Populating Smart Folder - Bug?

There seems to have been a change in the way smart folders are populated in Snow Leopard. I like to keep a smart folder called "All Today". It is a great troubleshooting tool. For example, there is currently a Snow Leopard bug in using your mouse to select Expose "Show Desktop". With this smart folder, I can change the Expose settings and quickly see that com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist is the possible problem file.
Unfortunately, Snow Leopard is not populating an realtime smart folder very elegantly. One has to open the smart folder, show search criteria, and toggle search locations to properly populate the folder.
For example, here is an "All Today" search criteria:
Create a new Smart Folder w/ search conditions as follows:
Kind = Any
System Files = Are Included
(Option+) ANY of the following are TRUE
- Last Opened Date = Today
- Last Modified Date = Today
Save the folder
Close finder and open the folder. You will see that the folder is not properly populated. Now, open "Show Search Criteria" and toggle Search location at the top. Now correctly populated. It is a nuisance to have to drop down the menu to show the search criteria and then toggle. This was not the case in Leopard.
Can anyone think of a work around?

Hi all,
I've a similar issue. If you create a smart folder with time based criteria it won't get populated correctly.
Say you have a criteria "last opened" in "one week"
It works as soon as you create the folder but if you open a file after the smart folder was created the new file won't be seen in the smart folder.
Cheers,
Marco

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Smart Folder bug

Any time I use a smart folder, well I have only tried with one. With the search criteria, system turned on, and visibility to everything. So that I can search my whole system. Everytime I do this I cannot search anything after. Nothing, in finder or anything until I restart. Spotlight seems to work. It sometimes comes up with a few results, I didn't notice a pattern just yet, but there are very few. Once I restart it works normally until again I make another smart folder and search in it. Also I did try rebuilding the spotlight index after making a smart folder to no avail. I tried resetting PRAM, SMC, fixing my drives permissions/repairing. Nothing has worked. Please help!. Ive also noticed significant performance changes in yosmite.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Smart Folder Bug: Iphoto fails to match using 'filename' filter

Hi, this issue has popped up here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6008267
and here:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22401
though I've yet to find an answer.
Briefly, the problem:
When using a smart album with a 'filename' filter, iphoto fails to produce a match when it should. Interestingly, I have some of my photo's included from their current location (simply a folder structure on my mac) and others imported directly into iphoto, so are directly in the library. Now, those photo's that are included from their current location are correctly indexed, and the smart folder provides correct matches (e.g. all filenames that contain '.jpg'). However, none of the photo's that reside in iphoto's own library are present with the example filter above.
I'm not sure how much this topic has been bashed, but this is definitely an iphoto issue, and an irritating one! (Yep, I've rebuilt the library too)
Thoughts?

Tom
Thoughts?
Here's one:
I have some of my photo's included from their current location (simply a folder structure on my mac) and others imported directly into iphoto, so are directly in the library.
Running a mixed library, where iPhoto is managing some of the files and you are managing the others, is a recipe for data loss. When there's complexity in managing the data, mistakes will occur.
That said: this could be a damaged db file.
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

Creating a smart folder with Terminal?

What I'm trying to do might not be possible, which wouldn't surprise me at all. What I'd like to do is one of the following:
1. Create a smart folder that contains everything in the "/" folder.
2. Create a smart folder that is populated with every volume currently mounted on my Mac.
Essentially what I'm hoping to do is create a smart folder I can then use as a stack that would contain all the volumes currently located on my Mac. The only solution I've found so far for this is to use the /Volumes/ folder but this doesn't suit my needs as occasionally I get double icons for drives (1 being the alias the second being a private folder). Also it fails aesthetically which is part of the reason I'm doing this in the first place.
If anyone could recommend a solution that'd be great. I figured Terminal was my best bet, unfortunately my knowledge of this form of coding is non-existent and no amount of Google searches could help me.

I don't see how either item on your wish list can be satisfied by any of this "smart" stuff. The smart searches/folders are based on queries against the same metadata used by Spotlight - and that doesn't even look at / or /Volumes. Even if the info were available, is it up-to-the-minute enough to really be usable?
If you want to examine the built-in searches as a guide, you'll find them in:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/CannedSearches
Note that each of the items therein is a package, so you'll have to drill a bit deeper to get to the query file. I found that Property List Editor from XTools was a good way to get a structured view of them.

Create a Smart Folder with Red or Green labels.

Hi,
I want to create a smart folder with either Red or Yellow label, I tried the "option"-"+" to add ANY condition when creating my smart folder, but seem smart folder still only try to search only one type of label depend on the position of my "ANY" condition.
From the Get Info, I can see the raw query seem to be correct:
(true) && ((((kMDItemFSLabel = 6) || (kMDItemFSLabel = 2))))
Is it a bug in the smart folder?
Thanks
Kit

figured it out. Hold the "option" key while hitting the "+" for a new criteria.

Smart Folder Question

Hello People,
I am trying to do something fairly basic with a Smart Folder but it's not working and I must be doing something wrong, here's the deal:
I have an email account called [email protected], where our software sends us error reports when the users says "report to developer". So I've got lots of error reports. (Well not that many, but I've got quite a lot)
I'd like to create a smart folder that says:
IS IN MAILBOX "XXXXX"
AND
ENTIRE MESSAGE -> DOES NOT CONTAIN "a string i'd like to place like this one".
In theory this seems easy, but in practice is not working. I seems as if the "Contains, Does Not Contain, Begins with, etc." is always behaving like "Contains".
I've placed a screnshot that shows exactly that. If you take a look at it, the message shown has exactly that string on the first line "while establishing a connection".
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9180/errormailgk9.th.jpg
Could it be possible that "Entire Message" doesn't search message text?
Thanks

Austin Kinsella1 wrote:
Well, it is not just you - I have just tried a couple of smart mailboxes, and "does not contain" produces the same results as "contains". As far as I can see contains produces correct results.
Hhmmmm is this a bug or something we're not doing "right"?
By the way, thank you for trying

How do I search within a smart folder?

In OSX Snow Leopard, I was able to perform a search within a Smart Folder. Now when I try to do the same in OSX Lion, I get strange results that aren't accurate at all. I'm seeing files in the search results that aren't even part of the Smart Folder. It doesn't seem to be working. Is this another known bug in Lion?

Let me walk you through the problem. If I navigate to a particular folder nd click in search it does not show the folder name:
However if I start typing I get the option to search said folder. Than I just blank out what I typed so I can get everything in the folder and all of it's subfolders. Strangely, "Kind: Any" does not work. I had to set it to documents.

Smart Folder search options

When I create a new Smart Folder, the only search options available are "This Mac" & "Documents" (no option for the "Home" folder as described in Help).
This may be OK, except that the smart folders I have created are to find the most recently accessed spreadsheets, Word documents, powerpoints by type (one folder for each). When I set up the Smart Folder they work well if i specify "This Mac" (as not all the relevant docs are in the directory structure, I may have some on my desktop for example).
But, when I reopen the Smart Folder later, I do not see all my recently accessed files, I see some other selection.
So I have to open 'search options'. The options have changed to "This Mac" & "Recent WORD.saved search" (the name I have given the smart folder), with the latter selected. I then have to click on "This Mac" and the search refreshes correctly. Even though i subsequently save again with "This Mac" selected, it reverts to "Recent Word.saved search" when I look the next time.
This used to work the way I wanted and displayed the files I wanted when first opened. The change may be either a) because of changes in Snow Leopard; or b) because I now have shared computers and drives sometimes available and I wonder if these cause the saved search not to like "This Mac" option in case some of the directories are not available...just a thought.
Any ideas if I am doing something wrong or is there a bug?

Phew. I just figured this out. I had the opposite problem that you have. All my searches were restricted to my home folder. The answer is that the default search location when you select "New Smart Folder" is set by the default location for a new Finder window. Yours must be set to "Documents".
You don't have to select "New Smart Folder", though. You can open the folder or drive you want to search and then start typing in the search criteria field in the upper right to start a search restricted to that folder or drive.
Confusing behavior. That top bar for the location of the search should be editable.

Smart Folder searches within itself

After upgrading to SL last fall the Smart Folders started to misbehave in the following manner:
The smart folder set to search "This Mac" would after restart search within itself. E.g I have created a Smart Folder finding all Word documents edited within the last week, called "Word last week". But the folder start to search within itself, e.g."Word last week" instead of in "This Mac". I have checked and, after some days, the query delivers different results if I change back to search within "My Mac".
What can I do to force Smart Folders to search the whole harddrive and quit being so self-centered (self-referencing)?

They aren't searching "within themselves" but searching wherever you told them to. If you click a saved search (AKA Smart Folder) and then select the Show Criteria option, you will see the name of the smart search next to the "This Mac"--but it is just the name, it is searching where you told it to when you created it. Evidently the programmers decided something had to occupy that spot in the search criteria, and opted to have it display the name of the Smart Folder.
That said, there is a really bad bug in saved searches that involve date as a criteria. They aren't updating properly because the wrong thing is being added to raw query of the search when you create it. Thus if you want a Smart Folder that finds MS Word docs created in the last 3 days, it won't update. If you use it next week it will continue to search for the created date of files from when you made it. I suspect this bug is what is throwing your results off.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Importing to a Smart Folder

I created my 1st Smart Folder just moments ago. And I quickly learned how to get to the Filter HUD. But after setting filter preferences, how does a person Import images that match the Filter?
1) Is the process automatice.
2) If not, can you grab matching images from in many different folders on an external HD, or do you have to navigate to each folder, open it and then Import the images sequentially? That would be a lot of work. :-(

The smart folders in Aperture only relate to images, that already have been imported to Aperture.
Import all folders with images that you want to maintain in your Aperture library; then your smart folders in the library will structure and filter them.
If you need smart searches to find the image files that you want to import to your library, use smart folders in the Finder.
Open a Finder window and press ⌘F, then press the "+" button to add search rules, for example to find all "jpeg" images taken in the last 30 days, you could search like this:
Then select all images that have been found and copy or drag them to a folder or directly into Aperture's import window.

How to create a smart folder that only selects from a specific directory?

I am trying to create a smart folder that lists all my iPhoto original content in the last few months. I want this so that my wife can connect into the smart folder over the LAN when copying specific photos to her PC.
I am have trouble working out how to restrict the search to only those files that exists in the iPhoto directory. When I look at info for a photo is states "Where: /Users/Shared/iPhoto Library/iPhoto Library/Data/2009/....etc etc".
However if I add an filter for "Where from" begins with "/Users/Shared/... etc etc" it returns nothing. Is there a way to do this?

Find the iPhoto library file.
Right click -> Show package contents.
Double click the Originals folder.
Type anything in the Search box at the top of the Finder window.
In the top of the Finder window, click "Originals".
Click the + (plus) sign next to Save.
Select Kind is Image.
Click the + (plus) sign again.
Select *Created date* is *within last 3 months* (or whatever you want).
Go to the search box and delete what you typed. Don't hit the X to delete the search text.
Now save the smart search.
This is saved in ~\Library\Saved searches. Copy or move it to the desktop where your wife can get access to it.

If i delete a file from a smart folder is it deleted from the hard drive?

I've got a late 2011 17" MacBook Pro with a 750 GB harddrive. I'm trying to free up space by deleting movie files. I spoke with tech support about this, and they suggested creating a smart folder of all my movie files in order to find them and delte them. I did this and deleted many files, but when I open system information to check on the amount of hard drive space, I'm still seeing the same amount of hard drive space dedicated to movies.
If I make a smart folder and delete files in that, am I really deleting them from my hard drive or just from the smart folder?

What files are stored automatically by Time Machine? I thought Time Machine pretty much saved everything on my hard drive to my external hard drive. If that is the case, wouldn't my music files and picture files be on Time Machine (via my external hard drive)?
Time Machine does backup almost all files on your hard drive, unless you have chosen to exclude them. There are a few exceptions, but nothing you should worry about. Your music and photos should be there, but Time Machine will not backup your iPhoto library if iPhoto is open.
Also, are the photos from iPhoto automatically stored on my external hard drive via Time Machine? If so, can I delete the pictures from iPhoto without deleting them from the external hard drive?
Yes to both questions, with the above cavat that Time Machine won't backup the library if iPhoto is open.
I notice that it takes iPhoto quite a while to load, and if deleting those photos would allow it to load quicker I would delete them (providing they would remain on the external hard drive.
I only have a few pictures in iPhoto, compared to my wife's 3,500+, and my iPhoto doesn't load appreciably faster that her's does even though I have a faster computer. In my opinion, it isn't worth the effort it would take to delete them for such a small gain.
You should have at least 2 complete backups to try to make sure you won't lose any data. Hard drives do fail and/or files can become corrupted. Time Machine can back up to more than one external hard drive or you can use a cloning program.
Time Machine FAQ

Deleting files in a smart folder

If I delete a file in a smart folder, does it delete it from the 'puter or just the smart folder?
(after 6 years, I finally looked at smart folders. They are quite nice, but allow for the bad habit of not organizing correctly)

Deleting a file in a smart folder moves it to the Trash.
(48354)

How do I make a Smart Folder for Applications last opened over a month ago?

Can anyone give me some pointers on generating a Spotlight saved search/Smart Folder under Leopard that will give me all applications NOT opened in a given time period (say one month)? I can do Kind:Application and Last Opened:before a given date (1 July 2009), but I don't believe this will update as time goes by? The date is absolute rather than relative, if you will?
Attempts at using some negation of the Last Opened:within 1 month (using a dropdown "Match None of the following rules") appears not to function as I would expect. From having a dig around in the .savedsearch it seems the trouble is attempting to negate a range rather than a fixed date?
The only thing I now suspect is that I need the .savedsearch query, which looks like this:
+<string>((((_kMDItemGroupId = 8) && ((kMDItemLastUsedDate < 268063200))))) && (true)</string>+
To perhaps instead use +$time.this_month(-1)+ in place of the hard coded date, but danged if I know how to do so. Now it's late, and I'm posting incoherently to the Apple Support Forums. Any enlightenment appreciated. (Forgive me if this is the wrong forum - it's a Leopard/Spotlight issue)

If you go into Edit > Preferences, then on the General tab make sure that Ringtones is ticked and it should then appear on the left-hand side of your iTunes.

How to delete a Smart Folder?

I have been trying to delete a Smart Folder in the Search section of Finder. I have not been successful! I can't even open it or access it. I tried dragging it to Trash and it pops back to place. How do I eliminate this folder?

Yeah, that got introduced with 10.6.7. Too many people were dragging things off by mistake so they gave it the same process as removing something from the menubar. Too bad they didn't implement it for the dock...
Captfred

Populating Smart Folder - Bug?

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