Finder Search (spotlight) not finding all relevant results

findersearchspotlight

I'm trying to remove an application manually by deleting it and any extras using the search function in Finder.

As a backup, I also ran the app through AppCleaner to see if it caught anything as well and I noticed that AppCleaner marked some files (.plist, plist.lockfile, and some actual folders) that no matter what keyword I use won't show up via finder search.

My settings are to search 'My Mac' and have made sure system files are included and used both 'name matches' & 'name contains' but I can't pull up these files. I have already rebuilt the spotlight index and don't know what else to do when a custom search that explicitly includes system files doesn't yield the expected results.

Did finder search change in os 10.9?

Best Answer

The Spotlight window does not include files treated as system files by default. Try setting "System files" to "are included":

Or use mdfind:

$ mdfind -name tweetbot
/Applications/Tweetbot.app
/Users/lauri/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/Tweetbot_4C49445B-E14E-51E5-87DC-7CE59AE6A841.plist
/Users/lauri/Library/Containers/com.tapbots.TweetbotMac/Data/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/Tweetbot_4C49445B-E14E-51E5-87DC-7CE59AE6A841.plist
/Users/lauri/Library/Containers/com.tapbots.TweetbotMac/Data/Library/Application Support/Tweetbot
/Users/lauri/Library/Containers/com.tapbots.TweetbotMac
/Users/lauri/Library/Speech/Speakable Items/Application Speakable Items/Tweetbot
/Users/lauri/Library/SyncedPreferences/com.tapbots.TweetbotMac.plist
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