Annoying Spotlight result
in [Mac Applications]
|
From: John Varela on 4 Jan 2010 15:30 On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 19:36:33 UTC, isw <isw(a)witzend.com> wrote: > In article <hhsl2p$o00$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: > > > John Varela wrote: > > > On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 18:33:46 UTC, Wes Groleau > > >> isw wrote: > > >>> Try clicking where I suggested -- *in the "found" list*. Selecting from > > >>> the list and then clicking the icon in the ribbon at the bottom of the > > >>> window behaves as you say. > > >> They must have made major changes to the UI after Tiger. > > > > > > I don't see any ribbons in the Spotlight display in 10.6.2. > > > > Curiouser and curiouser. OK, 'isw' please clarify for us > > what this 'ribbon' is. > > On Tiger and Leopard (I don't have the Snow variety), when you have a > spotlight search window open, and select (single-click) one of the found > items, the entire path to that item is revealed across the bottom of the > window. Not here in 10.6.2, nor do I recall it working that way in Leopard. When the cursor hovers over an entry in the Spotlight list, a yellow box opens just under the entry, showing the path. It's impossible to click on that box because when the cursor moves toard it the box jumps to the path of the next item in the Spotlight list. Right click on the item in the Spotlight list does nothing. Left click causes the behavior that Wes describes: the item opens and the Spotlight list closes. > Double-clicking the desired item's icon *in that path display* behaves > as you say, resetting the selection to the top of the list. As I say, I can't click in the path display because it won't stay still. > Double-clicking on a found item's icon *directly in the list of found > items* behaves as I said: opening that item and leaving the selection on > that item. In fact, you can run down the list, double-clicking as many > items as you wish, and having all of them open at the same time. I am unable to double-click fast enough: the item opens and the Spotlight list closes before I can make the second click. > I find the path display useful because you can open any part of the path > (say, the folder containing the found item's containing folder) by > double-clicking it; sometimes you want to locate the place you put > something rather than the thing itself. If there is a preference that controls these different modes of action, I can't find it. -- John Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
From: John Varela on 4 Jan 2010 15:43 On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 11:57:15 UTC, Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: > John Varela wrote: > > But at the TOP of the Spotlight pull-down is the option to "Show > > All". If you have that in Tiger, have you tried using it? > > Yes. That's how I get what I called the "all" window. When I click on "Show All", a Finder window opens listing all of the found items. It behaves just like any other Finder window, except that Column view is unavailable. Clicking on an item in the window opens the item, while the Finder window remains unchanged. Odd observation, still on topic for the thread: to make sure I got a long enough list to test, I had Spotlight search on "txt" (without the quotes). I expected Spotlight to give me a list of a zillion txt files. Instead, it finds a long list of .rtf's, emails, and pdf's. There are no .txt files that I can see. Checking the contents of several entries, one of which is a .pdf of the Constitution of the United States of America, the group "txt" does not appear within. So what the hell is that about? -- John Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
From: Wes Groleau on 4 Jan 2010 20:47 isw wrote: > On Tiger and Leopard (I don't have the Snow variety), when you have a > spotlight search window open, and select (single-click) one of the found > items, the entire path to that item is revealed across the bottom of the > window. Ah, when I hear 'ribbon' in a computing context, I think of Microsoft's recent decision that "toolbar" is no longer an acceptable term. BUT, Spotlight on my eMac with 10.4.11 does NOT behave that way, nor can I find anything in its preferences to change it. Hence, "curiouser and curiouser." In the small window, - hover puts name and path in a yellow pop-up "tooltip" - single-click opens the file and closes Spotlight In the "all items" window (which does not show all items until you click all of the "more" links!), - hover does nothing - single-click selects but does not change what is displayed. - double-click opens the item and _usually_ scrolls the list back to the top, but it _does_ leave the item selected in the list. Yesterday, I had one exception. Now, out of many, I have one that did not move and two that scrolled a couple of lines. > Double-clicking the desired item's icon *in that path display* behaves > as you say, resetting the selection to the top of the list. Well, I have no such "path display" in the bottom of the window. If I click ON the info icon, I get a mini-version of the GetInfo window, but I get it under the file row, not at the bottom. If I double-click in that, the file opens and usually the LIST (not the _selection_) scrolls to the top. > Double-clicking on a found item's icon *directly in the list of found > items* behaves as I said: opening that item and leaving the selection on > that item. In fact, you can run down the list, double-clicking as many > items as you wish, and having all of them open at the same time. For me, it leaves the selection on the item, but it scrolls the list to the top. This is proctalgia when the list (as in my most recent search) contains thousands of items. > I find the path display useful because you can open any part of the path > (say, the folder containing the found item's containing folder) by > double-clicking it; sometimes you want to locate the place you put > something rather than the thing itself. Hmmm, no matter where I double-click in mine, I open the actual file. One of us must have some sort of hack installed. -- Wes Groleau I have to admit, it's cool http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/WWW?itemid=125
From: Wes Groleau on 4 Jan 2010 21:06 John Varela wrote: > When I click on "Show All", a Finder window opens listing all of the > found items. It behaves just like any other Finder window, except > that Column view is unavailable. Clicking on an item in the window > opens the item, while the Finder window remains unchanged. Hmmm, mine is not a Finder window. It has a "title bar" approximately two text lines in height. first line contains the traffic lights on the left and "Spotlight: <search text>" in the center. Second line has a search box similar in style to that of Mail and iTunes on the left, with the count of results next to it. The main panel has a subpanel on the right containing filtering, grouping, and ordering controls, with the list on the left. Default list is grouped by kind, showing five of each kind, followed by the count of those not shown which, if you click, shows all of them. Each item shows (left to right): - icon - name - two columns, month/year or "Today"/time or (blank)/"No Date" - an info icon Each kind has a blue header bar with the Kind in white letters. If the kind is PDF, the bar also has an icon to switch it from a list to a bunch of previews of page one and another to switch it back to the list. If the Kind is Images, it has the same preview icon plus an icon to do a slideshow of those images. > Odd observation, still on topic for the thread: to make sure I got a > long enough list to test, I had Spotlight search on "txt" (without > the quotes). I expected Spotlight to give me a list of a zillion > txt files. Instead, it finds a long list of .rtf's, emails, and > pdf's. There are no .txt files that I can see. Checking the > contents of several entries, one of which is a .pdf of the > Constitution of the United States of America, the group "txt" does > not appear within. My wild guess is that txt is hard-coded as a synonym of text which is a metadata field for any kind that may have text within it. -- Wes Groleau achy breaky grammar http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/WWW?itemid=229
From: isw on 5 Jan 2010 01:27
In article <hhu5n9$ovc$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: > isw wrote: > > On Tiger and Leopard (I don't have the Snow variety), when you have a > > spotlight search window open, and select (single-click) one of the found > > items, the entire path to that item is revealed across the bottom of the > > window. > > Ah, when I hear 'ribbon' in a computing context, I think of Microsoft's > recent decision that "toolbar" is no longer an acceptable term. > > BUT, Spotlight on my eMac with 10.4.11 does NOT behave that way, > nor can I find anything in its preferences to change it. > Hence, "curiouser and curiouser." In the small window, > > - hover puts name and path in a yellow pop-up "tooltip" > - single-click opens the file and closes Spotlight > > In the "all items" window (which does not show all items until you > click all of the "more" links!), > > - hover does nothing > - single-click selects but does not change what is displayed. > - double-click opens the item and _usually_ scrolls the list > back to the top, but it _does_ leave the item selected in > the list. Yesterday, I had one exception. Now, out of many, > I have one that did not move and two that scrolled a couple of lines. > > > Double-clicking the desired item's icon *in that path display* behaves > > as you say, resetting the selection to the top of the list. > > Well, I have no such "path display" in the bottom of the window. > If I click ON the info icon, I get a mini-version of the GetInfo > window, but I get it under the file row, not at the bottom. > If I double-click in that, the file opens and usually the LIST (not the > _selection_) scrolls to the top. > > > Double-clicking on a found item's icon *directly in the list of found > > items* behaves as I said: opening that item and leaving the selection on > > that item. In fact, you can run down the list, double-clicking as many > > items as you wish, and having all of them open at the same time. > > For me, it leaves the selection on the item, but it scrolls the list > to the top. This is proctalgia when the list (as in my most recent > search) contains thousands of items. > > > I find the path display useful because you can open any part of the path > > (say, the folder containing the found item's containing folder) by > > double-clicking it; sometimes you want to locate the place you put > > something rather than the thing itself. > > Hmmm, no matter where I double-click in mine, I open the actual file. > > One of us must have some sort of hack installed. Well, it behaves the same way on my wife's Mini with Tiger, and I did that install fresh from the Apple-provided discs not two weeks ago. Here's a screenshot I just took of a search window: http://profile.imageshack.us/user/isw/ I annotated it with a green oval to show where to click, and a red one to show where not to. Does your search window look different? Isaac |