyou]

Thanks guys.