Finder Find

Is anyone else annoyed by the finder find (command F)? Half the time it doesn't find files that I know are there. I know it doesn't find system files by default, but I know how to turn that on. Even so, it still doesn't always work. It's a shame I have to resort to a third party app (Easy Find) to do something as simple as a find.

You probably just need to rebuild the Spotlight index. Instructions for how to do that, as well as a lot of other good info, can be found at:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html

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Problem report for finder: finder quit unexpectedly

Last night I removed some viruses etc., from my computer that were making ads appear and also tabs opening when not wanted by random ads. I then installed virus protection, and also installed a software update. During those processes I restarted my computer a few times. The last time, finder wouldn't close down but in the end my macbook restarted and since then I have this message constantly popping up: problem report for finder - finder quit unexpectedly. I can't open up anything else and get a message saying when I try: check with developer to make sure safari (as an example) works with this version of OS X. You may need to reinstall the application.
In ten the details part it states crashed thread 0 but it also mention application specific information:
dyld: launch, loading dependant libraries, ignoring DYLD_*env vars
and then:
dyld error message:
library not loaded:/ system/library/frameworks/videotoolbox.framework/versions/a/videotoolbox
referenced from: /system/library/frameworks/qtkit.framework/versions/a/qtkit
reason: image not found.
Please please help. It's driving me nuts. I really need my computer. So much that Im even contemplating just buying a new one if nothing works :/

FIrst, get rid of your "virus protection," which is either useless or worse than useless. Then see below.
If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data, then reinstall the OS.* You don't need to erase the startup volume, and you won't need the backup unless something goes wrong. If the system was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you may need the Apple ID and password you used.
If you use FileVault 2, then before running the Installer you must launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the FileVault startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) It will be nested below another icon with the same name. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar and enter your login password when prompted. Then quit Disk Utility to be returned to the main Recovery screen.
There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
If you installed the Java runtime distributed by Apple and still need it, you'll have to reinstall it. The same goes for Xcode. All other data will be preserved.
*The linked support article refers to OS X 10.9 ("Mavericks"), but the procedure is the same for OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and later.

Possible to code a Find/Find Next feature for use inside a Table Control

Hello,
I have a Table Control that displays many lines. Is it possible to code a Find/Find Next feature that would allow the user to enter a 'keyword' then search each line of the Table Control for existing matches?
I have provided the user with various Selection Criteria that will filter the table control results, but there are still too many lines to visually scan for the desired result.
I am guessing that I would place an input box and a 'Find' button onto my layout screen. Then in user command, I have to scroll through each line of the table control and check every value to see if the string contains 'keyword' When found, stop and display table control assigning current line as Top line?
Am I on the right track or is there a better solution already?
Kind Regards,
MPersson

I've done that. It works pretty well. You might want to allow the user to search only in selected column(s) as well.
Rob

"Find Finder Items" returns same file twice

Hey y'all,
I'm trying to jerry-rig a photobooth for my wedding. I'm using automator to grab 3 stills from a webcam, and place them all in a folder. When I use "Find Finder Items" to send these images to an action that will rotate them, it finds one of the images twice. That is, the results for "Find Finder Items - where: path whose: name contains 'snap' " will return pictures/path/snap3.tiff, pictures/path/snap1.tiff, pictures/path/snap2.tiff, pictures/path/snap3.tiff. This means that when I send these results to my Rotate 90 Degrees action, Snap3 is rotated 180, and when I send them all into a PDF, I get snap3 twice.
This also happens when I "Find Finder Items" and just look for all the .tiff files in /path, and when use "Get Folder Contents" on /path.
Background: Running 10.5.8 Leopard on a PPC Mac mini. Fairly new to the world of Mac, so I may be missing something obvious.
I've been searching for answers for a day or two now, and haven't come across this sort of issue; I apologize if this is old hat, but I really have made a goodfaith attempt to search these and other forums.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Edited to add: The folder only contains the 3 .tiff files, and the PDF I'm trying to dump them into. I thought maybe I was somehow creating a 4th identical file, but it's not the case.

Hello & a warm welcome!
no idea what is happening, other than Apple Software is usually the worst to accomplish thing the way YOU want to.
GraphicConverter has a powerful Browse Folder function, & many tools for manipulation, & you can keep your Pics wherever you want...
http://www.lemkesoft.com/

Find Finder Items doesn't work?

I can't seem to get a basic thing to work...
Find Finder Items (Where "camerafiles" & Whose Name Contains "camera1")
View Results
Always results in ()
Have tried contains, begins with, ends with....nothing works.
The folder contains about 300 files that all start with "camera1-xxx-xxx-xxx"
Any ideas or is it just broken?
Dual Processor 1.4 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Depends on what?
I don't understand why "where" the folder is located should make any difference. But here's the path:
Macintosh HD:Applications:4DWebSTAR:WebServer:Users:heckman:camerafiles
Spotlight doesn't let you limit your search to a specified folder. I mean, why search the whole hard drive when you know the files you want are inside a specific folder?
I tried a Cmd-F find for the files, they don't come up. I tried a Spotlight find, they don't come up. I open up the "Macintosh HD" drive from another computer on the network, do a Cmd-F find on that machine, they show up.
So I guess the issue is: why can't I find them on the local machine they are actually on? The files are definitely there.

Putting Variables in Action "Find Finder Items"

Hello! I'm using Automator to make a workflow. One of my action in my workflow is to find finder items. I'd like to tell Automator to find items that start with a specific string of text (the text is "016") stored in a variable. Since Automator does not allow me to insert a variable directly, I tried to add the variable by adding the variable's UUID. I followed the method outlined in this website:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080213200213250
But even after I put my variable's UUID as "$(9051E0AA-257F-4F00-9A58-50677FB0C07E)", it seems that Automator does not understand, as the results of the action "Find Finder Items" returned no files at all. I tried to store my string as "Storage" and "Text" and used the same method, but it still didn't work. Thank you very much!

I'm not sure what the action is using to search, but a name extension does not include the period. Another approach would be to get the entire contents of the memory card, and filter the items from there.

Automator Variable and Find Finder Items

Hello!
I am creating a quick Automator file to grab any files within a folder and copy them to another folder. It prompts the user for a file name. I used this http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080213200213250 post to attempt a work around for the Find Finder Items not allowing a variable as an input. Any ideas how to get this to work?
Thanks!
-Josh

Bit late but this came up tops when I was having the same issue.
You will find your created variable at the bottom of the workflow panel, from ther eyou can just drag them into the drop down menus.

Backup workflow fails - Find Finder Items

I have tried to put together a simple Automator workflow to backup recently changed files to a CD as follows:
[Find Finder Items]: Where:[Top level folder] Whose:[Date Modified]:[Within the last 2 weeks]
[Create Archive]: Save As:[Archive File Name] Where:[Desktop] Ignore unreadable items
[Burn a Disk]: ...
After Create Archive has run I have a Zip file on the Desktop, but it contains far more than just the files modded in the last two weeks. Even if I reduce the [Date Modified] criterion to [This Week] I get the same result.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
I've set up a Smart Folder in Finder to list the files using the same search criteria, and it produces a reasonable list. I thought of trying to archive the contents of the Smart Folder, but that just archives the Smart Folder definition file, not the files it points to.

Whoops! I can now answer this one myself!
It turns out that if a folder contains a recently modified file it is included in the items, and then the entire contents of that folder are included in the archive. I was able to solve the problem by adding a second criterion to the [Find Finder Items] action: Kind Is Not Folder. The Zip file still contains a hierarchical folders/files structure, but now only the recently-changed files are included.

Automator Action "Find Finder Items" bug...

Hello,
I created an application that searches SD flash memory cards (out of a Canon video camcorder) that are formatted FAT32 for files that have a .MOD extension and copies them to mounted server volumes for transcoding to .MOV (to later use in an editor). Most memory cards work with the "Find Finder Items" action item returning the whole contents of the SD card volume's MOD files. Other SD cards return no result even though the files are clearly visible to Finder when you manually look for them. When I run the workflow, it does the search and returns nothing without an error to the app. Any suggestions as to why some SD cards are different in this regard? Thanks!

I'm not sure what the action is using to search, but a name extension does not include the period. Another approach would be to get the entire contents of the memory card, and filter the items from there.

Automator Find Finder Items

I have created an automator workflow to batch import photos into a document from within Word. The workflow works fine and has two processes:
Find Finder Items
Import Contents into Word Document
The problem is when i run this workflow from within Word the Find Finder Items dialogue box opens up behind Word. All i do is use Mission Control to select the dialogue box but it would be easier and more convenient if it just popped up at the front. Does anyone know how to add an action to automator to bring the window to the front?
P.S. I tested this from outside Word to make sure it wasn't specifically with Word. The same thing happened.
Thanks,
Adrian

Peter Russell1 wrote:
Yes, I was aware of changes in Leopard version, and did recreate the workflow from scratch. If you get AND, as expected, I wonder if there is some hidden AND/OR setting somewhere?
not that I know of.

"Find Finder Items" and external volumes

I have a particular file (an Entourage mail database) that I want to automate backup to a USB thumb drive. Once a day I already use the Backup utility to automatically copy it (currently about 350 MB) to the external thumb drive. No problem.
Now I want to be able to delete old backups (say more than a week old). Before I can get there, I need to get the "Find Finder Items" action to work on external drives. Is this an action that only works on internal mounted volumes? I also have an external hard drive that doesn't seem to work with that action either. No matter what criteria I select, when I run the action I get "no results produced" which I know is incorrect.

"Find finder items" works on all drives. But the drives have to be indexed by spotlight. can you do finder search on your thumb drive? also, how is it formatted? it's best if it's formatted mac os extended. thumb drives are usually formatted FAT by default.

Find Finder Items duplicating items

I am trying to select files from a folder based on date created.
I am being able to do it with Find Finder Items but the result is duplicting files on folders and files itself.
How can I filter to have just 1 copy of each file?
Thanks

Sorry,
Let me try to be more specific.
I need to copy to a folder all music and videos created by my itunes on my music folder since June 1st 2008.
As I run the copy finder items on my Music folder there are many items that are present on the results there are duplicate. i.e. I have a specific TV Show from House as a File and at the same time I have the hole House season as a folder that has the same file inside.
I need to have this file ( and all others that are duplicate) only once.
Is it possible to either filter it or have the results right in the first place?
Thanks

"Find Finder Items" Broken? Help!

I'm having a problem with Find Finder Items. I set it as follows:
Find Finder Items
Where: 100EOS7D (this is a folder on my drive)
Whose: Extension is equal to CR2
When I run this I see in the window below all my CR2 files listed. However, I also see my path and directory listed twice at the top. Why? My next step is to move the results of this search to the trash, but along with the files, my folder is moved to the trash as well!
Am I doing something incorrectly?
Please let me know either here or at *********.
<edited by host>
Thanks!

please don't put your email in the post. it's against forum rules. are you using automator? please give full details of the whole workflow, not just one action.

Size in Find Finder Items

Does anyone know of problems with the Size option in Find Finder Items ?
I was hoping to make a workflow to compress all my movie files over 100MB in size.
First step was to use Find Finder Items to identify all movies over that size, but it just brings back every single one - the size option lets you enter a number but doesn't say if that is bytes, KB etc.

The action is using KB as the unit for Size.
It took a bit of trial and error to figure out, but inputting the size in KB should work.
For reference, you can use the View Results action under the Automator grouping to troubleshoot this type of thing.

HT3918 My iMac can't find finder

My iMac is old. 2003 runs lepoard and 85 gig and I gig memory. Problem is can't find finder ( where's finder) turned off and on to no avail hard drive is 95% full also use Iomega 450 gig portable hd!

An iMac model from 2003 that can run Leopard, so at least 867 GHz G4 (unless you are running an unsupported Leopard installation). Is it this one?
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_1.0_17_fp.html
If not, you should find your specific model on this list and look at its profile page
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/index-imac.html
That web site also provides info about hard drive replacement
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/imac-g4-flat-panel-faq/imac-g4-how-to -upgrade-hard-drive-use-big-drives.html
An easier alternative may be to get an external FireWire drive. It needs to be FireWire, not USB. Both FireWire 400 and 800 (two types of FireWire connections) will work, with the correct cable (or adapter). FireWire 800 is the newer faster connection. Your iMac has the older FireWire 400. Most current FireWire external drives also have USB 2.0, so it will be useful with more recent computers (whether they have FireWire or not).

Finder Find

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