Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Finding Files 1: The Search Bar

In Mac OS X 10.2, Apple has radically redesigned the way you hunt down lost files and folders. In fact, you now have two different search tools—and neither one is Sherlock, the trusty file-finding tool of Mac OS 9.

The first one, the Search bar (Figure 2-11), is especially convenient because you can opt to have it appear at the top of every Finder window, all the time, ever ready to help you ferret out a stray icon. After 18 years, the Finder’s name is finally justified.

If you don’t see this little round-ended box at the top of every Find window, then check these conditions, all of which are described in the Finder toolbar discussion beginning in Section 3.4:

• Your Finder toolbar must, in fact, be visible (see Section 3.4.1).

• The window must be wide enough to reveal the Search bar.

• The Search bar must be on the toolbar to begin with (Section 3.4.2).

If all is well, and the Search bar is staring you in the face, here’s how to use it.

1. Open the window you want to search. Click inside the Search bar.

   (Unfortunately, there’s no keystroke to make your insertion point jump into the bar.)

   You’re about to search in this window and all folders inside it. In other words, the window you open now will define the uncrossable borders for your little Jaguar search elves.

   Note

   There’s nothing to stop you from opening your Home folder, or even the hard drive window itself, and using the Search bar to search your entire Mac.

2. Type a few letters of the file or folder name you’re ...