Spotlight Window Sizing

Question

Is it just me or does Leopard not remember the last window size you use in spotlight among others. I have it set for cover flow view but the window is always too small and I have to readjust. Is there anyway to set it as you left it. This was always the case before when opening a window. Don't know why it's not remembering the size now? Any help would be nice.

Answer 1

I just did a quick test. I created this plist file in TextEdit, made it plain text, and saved it to the Desktop as default_smart.plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>CompatibleVersion</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>RawQuery</key>
<string>((_kMDItemGroupId > 6))</string>
<key>SearchCriteria</key>
<dict>
<key>CurrentFolderPath</key>
<string>/</string>
<key>FXCriteriaSlices</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>criteria</key>
<array>
<string>comappleSearchSystemFilesAttribute</string>
<integer>1220</integer>
</array>
<key>displayValues</key>
<array>
<string>SEARCHSYSTEMFILES</string>
<string>YES</string>
</array>
<key>rowType</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>subrows</key>
<array/>
</dict>
</array>
<key>FXScope</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>FXScopeArrayOfPaths</key>
<array>
<string>kMDQueryScopeComputer</string>
</array>
</dict>
<key>ViewOptions</key>
<dict>
<key>SidebarWidth</key>
<integer>135</integer>
<key>ToolbarVisible</key>
<true/>
<key>ViewHeight</key>
<integer>582</integer>
<key>ViewStyle</key>
<string>icnv</string>
<key>WindowBounds</key>
<dict>
<key>bottom</key>
<integer>850</integer>
<key>left</key>
<integer>457</integer>
<key>right</key>
<integer>1207</integer>
<key>top</key>
<integer>268</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Version</key>
<string>10.5.3</string>
</dict>
</plist>
I then ran these commands in the Terminal, following each with hitting the return key:
*cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources*
*sudo cp default_smart.plist default_smart.plist.bak*
entered my admin password at the Password: prompt
*sudo cp /Users/<your username>/Desktop/default_smart.plist default_smart.plist*
Copy & paste it into TextEdit, etc. and when you do a CMD+F, the search box that pops up will have your home folder as a place to search, will include all system files, is higher than the original, and the cursor is set for your search term. Note that the View Height = bottom - top. So you can adjust it and the window's width, to suit your needs.
To view the original file, run this:
*cat /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/default_smart.plist. bak*