I regularly need to limit a search to a particular type of file, such as pictures or e-mail messages. Or I know that I have a limited number of files on my Mac of a certain type, such as those created by OmniGraffle, and I can’t remember the name of the file, just that I created it in OmniGraffle!
You can use Spotlight in the Finder or create a smart folder for repeated uses that will meet this need. In the Finder, press Command-F to bring up a new window with focus in the search field.
From there, you can type in a freeform, by typing something like kind:omnigraffle Or kind:image statue if you search all image files in any format with statue in the title or metadata.
You can refine this further by using, instead of using the Search field, the criteria fields just below. By default, macOS pre-populates the search window with “Kind” and “Any”. In the first context menu you can choose different criteria, but Kind is a good place to start. In the second menu, which reads All, you can choose different general categories, like Image, Document or Text. The Finder groups all the different known file types for these categories into this search.
What if you are looking for something more specific, like every video in .mov file format on your Mac? I’d say start with Kind set to Movie, otherwise you’ll get matches in other files that end in .mov that aren’t video files, like I did!
Then click the + sign to the right of the Type line and choose Name, Ends with, then enter .mov.
If you need to repeat this search, click Save and you can save the query as a smart folder to access it again without rebuilding your query.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by igamesnews reader Leonie.
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