HoudahSpot is an advanced file search tool. It builds upon Spotlight, which comes preinstalled with OS X. It makes Spotlight both more powerful and easier to use. HoudahSpot is indispensable to unearth hard-to-find files. It also works great as a replacement to the default Spotlight interface.

In OS X Yosemite, the Spotlight menu is a great go-to place for all sorts of searches. It serves as an application launcher. It can find restaurants, show movie times, perform currency conversions, etc. File search however has taken a back seat. Spotlight lists a few seemingly random top matches. To find files, one frequently has to jump from the Spotlight window to the Finder. Here, search results expand to show an overwhelming number of items. The file one is looking for may still hide like a needle in the proverbial haystack.

HoudahSpot provides a clear and structured interface that focuses on file search. It gets you to your files as quickly as possible.

* Find files by name, text, content kind, author, recipient, pixel count, etc.

* Combine criteria to narrow down search results

* Specify which folders to search and which ones to exclude

* Add any of the hundreds of columns available

* Apply filters to reduce search results to only the relevant items

* Preview files and text matches

* Open files and, where the application supports it, continue searching for text matches by pressing command-G (Find Next)


If you've ever had a hard time finding a file before, this is what you've been looking for.

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