How to speed up smart folders?

How to speed up smart folders?
"Last documets" work instantly for me. But smart folder, which collect files with red labels works veery slow (like 10 seconds). Meanwhile last ones are the most usefull for me. Is this normal speed for them and is there a way to speed them up?

You don't, I'm afraid. iCloud has no equivalent to the iDisk. With MobileMe terminating at the end of June you will need to look for a third-party solution - this page examines some of the options:
http://rfwilmut.net/migrate3

Similar Messages

How to auto-restore Smart Folders on the dock after reboot?

So I've created a smart folder that basically gathers all the applications that I use with the Adobe Creative Suite (i.e. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.). For quick access, I drag the smart folder to the dock and I change the sort method to NAME and the view to LIST. And here's what I get as a result, which works very nicely:
http://imgur.com/EWUgm6w
The problem is, after I restrat my Mac, that smart folder on the dock gets completely messed up (the folder icon is changed and nothing pops up when I click on the icon) so I have to then delete the one that's on the dock, drag a new copy out and then change the sort and view methods to my preferences all over again. I was a bit surprised the first time I noticed this but after seeing the smart folder get messed after multiple restarts, I realized that there's something wrong.
My assumption is that the smart folder gets reprocessed on a reboot and though the original location where the smart folder is stored is fine when I go look at it, the shortcut that I place on the dock loses its functionality altogether.
I'm wondering if anyone has run into this on their end and found a good solution? If there was a script I could run when the computer started to automate the tasks that I have to do (remove old folder from dock, copy new one, change sort & view methods), that would be great -- but I don't know how to do this! Alternatively, if there's another way to achieve this pop up list without creating a folder manually and dragging 10 shortcuts into the folder, that would be great. I like the idea of keeping the list dynamic (hence the smart folders method) so that if anything changes, the updates would be reflected autmatically in the folder.

I have the same issue. Upon restarting, my two smart folders get a drawer-looking icon and don't function. I am able to right click to change settings, but nothing seems to get them to actually work.

How do I get smart folders to stick on search?

I am organising my graphics on my iMac.
I started setting up smart folders to find all my material.
The first searching on ".pdf" did what it was supposed to and retained its search.
All the subsequent ones for ".eps", ".tiff", "Lists" etc initially find what they are supposed to then after saving & adding to the control bar they find nothing but the first search: ".pdf"
What am I doing wrong, if anything?

On looking at the parameters of the search I find they are cumulative.
After I searched on one, it added the subsequent search to the terms of the previous search.
Now why would that be a good idea?
For a start I have to go back and redit the searches every time I do a new one, instead of it just doing the obvious and retaining the parameters of that single search when I add it to the control bar.
It appears to be doing the expected at the time of the search, not when saved.

How are you using smart folders?

I'm looking for ideas - have any of you guys found some interesting uses for smart folders?

Not I. However, this is what Apple says: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8923.html

Major change to how smart folders work?

I'm an ex-PC user and one way I configured the finder to work more like how I was used to working was to color code all my folders red and the half-dozen files I work with on a daily basis green. I had smart folders for both in the Tiger sidebar and they were there all the time. In Leopard they are only there in a finder window and are in the search for area. When I am in a program and want to open a file, that search for section is no longer in the sidebar, so I have to drill down through all folders and sub-folders to find the file I want. Am I going to be limited to launching files directly from the smart folder to easily find the files I need and not open from within the application?
RR

By default when you make a Smart Folder and save it you get it saved into this folder:
"/Users/yourname/Library/Saved Searches"
If you open that folder you should see your Smart Folders. Drag them into the "Places" section of the Sidebar in your open Finder window. They will now show up in the Open dialog window of your application. Of course, you will have them listed twice in the normal Finder window: once in places, so you can see them in the Open window, and once in Search For. Jeez, don't the programmers ever have to talk to each other? Anyway, the sensible thing to do is to have other sorts of things, that you don't need access to from an application, in the Search For section--or just close that section up. This is definitely another "what were they thinking" moment.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

How can I add "AND" "OR" criteria to smart folders?

I want to create some smart folders in Finder that search for documents based on type and date last edited, opened or modified. In some instances I want the result to show files that match some of the criteria and in other instances, I want results to return files that match all of the criteria. I have read somewhere that you can add these conditional filters by pressing the Option key when clicking on the '+' sign to add a new criteria, but it doesn't seem to work in Mavericks. Is there another key combination for this?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Donna

When adding Criteria, hold down the Option key on the keyboard. The + button will turn to and elipsis (…)
You can make groups of Any, All, or None (Or, And, Not).

Smart folders seems not to work with star rating. Is there a fix?

I Rate photos with a five star rating either on iPhoto or Adobe Bridge CS5. When I create a smart folder setting the search attribute to "Rating equals 5" nothing appears on the search.

Sorry,
I think I misunderstood your question. You were talking about smart folders in the Finder and not about smart albums in iPhoto, right? "Rating equals 5" does not work on any of my machines, neither in Snow leopard nor in Lion. The problem seems to be how to represent the rating in the search string. If I search for "Rating is not 5" the smart folder contains plenty of pictures, also those with a rating of five. Does anyone know how the rating is coded to be used in a search string in the Finder?

Mac Mail Smart Folders triplicate messages (Gmail-based mail server)

I can't get Mail Smart Folders to work well with my Virginmedia mail server, which seems to use a Gmail type of system. (I'm using IMAP).
It is easy to set up an instruction to select mail e.g. from defined individuals only, or any other qualifier.
However, I get all mail in triplicate: from the normal Inbox, but also from Gmail-type "All Mail" and "Important" inboxes. I know these mailboxes exist on the Virginmedia server, and also, virtually, in Mail, but I don't ever look at them or need to. There might be a way of not having all mails defined as "Important" on the server, but "All Mail" exists by default and can't be removed, for obvious reasons.
I have tried various additional instructions in the Smart Folder such as include if "Message is in Inbox", but that selects all messages. Also, if "Message is not in Inbox", so that I get only two sets of messages, but that has produced strange results such as messages marked as in Spam folder, which seem to have nothing to do with the defined instructions.
Is there anything "smart" I can do about this, or is it just a matter of Mail not being up to speed with Gmail-based servers. It's just an annoyance, more than anything.

Nope. Gone.
I went to my second mac. Opened Mail, it refreshed its previous state, with 1100 messages in the Inbox, I was relieved and while thinking about my backup options, Mail started its new activity cycle and POOF....Gone. One test message in the Inbox.

How to speed MAC BOOK PRO

starting Mac book pro become very slow about 4 minutes. How can I speed it?

For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utility is: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption. Drive Genius provides additional tools not found in Disk Warrior for defragmentation of older drives, disk repair, disk scans, formatting, partitioning, disk copy, and benchmarking.
Four outstanding sources of information on Mac maintenance are:
1. OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney.
2. Mac maintenance Quick Assist
3. Maintaining Mac OS X
4. Mac Maintenance Guide
Periodic Maintenance
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) SeeMac OS X- About background maintenance tasks. If you are running Leopard or later these tasks are run automatically, so there is no need to use any third-party software to force running these tasks.
If you are using a pre-Leopard version of OS X, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced after Tiger. (These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion and should not be installed.)
Defragmentation
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive except when trying to install Boot Camp on a fragmented drive. But you don't need to buy third-party software. All you need is a spare external hard drive and Carbon Copy Cloner.
Cheap and Easy Defragmentation
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive. You will use Carbon Copy Cloner to create the backup and to restore it.
1. Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the
       external one.
2. Boot from the external hard drive.
3. Erase the internal hard drive.
4. Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the left side dropdown menu.
3. Select the Destination volume from the left side dropdown menu.
4. Be sure the Block Copy button is not depressed or is ghosted.
5. Click on the Clone button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the upward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your internal hard drive (this is the entry with the
       mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the
       drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is
       failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be
       reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the
       DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the
       drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended
       (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to
       GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait
       until the process has completed.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the left side dropdown menu.
3. Select the Destination volume from the left side dropdown menu.
4. Be sure the Block Copy button is not selected or is ghosted.
5. Click on the Clone button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.
Malware Protection
As for malware protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. Starting with Lion Apple has included built-in malware protection that is automatically updated as necessary.
Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection:
1. Mac Malware Guide.
2. Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware
3. Macintosh Virus Guide
For general anti-virus protection I recommend only using ClamXav, but it is not necessary if you are keeping your computer's operating system software up to date. You should avoid any other third-party software advertised as providing anti-malware/virus protection. They are not required and could cause the performance of your computer to drop.
Cache Clearing
I recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc. Corrupted cache files can cause slowness, kernel panics, and other issues. Although this is not a frequent nor a recurring problem, when it does happen there are tools such as those above to fix the problem.
For emergency cleaning install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. (AppleJack works with Snow Leopard or earlier.)
Installing System Updates or Upgrades
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Backup and Restore
Having a backup and restore strategy is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your computer. Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Deja Vu
3. SuperDuper!
4. Synk Pro
5. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance and backup and restore.
Always have a current backup before performing any system updates or upgrades.
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity or 20 GBs, whichever is greater, as free space. Avoid installing utilities that rely on Haxies, SIMBL, or that alter the OS appearance, add features you will rarely if ever need, etc. The more extras you install the greater the probability of having problems. If you install software be sure you know how to uninstall it. Avoid installing multiple new software at the same time. Install one at a time and use it for a while to be sure it's compatible.
Additional suggestions will be found in:
1. Mac OS X speed FAQ
2. Speeding up Macs
3. Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
4. Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up
5. Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines
6. Five Mac maintenance myths
7. How to Speed up Macs
8. Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X

Using the due date function in Smart Folders

Hi
I'm experimenting with my smart folders and I saw there is an option for "due date".
Does this mean I can create a folder with files that need to be processed by a certain date?
How do I add a due date to a file?
This would be useful for me, for instance, in following up invoices. I could set a 30 day date on them and then they would show up in my smart folder when they should be paid.
iJemz

It's not very simple, unless there is a third-party program out there that might set them.
The dates in the MDItem attributes are stored as binary plists.
You would have to create an xml plist with the date, like this:
<?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">
<array>
<date>2013-07-28T05:03:59Z</date>
</array>
</plist>
Then, you would convert it to a binary plist using
plutil -convert binary1 path/to/xml.plist
Then, you would load it into the extended attribute using
xattr -wx com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDueDate "`xxd -p /path/to/binary.plist`" /path/to/file/to/set/dueDate
This could likely be all wrapped in shell script or automator service, but I don't know how to due that.

Smart Folders show icons only in Open Dialog pane

Hi,
I have created a couple of Smart Folders and put them in the side bar. When i select the Smart Folder, it shows the files and their preview icons. When i access the same Smart Folder in an Open Dialog pane from Keynote or another application, it shows regular file icons only, not the preview icons.
Is this how it is supposed to work?

While I'm not quite sure what you mean, it sounds to me like you had the Open dialog set for Column view, and at some point changed it to List view. Take a look at the toolbar at the top of the Open dialog window, you should see the back/forward buttons, then a group of three icons representing icon, list and column view. Both icon view and column view will show a preview icon of the selected file. Personally, I like icon view, since you see all the files that fit in the window with custom thumbs, and can pick what you want quickly. If you change the setting, in say Safari, to list view (which makes more sense in Safari), then the Open dialog for, say, TextEdit gets changed too. Just change it back by clicking the little icon in the toolbar at the top of the Open window.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

How to debug the smart forms

Hi All,
Can any body guide me how to debug the smart forms.
Thanks & Regards,
Satish.

Hi,
The the best way to debug the form is to put a breakpoint in the function module generated by the smartform.
Procedure:
Open the smartform we want to debug.
Goto Environment -> Function module name.
Open the function module in SE37. From the menu GOTO -> main program. Open the last include.
This incude contains the entire code ie the code we have written in initalization + form routines + program lines + sap generated code.
Even we can search for the text nodes, folders, templates, tables, graphics, address nodes etc with their names.
Put a breakpoint at any point you want.
If we issue any doc which triggers this form, when the control reaches the break point it will stop.
Please note that hard-coding the break points in the code ( Program lines ) is not recommended and it can´t be done unless if it is development server.
So, always put a session break point in the related function module.
We can use SFTRACE transaction to know the sequence of the control flow.
If you want to break at each and every text that is printed on the output form put the break points in the forms.
1. %write_text to break at text element.
2. %WRITE_TEXT_MODULE to break at text module.
3. %WRITE_INCLUDE_TEXT to break at include text.
Please put a break point at the first sy-subrc check.
If the control reaches this point, you can find the name of the element in the varible NAME and the content in the text node in %TEXT.
Its easy to understand the sequence of the printing if we put a breakpoint as stated above.
Regards,
Satish.

Design flaw in MAC OS X "smart folders" system resulting date lose

Hello there !
I would like your opinion on that issue.
This is how I discovered it : many, too many friends who switched to Mac reported me loss of iPhoto pictures with a question mark instead of the picture and "corrupted" iPhoto library. Is been more than 2 years and 15 persons in my entourage who reported that to me. This is big, too big in my opinion to not take in account those behaviors. I always thought they used iPhoto in a (very) bad way and I was wrong. They never recovered their picture.
After observing by chance how they manage their pictures, I observed, in my opinion, a big design flow in Mac OS X "smart folder" system that can too easily lead to (logically) data corruption in iPhoto.
As you know, Mac OS X comes with pre-made "Auto search" "smart folders" that are available in the lateral bar of every finder window such as "all images", "all movies".
What my friend do is use this automatic "all images" smart folder to browse recent imported pictures in iPhoto and send them by e-mail and move them around their disc, and/or share them. I fact I never had the idea of doing that with those folder, and this is very quick and handy !
Where the huge issue lies is that this auto "All images" smart folder searches INSIDE the iPhoto library package ! Therefore, if you move a file from the smart folder "all images" result to another place in your hard drive, you actually remove it FROM THE IPHOTO library package folder and iPhoto naturally lose track of the picture resulting in data loss.
I posted you a screenshot to illustrate that :
http://gallery.me.com/jbroussel#100105
I really wonder how the Apple Team can factory "lock" the iPhoto library content by making the folder a "package", BUT, at the SAME TIME, allow the predefine "all images" "Smart folder" browse in this entire very folder as if its content was available to the user. It is not a "Smart Folder" at all.
In a user point of view this is a huge FLAW. No wonder the user have no clue that he (or she) is doing something wrong by doing so. I especially noticed those error from users switching from Windows machine.
In my opinion this the most illogical design I saw in a long time !
What do you think about it ? Am I to exigent ? Too logical ?
Message was edited by: Didsayan

Thank you all for your interesting feedback, really.
When I say 15 people, it is the truth because I love to help my entourage with Mac (since I often recommended them the Mac in the first place), and this is on a 2 years timeframe, so it is not that bad, but I is enough to me to consider their behaviors, especially since I would not have done it myself (I am a Mac-only user).
Most of them had a backup (thanks Time Machine), but unfortunately, when they do noticed the problem it was too late and Time Machine already erased the backup that had the original pictures in it, so they could not retrieve their pictures.
Of course, as you said, some of the pictures were not "lost", just removed in another location, but this led to iPhoto database corruption and this is a lot of trouble. Trying to find the original location of 100+ pictures in iPhoto database is a pretty hard job since the structure is complex and this is very time consuming, I gave up the idea of fixing those folder.
I totally agree on the fact that I is too easy to blame the system for user wrong manipulation.
In that very case, the standard features of the system are to me far too ambiguous :
- iPhoto library folder content is hidden to the user (UNLIKE iTunes library folder)
- but the standard "smart folder" "all image" search within this very "hidden content"
All that without letting the user know if he does not pay attention to the path.
Look at the screenshot I made and you will see the path is so long that it is hard to keep track were the file actually is.
I talked to user who made the mistake, and their belief, this "all image" folder is "like browsing in iPhoto" or like any "media inspector" window like in iMovie or Keynote. Which in fact, is not at all.
I suggested this discussion because in my opinion, this "all images" "smart folder" is too prone to incident, especially with unexperienced user. Thank you for the feedback.
As suggested by etresoft, I will let Apple know.

Column view not peristent in mail smart folders

I use a smart folder which displays multiple actual folders; I enable the mailbox column, but as soon as I move to another folder and back, the column becomes disabled.
I assume from some other old messages that this is the intended default behavior and not a bug. Does anyone know whether there is a way to ensure persistent column settings, and if not, if this is a planned fix for the next version of mail.app?
Thanks very much.
(searching: persistent column views in mail; View > Columns > Mailbox)

I'd love to know too, but can't seem to find out how.
This seems like a major oversight/quirk.
I have to adjust the column widths often -- otherwise they bounce back.
I have this in the Inbox, not just Smart Folders.

Can I add/show a size column for smart folders?

I've created a set of smart folders to filter the files on my system by size (e.g. <10megs, 10-499megs, 500-999megs and >1Gig.
What I'd like to do is sort the files by size, so having the folder show a size column would be great... however it doesn't seem to be possible (or the how is not publicized). It just shows name, kind and last opened. If I change the view to ICON, I can get the size for some files, but others, like movies or music, show their duration, not size.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Gary

If you want to report this to Apple, send a bug report (or enhancement request) via its Bug Reporter system. Join the Apple Developer Connection (ADC)—it's free and available for all Mac users and gets you a look at some development software. Since you already have an Apple username/ID, use that. Once a member, go to Apple BugReporter and file your bug report/enhancement request. You'll get a get a Bug or ER ID number; thus, starting a dialog directly with engineering.

How to speed up smart folders?

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