Search function for personal documents

[Evan73]

I just switched from Windows to Microsoft and am looking for a program to search my personal documents.

 

I want an easy program that enables me to search Word (.doc), Excel (.xls), Powerpoint (.ppt), image (.jpg, .psd) files.

Also, it should list ALL relevant documents, not just the Top 20.

And display path to folder. With easy way to open related folder (container).

I want to be able to search in Folder Name, but also within content of document.

Example: display ALL my personal Word documents which contain "abc123" within the Word document. 

It should be able to search on my External hard drive.

 

Is Alfred suitable to do this? (Or is there a better alternative)

 

[Stephen_C]

Welcome to the forum.

 

15 minutes ago, Evan73 said:

I just switched from Windows to Microsoft

I assume you mean you switched from MS Windows to Mac.

 

Alfred can do what you want: take a look at this Alfred help page for a start: File Search. Note that you can download Alfred and try it for yourself as you don't need a PowerPack licence for the basic file search features.

 

Stephen

[Evan73]

If I'm correct the number of search results is limited / capped.

Can I uncap the number of search results?

 

For images, can Alfred display thumbs of images?

 

Is it possible to open the main folder of an image?

[Stephen_C]

I really do strongly recommend you simply download Alfred, try it and see whether it does what you wish (my view is that you won't find anything better for your needs—but you're the only person who can assess that). You lose nothing by downloading and trying it: it's a tiny app with a very small footprint and doesn't weave its way insidiously into your OS in any manner so it's simple to delete if you decide it's not for you.

 

Stephen

[Vero]

@Evan73 Sounds like you'll benefit from trying the free version of Alfred to discover the basics of search with this post:

https://www.alfredapp.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/beginners-guide-to-alfred-searching-your-mac-and-the-web/

 

In terms of searching using thumbnails, here's what File Navigation (Powerpack feature) looks like with the Thumbnail Navigation workflow:

 

 

Welcome to the community