{"id":69832,"date":"2021-01-12T14:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T20:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=69832"},"modified":"2021-01-12T14:37:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T20:37:59","slug":"search-for-files-in-multiple-folders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/69832-search-for-files-in-multiple-folders\/","title":{"rendered":"macOS: Search for Files in Multiple Folders at One Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"File<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The beginning of a new year means one thing… it\u2019s time to start getting ready for tax season again. Many of us are good at scanning and organizing documents into various folders. Scanning and organizing makes it difficult to find just one document. macOS has a good search capability built into Finder<\/strong> and Spotlight<\/strong>, but it\u2019s really designed to search either your entire hard drive or one specific folder. Here’s how to refine a search to focus only on designated folders that can be anywhere on your hard drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Simple Searches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at how searches operate in macOS. What most of us do is organize similar documents in folders. Now, if you only have one folder for a project or company, you could just search that folder or your entire Mac using Command ( \u2318 ) – F. You may get hundreds of hits if you have a lot of documents, which is why many people create smaller, more focused folders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That creates a problem, though. To find a document, you may need to search a number of different folders. Wouldn’t it be nice if macOS had a way to search only specified folders? For example, if I know that a particular document is in folder A, folder B, or folder C, could I just search those three folders at the same time? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s no “automatic” way to do this in macOS, but there is a workaround…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Smart Folders and Saved Searches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The workaround is to use the power of Smart Folders<\/strong> and Saved Searches<\/strong>. Smart Folders are created in Finder using File > New Smart Folder. Let\u2019s say I open my Documents folder and create a new smart folder. What I see is something similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creating<\/a>
Creating a new Smart Folder<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At this point, the Smart Folder does nothing. When you create a search in a folder or on the entire Mac for a word, then every time that word is used in a document or file name, it shows up in the Smart Folder. As an example, I’ll create a Smart Folder to search an old document archive I have for the term “DVD”. There are 46 documents found in that folder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Searching<\/a>
Searching for the term DVD in a specific folder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What I want to do here is save this search, creating a Smart Folder. This is done by clicking the Save button on the right side just below the search field, then giving the Smart Folder the name DVD. I’m also going to check the “Add To Sidebar” box, making the search easy to run with just a click on the Finder sidebar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Saving
Saving the Smart Folder<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Where Are Saved Searches Saved?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Saved Searches location is where Smart Folders are saved, and it is found in the Library folder on your Mac. To find it, hold down the Option key while clicking the Finder Go menu and Library appears \u2013 select it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that folder is a document called Saved Searches, and inside it is the new DVD Smart Folder Saved Search. That search is saved in a file; we can edit the file with TextEdit and add other folders that we want the Saved Search to search inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launch TextEdit (in the Applications folder), then cancel when it asks if you wish to create a new file or open an existing file. Drag the DVD Smart Folder Saved Search file and drop it on the TextEdit icon in the Dock, and we can see what’s in the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The XML file that holds the saved search info<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Saved Searches Are Defined In XML Files<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In that seemingly impenetrable mess of text is our Saved Search. This is stored in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file format. Scrolling through the file reveals some familiar items \u2013 the name of our Smart Folder (DVD), the path to the folder I was searching (\/System\/Volumes\/Data\/Users\/stevensande\/Documents\/Documents – Steven\u2019s iMac\/OldiMacDocuments) and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The folder path shows up in three different arrays \u2013 a list of things, so to speak. It’s found in the SearchScopes, CurrentFolderPath, and FXScopeArrayOfPaths arrays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Find The Paths to Multiple Folders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before adding additional folders to our search, let’s find their paths. My initial search was in the Users folder, under my username stevensande, in the Documents folder, in another folder called Documents – Steven’s iMac, and finally, a folder called OldiMacDocuments. The way the UNIX underpinnings of macOS sees this is as this path \u2013 \/System\/Volumes\/Data\/Users\/stevensande\/Documents\/Documents – Steven\u2019s iMac\/OldiMacDocuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to search in another folder called “ACC Classes”. The path to this folder is \/System\/Volumes\/Data\/Users\/stevensande\/Documents\/ACC Classes. And for good measure, let’s add another folder named “NaNoWriMo”. It’s path is \/System\/Volumes\/Data\/Users\/stevensande\/Documents\/NaNoWriMo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to our DVD Saved Search document in TextEdit…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s create additional search strings for each folder in each one of the three arrays described earlier \u2013 SearchScopes, CurrentFolderPath, and FXScopeArrayOfPaths. SearchScopes is a bit different than the other two in that it requires a path from the root, but you can somewhat mimic the format and just copy and paste in your paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This composite screenshot shows what the arrays looked after editing. This image is just for clarity – the arrays are scattered throughout the DVD Saved Search document:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A composite screenshot showing what the arrays look like with the new paths inserted<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Relaunch The Finder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We’re almost there! Save the edited TextEdit document holding your saved search. You’ll need to do one more thing before trying the multi-folder search \u2013 relaunch the Finder. This doesn’t mean you have to reboot your Mac. Press Option, then click on the Finder icon in the Dock. At the bottom is “Relaunch” \u2013 select that. Any open Finder windows disappear for a short time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Finder relaunched, running the DVD Saved Search now returns all hits on documents either containing DVD in the title or in the body of the text. The initial search of one folder found 46 documents; now searching three folders the search finds 50 documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Lot Of Work Just to Search Multiple Folders!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You’re probably thinking “This is a lot of work just to search more than one specific folder at a time!” The good thing is, once you have created and modified your Saved Search, you can use it from then on. Since it is also a Smart Folder, new documents that meet your criteria and are stored in the specified folders automatically appear in the search results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are third-party apps like Thomas Tempelmann’s excellent Find Any File<\/a> (FAF) utility that supercharges the Mac’s native search abilities, but I prefer to not clutter up my Mac with too many apps. FAF also doesn’t let users specify just certain folders \u2013 instead, it tends to search entire drives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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