The longer you use a Mac as your workstation, the more files and folders accumulate on it. This makes the demand for searching a file or folder more urgent to access it quickly.
This post from iBoysoft guides you to explore three effective approaches to search for a document on a Mac. On top of that, you can learn how to quickly access desired files, folders, partitions, volumes, and hard drives with right-clicking. Let's get started then!
How to search for a document on a Mac via Finder?
Finder is a default file manager and graphical user interface shell configured with Mac lineups, responsible for launching all installed applications and opening desired files, disks, or network volumes. It includes numerous users' files, system logs, caches, support files, library files, container files, launch agents, launch daemons, and more related files.
You can find any document, number, PDF, keynote, presentation, PNG, video, audio, or more file within this utility. Here is how to perform that:
- Launch Finder on your Mac. You can click Finder with a blue and white smile on the Mac Dock to launch it. Or, you can press the Command + Space keys, then type Finder in the search box to recall it.
- When launched, Finder prompts you with a main window. You can see lots of macOS folders, including AirDrop, Resents, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Applications, iCloud Drive, Shared, Network, and external hard drives listed in the left sidebar. This means you can search for a document from these file directories.
- You can choose a folder, network drive, or physical drive to locate the desired files.
- For better efficiency, you can type the document name in the upper right search box to narrow the target document.
See? It's super easy to search for a document with Finder -- the document manager on Mac, which greatly bolsters work efficiency with its incomparable performance and versatility.
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How to search for a document on a Mac with Spotlight Search?
No matter you're an advanced user or a newbie to Mac, Spotlight Search is a must-have utility that you ought to take into use.
It is one of the most stunning software programs that comes with Mac when shipped, which allows users to quickly access any file, folder, application, etc. with ease, especially working perfectly in searching for all data on the Mac hard drive and even the connected devices.
Here is how to search for a document on a Mac with Spotlight Search shortcuts:
- Press the Command + Space shortcuts together to launch Spotlight Search.
- Once the search box shows up, type in the document name that you want to find.
- Spotlight Search will recommend the document or app based on the name you gave. Then you just move the mouse to select the one you want.
If Spotlight Search does not recommend the related document, it might be the occurrence of an issue with Spotlight Search not working in this case. Go to rebuild Spotlight Search index to troubleshoot:
macOS Ventura 13 or later:
- Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
- In the sidebar, click Spotlight (or Siri & Spotlight).
- Scroll down and click the Search Privacy (or Spotlight Privacy) button.
- Drag the disk or folder that you want to index to the locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching.
- Wait a few seconds. Then select the disk or folder that you just added, and click the remove button (or -)so that it can be reindexed.
- Click Done, then quit System Settings. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of data being indexed.
macOS Monterey and earlier versions
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
- Click the Privacy tab.
- Drag the disk or folder that you want to index again to the locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching.
- Wait a few seconds. Then, remove the folder or disks from the un-indexed list so that it can be re-indexed.
- Quit System Preferences.
How to search for words in a document on a Mac?
Demand for searching for words in a document on a Mac comes naturally, especially if you always work with letters or words. Here are two options for you to search for a word in a document on a Mac:
Option 1: Use Command - F
- Press down Command - F on your keyboard. Then a new window jumps out.
- Enter the word or phrase you want to search for in the search field on the document.
- Click "Find Next" to look for the word or phrase one by one.
- After searching, close the word-search window.
Option 2: Use the find option in the menu bar
- Navigate to the top menu bar.
- Click on Edit > Find.
- Type the target word in the search bar.
- Click "Find Next" to start locating the word in the document.
Final words
This post contains how to search for a document on a Mac and how to search for words in a document, and all these approaches are simple to perform.
Moreover, if you frequently open or access a certain document, you can set it as a default shortcut to launch it with a right-click. Just embrace the convenience brought by iBoysoft MagicMenu, which allows you to visit any document or folder with a simple click.
Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft MagicMenu, open it, and click Quick Access on the left panel.
Step 2: Click the + button under the window.
Step 3: Click the folder icon to select a local app, folder, partition, or disk.
Step 4: Name the new destination and click Import, and the new item will be added to the sub-menu of Quick Access automatically.
Once you want to visit, just click any blank space on the Mac screen randomly and scroll to Quick Access, then you can see the new folder or file you added lying here for you to open.