ausius

Thanks for suggesting these two other solutions. I probably will play with mdfind a bit. Thanks again for your help!

Thanks for explaining! I think I'll either use your solution or use replace my current step 1 (keyword input) with a Hotkey (which can bypass the first ↩). Here's why I'm trying to set File Filter's search scope via environment variables. I've been sharing my workflow with other people and the workflow is already designed such that it also happens that the search scopes required for File Filter have already been saved as environment variables. So my thought is, since I already have all the scope information in the environment variables, why not simplly use them to define File Filter's search scope dynamically? Since different users will specify different scopes, it seems the easiest way to make the workflow work for others (assuming the scopes have already been saved as environment variables) is to set the scope via environment variables. If not, users will have to manually edit their scopes in the File Filter. I initially thought Script Filter addresses this problem, but quickly realized it's for a different purpose, but I really like how it works. Maybe a new feature like "Script File Filter" would be ideal for my situation... Thanks very much again!

Hi @deanishe, thanks for responding! Here's the goal/desired behavior: I have multiple environment variables that are set to directory paths (e.g., path1=/users, path2=/users/desktop). I want to create a File Filter that restricts the search scope to path1 and path2 (i.e., restricts the scope dynamically based on environment variables). What's the best way to accomplish this? My current solution involves 4 steps: 1. keyword input with query (e.g., search xyz) 2. run script to dynamically generate the scopes 3. the output of step 2 is passed to a File Filter 4. process the selected file with another script The problem with this 4-step solution is that since I'm using a keyword input with search query (step 1), the no matching results will be shown from the File Filter (step 3) until I press enter. In contrast, if I were to use create a workflow that includes only steps 3 and 4 (and I manually specify the scope in the File Filter), whenever I invoke the File Filter with a keyword and query (e.g., search xyz), matching results are shown immediately, without having to first press enter. So I'm wondering if I can make File Filter restrict the scope dynamically "behind the scenes" so I don't have to use a keyword input with query or another file filter (as with the Dynamic File Search example) to first restrict the scope before listing matching files? Hope that's clear. Thanks!

I've managed to set up a workflow that dynamically changes the scope (based on environment variables), but I find the solution a bit clunky, so I wonder if there's a better solution. Now, I use a Keyword action, then a Run Script action to generate the configuration JSON, and then pass that to a File Filter. The output is what I expect. One problem is that by using a Keyword action to invoke the workflow, there's an extra step at the start. I first have to type the keyword plus the query, press enter, before the search results are shown. But if I were to call the File Filter action directly, the results show up immediately. Is there a way to make remove that extra step? I really appreciate any help you can provide. Thank you.