Smart folder filters

I would like to make a smart folder that only searches for JPGs in a specific external drive and no others. I couldn't find a filter that lets me specify a location or source. Is there one?

Smart Folder searches use the Spotlight index which is on the chosen volume. The index can be disabled via the Spotlight privacy preference tab, and occasionally can become corrupted.
So you could try rebuilding the Spotlight index on your external drive:
Go to System Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy tab
If your external volume is on the Privacy list, delete it from the list with the minus button.
If the volume not on the Privacy list, then add it there and then immediately delete it again with the minus button.
Either of these steps should result in rebuilding the Spotlight index on that volume, which might take a while. Click the Spotlight search icon at the top right of the screen to monitor its progress. Try the Smart Folder search again when the indexing has completed.

Similar Messages

"Today" smart Mail folder filters for wrong date

Hi
The Today smart folder in Mail is set to show today's messages, but is showing messages dated August 8 instead.
I only got my MacBook Air yesterday and it's my first Mac, but I'm computer-literate so I checked the date setting and it's correct. I've set the main language to Catalan but I can't see how that might affect the way the Mac reads the date - and anyway, today's date in my preferred version - dd/mm/yy - would be read as August 9th under the preferred US format, mm/dd/yy.
PS: Any hints on how to scroll quickly to the top or bottom of the list of emails?

Thank you Tom.
It seems to have made a difference (took me a while to get back to it as I had some urgent work to take care of first).
But now, Today is finding every single draft version of every email I have drafted during the day - and Mail seems to save a draft every minute, for which I am grateful but not if they're all going to turn up in my Today folder!
Any suggestions?

Smart folder seems dumb

Maybe it's me...
I've tried entering every possible variation of subject line into a smart folder in Mail, to move messages from a certain email discussion list to that folder. Nevertheless, many messages, seemingly described accurately in the smart folder's inclusion criteria, don't make it to the smart folder.
Is this a known issue?
The larger problem is that the filter for the smart folder doesn't seem to have a "reply to" criterion. Some email discussion lists are best identified by their reply-to addresses.
Am I overlooking something? Suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Tim
533 mhz dual CPU G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I just complain on support forums to fill up my
otherwise empty life.
The email address is always the same, but the recipient's
name is inconsistent, depending on how the user enters it.
I don't fully understand this. What does being inconsistent mean here? If participants must send their messages to [email protected], there is no way to be inconsistent about that. Unless the list server suppresses that address from the headers, then a single condition specifying [Any Recipient] [Contains] use-revolution (or [Any Recipient] [Contains] lists.runrev.com) should work...
No matter how I enter the "any recipient" field, many
messages stay in the in box instead of getting sent
to the smart folder.
Well, they shouldn't be sent to the smart mailbox, but they should definitely appear there...
It doesn't seem like so many similar criteria should
be necessary.
Agreed. A single condition is all that should be needed. I don't understand why it doesn't work for you.
Even when "any recipient" meets one or more of these
criteria, the message often remains in the in basket.
The messages shouldn't remain in the Inbox often. They should remain there always. That's how smart mailboxes work.
Some messages do get picked up by the smart folder.
Others don't. I don't see a pattern.
Could this be a Spotlight issue?
Maybe if I could get the smart folder to work right,
the "reply to" criterion would be irrelevant.
I think so.
I tried a smart folder instead of a filter. I thought
it would be easier. Maybe smart folders and filters
use different mechanisms. I haven't tried to do the
same thing with a filter yet.
Not only do they use different mechanisms (smart folders use Spotlight, whereas rules do not), but they serve different purposes as well. I you do actually want your messages to be moved out of the Inbox and into their own mailbox, that's what rules are for -- and they allow you to to specify arbitrary headers in the conditions.

How to create smart folder in Lion

Hi,
I was using Smart folders a lot in Snow Leopard. For example I have Movie folder and lot of movies in it. The movie I haven't seen yet are labeled as red and there is smart folder, which shows me just the red (unseen) folders.
However the smart folder doesn't work in Lion. So I deleted them and wanted to create new one. However when I create new Smart folder it can search just "This Mac" or "jakudo" (my account) or "Shared", I cannot set the "Movie" folder. How should I do that? Or is there some new way how to do that in Lion?

Smart Folders seem to be getting smarter Something like this maybe?
Select 'Kind is Folder' first, then narrow it down to Movie in the Search box to add a smart tag. Next Hit the + sign and set further filters as required.
I've only played with this briefly but it might be what you're looking for?
Regards,
Colin R.

Smart Folder in Finder displays incorrect list when using "File label" option.

Hello.
I created a Smart Folder in Finder, to display all files that have any color (label).
But have a problem just with one file, and although it has no Label, it keeps displaying that file.
Just to let you know:
1) File is not in Trash or hidden.
2) Checked several times the "information" of the file. Assign any color, then removed it.
3) File is synched with Dropbox v2.0.5
4) File is a Microsoft Excel and been working with it for a while with Office for Mac.
OS X 10.8.3

I'm having this problem, too. It with even show files with other color tags when filtering by another color. I tried changing the file color then changing it back to blank and it disappears temporarily, but if you view another folder and then come back the file pops back.

Smart folder with multiple keywords?

Is it possible to set up a smart folder to filter on more than one keyword assigned to an image? I'd like to set up a smart folder that will find images that have 2 specific keywords. I've searched, and wrestled with it every which way, but haven't landed on the solution.
For example:
Img_001 has keywords of "Animal" and "Vegetable"
Img_002 has keywords of "Animal", "Vegetable" and "Mineral"
Img_003 has keywords of "Animal" and "Mineral"
Img_004 has keywords of "Vegetable" and "Mineral"
I'd like my "Animal and Vegitable" smart folder to find Img_001, and Img_002 only.
Thanks for any ideas,
Guy

Guy,
Yes, you can do that. You would enter these criteria:
"Keyword is Animal." +
"Keyword is Vegetable."
When you enter the second condition, an additional menu appears above them. You need to set it to:
"Match all of the following conditions."
That will give you only photos which are tagged with both keywords.
FYI, you can do something similar with the keywords pane. In Preferences, Keywords, you can set iPhoto to filter based on any keyword or based on all keywords. With it set to match all keywords when filtering, clicking on your "Animal" and "Vegetable" keywords will give you only photos which contain both. The cool thing about this method is that you can Option-click a keyword to exclude it from the filter. So if you didn't want photos containing "Animal," "Vegetable," and "Protozoa," you could exclude "Protozoa" from the filter. Of course, this is done in real time, and doesn't create a self-updating Smart Album. But it's a fun trick for seeing what you have very quickly.
Regards

How do you search Smart Folder?

I created a Smart Folder for my PDFs but can't search it with Spotlight. When I enter a search string my PDF Folder does a new search instead of filtering my PDFs. Is there a way to search the contents of a Smart Folder or are Smart Folders dumb?

Take a look at the information I put together about the new version of Spotlight:
http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/Leopard/leospot.html
Scroll to about the middle of the page for detailed instructions, with a picture even, on doing further searches in a Smart Folder to refine the results.
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

Is there a way to create a smart folder in iTunes, that contains the most recent (say 10) used playlists?

Is there a way to create a smart folder in iTunes, that contains the most recent (say 10) used playlists? By having this I would be three clicks (touches from what is recent).
Thanks

100s with about 30 folders, comprised on different moods, years, genre, favorites, audiobooks, podcasts. Being accessed from multiple Macs and Apple TVs.

Can Aperture not be set up to show a "Last Import" smart folder?

I'm trying to make the transfer from using iPhoto to using Aperture.
One thing I found really great in iPhoto was the smart folder that was simply set to show the last import, no matter when that import was done - whether it was today, yesterday or 6 months ago.
The reason I found this so handy was because I set my iPad up in iTunes to only sync the photos from that Last Import smart folder, rather than all my photos.
That way, every time I synced my iPad, I always had my most recent photos on my iPad, no matter when the pictures were taken.
Now with Aperture, I cannot see a way to create anything similar. The best I can do is to create a smart folder with photos imported within the last month, let's say.
But the problem with that is that if I haven't imported any new photos for over a month, then the next time I sync my iPad, then all my photos will no longer be on the iPad.
If I create a longer timeframe, to let's say 3 months, then I might end up with way too many photos trying to sync across, and that's something I don't want. I could end up with hundreds and hundreds of photos, and I don't have the free space to be able to do this!
When I used "Last Import" with iPhoto, then I always only had around 50 or 60 photos, because that's just generally how many I usually imported at any one time. Sometimes it was more, sometimes less, but the average worked for me.
So to sum up: Can Aperture not be set up to show a "Last Import" smart folder, regardless of date?
Or alternatively, is there any way I could "hack" or "trick" Aperture into doing something like this so that I always have a managable amount of the most recent photos on my iPad?

Hello Brett,
that does not seem to be an easy probem as you discovered.
Some Workarounds:
You might to use a smart album rule "Import session is" instead of a date range, but that will not be automatic.
Create a folder "recently added" and keep your recent projects inside that folder; create a smart album at the top level of that folder; move older projects somewhere else.
Or enable the Photo Stream - that is the current replacement for the "most recently added" album; it will (is supposed to) always show the most recent 1000 images.
If you are familiar with AppleScript, you can make Aperture run an AppleScript on import (Import Settings) to add your imported image to an album of new images. From time to time remove the older images.
Sorry, but no really convenient way to do it..
Regards
Léonie

Smart folder filters

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for