Finder not working... I'm getting annoyed at Apple.

Question

Hi. Long time Apple Fan, 5 years now, heavy computer user for 15 years.
I recently installed a Brother Fax/Scan/Copy machine on my iMac with Leopard. The software that comes with it gives me the option to scan into PDF in one small step. Easy. I love it. However, the software is weak in that it doesn't clearly show where the pdf's are by default saved. I've solved that problem for the Black and White scans, but for the color scans, because I do them so rarely, I've not taken the time to figure it out.
So last night, I was scanning my Passport because I'm getting a new one soon. In the process, every time a scan completes, it opens the file in preview with the .pdf file and the default file-naming convention of CCI00001.pdf, CCI00002.pdf, and so on sequentially. Well, thinking I could easily find the files later, I just closed the Preview window thinking I'd open them later.
Well, the only way I can find these files is under the 'File>Open Recent' in Preview. Problem is, I've opened a few files with Preview since these scans, so I think, I'll just go to finder and type in the file name. Well, Finder can't find them. The ONLY way I can get to the files is through 'Open Recent' in Preview. However, some of them are no longer recent, so 'poof' they've disappeared. So I thought, well, let me click 'save as' in Preview and that would open the folder they are in. Well, it did, but it opened it in a finder window that is not the usual finder window. I.e., I can't navigate away from the folder that the 'Save as' function in Preview opens. Well, I can, but it doesn't clearly show me where that folder is that it default opened. I use the drop down arrow to open the 'advanced' finder window or whatever, but there is no 'root structure' (for lack of a better comparison that you can find in Windows) the name of the folder happens to coincide with my 'user' folder, but it doesn't have the little 'user' icon that you normally see next to your user folder in finder. It's just a normal blue folder that happens to have the same name as my user folder. So, I thought, why don't I create a new folder with a peculiar name that I can search for in finder- I called it 'Baffle Me' ... keep in mind, this is within Preview, File>Save As...> not changing the directory that it defaults to even though it's the name of my home folder or whatever, and then adding a folder called 'Baffle Me'... I saved in that folder. Logic would conclude that I could do a search within Finder now for a folder called 'Baffle Me' and wala- I'd find the folder where all my .PDF scans are. Nada. I thought, well maybe OSX needs to take time to scan it again- I'll come back tomorrow. So I did. Nada. I'm at a lost here. How can a file be on my computer and Finder not find it??
Can someone tell me how to find these scans? Did they get thrown out because I just closed the Preview window instead of saving them and they were in some sort of 'temp' directory? That doesn't make sense though, because I can still go back in 'File>Open Recent...> in Preview and find them. I'm at a loss here, and I'm really getting annoyed.
Ideas? Thanks in advance for your responses.
Hal

Answer 1

{quote}Well, the only way I can find these files is under the 'File>Open Recent' in Preview.{quote}
Command click on the filename on the preview window and it will give you the path to the file... That is also a live path, so if you click on the folder that the file is in you will be taken to where the file is. Or click on the Sidebar button on the preview window and click on the gear/wheel on the bottom and select sort by path. It will then show the path under the file name...
You should also play with spotlight to see if you can figure out why it was not working for you. I was able to find pdf's by name as well as text within them... It should've found them really easy with the file names.
{quote} I use the drop down arrow to open the 'advanced' finder window or whatever, but there is no 'root structure' (for lack of a better comparison that you can find in Windows){quote}
Click on the hard drive icon in the sidebar and you see the 'root structure'. The mac layout is no different than Windows...
Message was edited by: garbageman