MacOS – Search a folder that is excluded from Spotlight

findermacossearchspotlight

I have excluded a folder from Spotlight, because this folder has a lot of files so it often fills up the results, no matter what I'm searching for.

However, sometimes I still want to search this folder. So, I tried opening the folder in Finder, then searching using the box in the top-right corner of the window, then selecting Search: "Folder_name" to limit the results to just that folder.

This method does not show any results, however. I assume it's because the folder is excluded from Spotlight search. So, is there any way that I can perform a manual search on the folder still, whenever necessary?

Best Answer

If you're happy with the terminal you can use the find command.

Something like opening Terminal in Utilities.

cd <folder name>
find . -name <whatever you're searching for>

Once found you can open it up with open

So, I can do something like:

alex@smiley:~|⇒  cd Desktop
alex@smiley:~/Desktop|⇒  find . -name Mac*
./Mac Pro.spx
alex@smiley:~/Desktop|⇒  open Mac\ Pro.spx

Notice that I used the * as a wildcard to match all files starting with Mac

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I looked at some of the saved search files in Finder's application bundle, and for example /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/MyLibraries/myDocuments.cannedSearch/search.savedSearch used a format like this for excluding directories:

<key>FXScopeArrayOfPaths</key>
<array>
  <string>~/</string>
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Best Answer

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