The Spotlight finder window appearance is making me crazy!

Somewhere along the way, the appearance of the window I get when I click "show all" under Spotlight (which I do a dozen times a day) got set in a manner that is infuriating, so that I have to do about 5 adjustments to it to be able to really see the results. The sidebar is very wide, the title column is very narrow, the date column is too big, the size of the window itself is too small...
It has been like this for many months, and I have done all kinds of adjustments and sampled shareware that might help, and I am going crazy.
Help!

Here's what should happen, and it is annoying as all get out--no matter what you had set-up last time. Here's a list of what it should do:
1. Open in the middle of the screen, vertically aligned somewhat nearer the top than the bottom;
2. it will always be exactly the same size in deminsions, and clicking the + button will lengthen it slightly, but not make it expand all the way;
3. the sidebar will be always wide enough to accomodate the longest title in the items present there, no matter what size you have it set at in a regular window;
4. if you are in list view you will get three columns of exactly the same width, Name/Kind/Last Opened, and the results will be arranged by Last Opened (the most useless, non-standard column ever to appear in a quasi-Finder window).
You can adjust things by hand, thus you can shrink the sidebar to its minimum, manually drag the window size to max, move the window to the upper left corner of the monitor, click to have it arranged by name, drag the three columns to the width you want....and next time it will open not as you left it, but in exactly the same way it started with.
Kappy--there are no View Options for a search window. And macjack--I don't think getting rid of the plist will accomplish anything. I suspect what Hester is seeing is exactly what she ought to be seeing. The behavior is hard-coded into Spotlight. The behavior in these particular things, in a regular Finder window, is stored in the .DS_Store file for each folder, so you can adjust them and use the View Options as Kappy described to get them to apply to that folder everytime you open it (provided you open it "on its own" and don't get there by navigating in column view or via the Back button). But there is no .DS_Store file for a search window, because it isn't a folder, and the sorts of settings we are talking about are not stored in the Spotlight plist.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Similar Messages

  • Spotlight Find Window has incorrect arrangement

    Lately, whenever I use Spotlight and then choose "Show All", the resulting window is displayed (in list view) with a very wide sidebar, and very narrow columns which must be expanded to read the fields. Normal new Finder windows open correctly, in column view, with the sidebar and columns all readable without adjustment. Under View Options, with the Search window as the foremost window, the checkbox "Always Open in List View" is not checked, however the window always opens in List View.
    This problem with the Spotlight Find window has only occurred recently and no attempt to fix it has been successful. How and where do I specify the format of the Spotlight window so that I may specify it as it used to be?

    If the problem doesn't exist in other accounts, then there's further corruption within the original one. While logged into the newly created admin account, backup the bad account's folder, delete the bad account, selecting the save data option (which is stored in /Users/Deleted Users/ as a disk image), recreate the bad account using the same username/password combo, log out and back into the recreated original account. If the problem's solved, open the saved data dmg file in /Users/Deleted Users/, open the /Library/Preferences/ folder from the saved data, open the current /Users/restored account/Library/Preferences/ folder, and slowly copy plist files from the saved data folder to the current one that don't exist in it. Log out and back in to ensure there's no conflict and things still work correctly. Resolving conflicts or identifying corrupt plist files is a laborious process. Good luck.

  • With installation of 10.1 I lost finder search function. The finder window appears, but no matter what I put in the search window, nothing is found. I re-installed it with initial success, but it failed again very soon.

    With installation of 10.1 I lost finder search function. The finder window appears, but no matter what I put in the search window, nothing is found. I re-installed it with initial success, but it failed again very soon.
    MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
    OS X 10.10.1

    Hey Reoh, 
    Thank you for contributing to the Apple Support Communities. 
    If searching for files in Finder doesn't return any results, try using the steps in this article to reindex the Spotlight search index of your MacBook Pro hard drive:
    Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support
    Sincerely,
    Jeremy

  • How do I move the spotlight search window out of the freaking way in Yosemite??????????

    The spotlight search window is Yosemite is obtrusive. How can I get the old spotlight behavior back in Yosemite? Spotlight windows used to be on the side and out of the way. Now spotlight is completely worthless, if it is going block what I am working on. I don't need a luanchpad app. OS X is a multitask environment and spotlight kills the ability to multitask. My desktop and laptop computers are not tablets, so why is spotlight limiting their abilities.

    There are lots of useful things you can do with spotlight. My most common uses are: (a) an app launcher, and (b) a quick calculator, (c) a search tool. Each of you probably have others.
    When I'm using it as an app launcher, the pop-up window in the middle of the screen is not an issue. I type a few keys and it's gone. For example, "CMD-Spacebar S A Return" launches safari.
    When I'm using it as a calculator the pop-up window is often annoying because it obscures the data I want to do calculations on. I have to remember all the numbers I want to type in. Could I just use the calculator app? Of course, but this wasn't an issue previously.
    When I'm using it as a search tool the pop-up window is usually not a problem but sometimes obscures information I want to see
    Bottom line based on my use cases is that I prefer the pop-up out of the way in the corner.

  • Find... has Icon Scaling bar, but not the regular Finder window?

    Hi,
    Why is it that the Find... window in Finder has a bar that enables you to scale the size of Icons, but the regular Finder window doesn't?
    Also, why is the typical Icon Size in Icon View limited to 128 x 128 pixels? When you're in one of the Find... windows, you can scale any icon all the way up to approximately 428 x 428 pixels, completely fluidly, all in real-time.

    Probably so you can make them smaller if there are a large number of search results without having to permanently change you default configuration. I can surely see a need for this if you normally view search results in icon view (personally, I don't). But I wouldn't want to then have that change reflected system-wide.

  • The icloud backup window appeared on my ipad screen.  It won't go away and my ipad appears to have locked.

    The icloud backup window appeared on my ipad screen.  I pressed Ok without thinking and everything on my ipad seems to have locked.And the icloud backup window won't go away.

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    Hold Sleep and Home buttons for 10 seconds until the iPad restarts, so you will be able to use the device again

  • Modify a script to work on the front Finder window

    I found a droplet script that sets the view of the folder and all it's subfolders when you drop it on the app.
    What I'd like to be able to do is to run it on the current front (open) Finder window and it's sub folders, rather than dropping a folder onto an applescript droplet app. I'd activate it with something like Alfred or LaunchBar. Here is the script:
    property counter : 0
    on open theFolders
              tell application "Finder"
                        tell the front Finder window
                                  set toolbar visible to true
                                  set the sidebar width to 160
                        end tell
              end tell
              set t to (current date)
              set counter to (count theFolders)
              tell application "Finder" to activate
      -- Do the business with each dropped folder
              repeat with thisFolder in theFolders
      setViews(thisFolder)
              end repeat
              set t1 to (current date) - t
              tell application "Finder" to display dialog (t1 as string) & " seconds for " & counter & " folders." with icon note
    end open
    on setViews(thisFolder)
              tell application "Finder"
                        tell (get thisFolder's window)
                                  set its current view to icon view
                                  tell its icon view options
                                            set arrangement to arranged by name
                                            set icon size to 64
                                            set shows item info to true
                                            set shows icon preview to true
                                  end tell
                        end tell
                        try
                                  set theSubfolders to every folder of thisFolder as alias list
                        on error
                                  set theSubfolders to first folder of thisFolder as alias as list
                        end try
              end tell
              set subfolderCount to (count theSubfolders)
              if subfolderCount > 0 then
                        set counter to counter + subfolderCount
                        repeat with i from 1 to subfolderCount
      setViews(item i of theSubfolders)
                        end repeat
              end if
    end setViews
    Any help would be appreciated.

    You mean like this, right?
    tell application "Finder"
              set theFolders to the front Finder window
              tell theFolders
                        set toolbar visible to true
                        set the sidebar width to 160
              end tell
    end tell
    set t to (current date)
    set counter to (count theFolders)
    tell application "Finder" to activate
    -- Do the business with each dropped folder
    repeat with thisFolder in theFolders
      setViews(thisFolder)
    end repeat
    set t1 to (current date) - t
    tell application "Finder" to display dialog (t1 as string) & " seconds for " & counter & " folders." with icon note
    on setViews(thisFolder)
              tell application "Finder"
                        tell (get thisFolder's window)
                                  set its current view to icon view
                                  tell its icon view options
                                            set arrangement to arranged by name
                                            set icon size to 64
                                            set shows item info to true
                                            set shows icon preview to true
                                  end tell
                        end tell
                        try
                                  set theSubfolders to every folder of thisFolder as alias list
                        on error
                                  set theSubfolders to first folder of thisFolder as alias as list
                        end try
              end tell
              set subfolderCount to (count theSubfolders)
              if subfolderCount > 0 then
                        set counter to counter + subfolderCount
                        repeat with i from 1 to subfolderCount
      setViews(item i of theSubfolders)
                        end repeat
              end if
    end setViews
    When I run it I get an error message saying:
    Finder got an error: Can't get window of document file "example file.pdf" of "Test Folder" of folder "Desktop" of folder "Jono" etc.
    Thanks for the help BTW.

  • When I need to fill in a form the autofill dialog window appears but there is no  response when I click in the window.

    When I need to fill in a formon Safari, the autofill dialog window appears but there is no  response when I click in the window. It will work if I go to the edit submenu and click on autofill but not by clicking autofill in the window on the form itself. Why not?

    The reason firefox is not able to launch thunderbirds is because it cannot start thunderbird as administrator unless firefox is running as administrator, try to start firefox as administrator user then click the link.
    It should work.
    To start a program as '''administrator on windows''', '''RIght Click''' on the iFF con and choose '''Run as Administrator''', then press yes when the user access control box pops.
    Then Let us know what happened

  • What am i to do if my apple macbook air won`t let me log in? i enter the right password, but the log`in window appears over and over again, and won`t let me enter my account!!!

    what am i to do if my apple macbook air won`t let me log in? i enter the right password, but the log`in window appears over and over again, and won`t let me enter my account!!!

    Try restting the password.  Boot into Recovery (⌘R), in the Menu Bar, you'll see the option to reset password.

  • Spotlight Finder window

    Hello. In Leopard, when you do a Spotlight search and you click Show All Results, a finder window comes up with the results. Is there anyway to change the columns that appear. The ones that currently appear are Name and Last Opened and something else. I want to change the Lasted Opened column to Creation Date so I can see results that way. Thanks.

    AFAIK, that's hard-wired into Spotlight. 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 ID number; thus, starting a dialog directly with engineering.

  • Finder Window appearance changed and I can't get it back to normal

    Okay this is just driving me nuts and despite all my efforts I can't fix it. About a month ago, my Finder window changed appearance. Instead of the normal view on the left hand side that shows Devices, Network, Places and Search For, it is showing none of that. It now appears like this: http://img.skitch.com/20090527-fmfaubfguqhn3f8mmatp8512k9.jpg
    Weird thing is, if I open Documents or Downloads or any other folder that opens the Finder, it appears normal. So my problem is only with the main finder icon in my dock, which happens to be the one I use the most. All the boxes are checked in preferences to show all the items but it just won't do it.
    Message was edited by: sullyman99

    Wow do I feel like an idiot. Three years with this Mac and I never even noticed that button existed. Must have hit it by mistake last month. Thanks!

  • Spotlight (& Find) window keeps refreshing

    When I search in Spotlight or open a Finder window and put something in the Search box, the windows will start to get populated, then clear out and refresh instead of just resorting. Does this about every 5-10 seconds.
    I don't believe it used to do this.
    Any way to keep it from doing this?

    Not answered...

  • Smart Finder window appears differently

    Whenever I Open the New Smart Finder window it appears like this:
    I don't know how to get it back to the default view. Can someone help?

    Hello GoRla89,
    When looking at that folder, go to the drop down menu View > Customize Toolbar and then drag down the default toolbar to get the original look back. Take a look at the article below to walk you through this.  
    OS X Mavericks: Customize the Finder toolbar
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13935
    Regards,
    -Norm G.  

  • Leopard Spotlight Finder window... still problematic

    I am amazed that there has been no improvement to the Leopard Spotlight window. It still doesn't remember the size or format... It always opens up as a small finder window, no matter the number of items it contains. For me, this is still the best reason to go back to Tiger. I find Spotlight almost unusable this way. I felt certain this would have been addressed in the Leopard update.
    David

    Report such things here. Complaining about bugs or desired enhancements on the forums is a waste of time unless all you want is sympathy.

  • Finder Window Appears When I Open Creative Cloud

    Whenever I select CC from the toolbar, a small finder window opens at the bottom of my screen. (See screen shot.) I can click to close it, but the next time I select the CC drop down, the finder window reappears. I've uninstalled and reinstalled CC, but the problem persists. Has anyone else come across this? Any ideas how to get rid of this minor annoyance. Thanks, Greg

    Hi there,
    Please try the steps provided here Black Screen at Sign-in | Creative Cloud Desktop app
    ^Ani

Maybe you are looking for