Tag Archives: OSX

Browsing Through Files Part 1

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This article will help you understand how to browse your files on a Mac. Don’t panic, it’s not very complicated.

Understanding it

Your hard drive contains millions of files. Both your personal files such as documents, photos or music files, but also system files that your Mac needs to operate properly.

If all these files were in the same place, it would be very hard for you to find your stuff, right? It would be one gigantic pile of files. That’s why we have folders. You can think of a folder as a box in which you can put your stuff.

You can even put folders inside other folders. For instance, you could create a folder called “vacation photos” and put it inside a “memories” folder. Neat and tidy, just the way we like it.

Get started

Let’s get started browsing through your files. First, click the “Macintosh HD” icon on your desktop. A new window will appear.

This is called a Finder window.

This is called a Finder window. The Finder window allows you to explore the contents of your hard drive.

The Finder window – how it works

It’s quite easy to understand how to use a finder window. We’ll now explain the most basic things about it.

Resize it!

Continue reading→

About Spotlight

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Mac OS X has a great built-in search function called Spotlight. The great thing about it is that it finds stuff inside files, not just the file names. It will find everything from contacts in your address book to words in your e-mails.

Search Through Everything

On your Mac, Spotlight is never far away. The most convenient way to use Spotlight is to click the small magnifying glass in the upper right corner of your Mac.

Spotlight is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

Just click it and type in your search query. Spotlight will find everything. Try it out! It will find stuff inside your e-mails, contacts in your Address book, words in your Word documents and all other files and folders on your computer.

When you type something in the search box, the results will appear below it immediately. The results shown first are the most relevant ones.

If you wish to show them all, click “Show All” at the top of the list. When you do this, a new window will appear where you can view all the results of your search. If you wish to change the way the results are shown, you can change the preferences at the right part of the window. To open a file, just click on it.

Spotlight Is Everywhere

Spotlight is available in more parts of Mac OS X. When you open a Finder window, Spotlight is always there at the upper right corner of the window.

Spotlight is also located in the upper right corner of every finder window.

Just type something into the search field and the results will appear instantly. Below the search field, you can choose where you want Spotlight to search. You can also add criteria by clicking the plus button.

Add criteria to your search by clicking the plus button.

Make your search a smart folder

If you wish, you can create a folder that will always contain the stuff that you searched for. This is called a smart folder. Whenever something that matches your criteria is created on the computer, it will become visible in this smart folder.

It's easy to create a smart folder based on your criteria.

To create a smart folder, just click the “Save” button that appears when you search for something from a Finder window.

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