Spotlight enabling the need for filing

--On May 26, 2005 4:18:53 AM -0700 Nigel Stanger
<nstangerinfoscience.otago.ac.nz> wrote:
> With the advent of Spotlight, I can see such an interface being more
> feasible than in the past. The big problem has always been that if the
> system automatically saves the file for you, you don't necessarily know
> where it is in the file system in order to open it up again. Being able
> to
> quickly find stuff fixes that ("find documents about fish that I created
> yesterday").

This isn't so much of a problem as long as you open the application and
then open the document from their. The Open dialog box just becomes a
specialized Spotlight search for the application "Show all documents of
kind <APP> sorted by last modified date".

Many people don't work in such an application centric way, but this type of
system would work for one (and I think the Dock shows Apple thinks people
tend to work in Application centric ways.)

But the real problem is using the file in other applications. I need to
e-mail the document, or run it import it into another app, or etc.... These
auto-save systems don't work so well in a multi-application single document
type system.

Kevin

Kevin van Haaren <kevinvanhaaren.net> wrote:

>>With the advent of Spotlight, I can see such an interface being more
>>feasible than in the past. The big problem has always been that if the
>>system automatically saves the file for you, you don't necessarily know
>>where it is in the file system in order to open it up again.

Older versions of Final Cut Pro required one to manually save clips acquired
through Log and Capture.
The latest version of Final Cut Pro automatically saves clips. Spotlight
soon found where these saved clips were stored. It took less than a second!
Most impressive!

Paul

Anyone having the same trouble as me with the annoying "search before the whole word has been entered" feature?

On my ageing Powerbook G4, I manage to enter two letters of a long file name, & then the wretched thing goes off on its own before I've had an opportunity to finish entering the whole filename, presenting me with the spinning beachball of death for ages.  My workaround is to type the filename I'm looking for into a text editor and then cut and paste the word into Spotlight.  Am I missing a setting somewhere, or is this how it is?

Bob Hayden-Gilbert

At 07:04 -0700 UTC, on 2005/06/07, C R Hayden-Gilbert wrote:

> Anyone having the same trouble as me with the annoying "search before the
>whole word has been entered" feature?

Yes.

> On my ageing Powerbook G4

Pretty brand new PB here: 1.33Ghz.

> , I manage to enter two letters of a long file
>name, & then the wretched thing goes off on its own before I've had an
>opportunity to finish entering the whole filename, presenting me with the
>spinning beachball of death for ages.

Same here, though not always. Seems to depend on the query, or maybe the size
of the location the search is targeted at. ("Home" vs "Computer" for
instance.)

> My workaround is to type the filename
>I'm looking for into a text editor and then cut and paste the word into
>Spotlight.

My workaround is to not use Spotlight.


--
Sander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/>

On 07 Jun 2005, at 08:04 , C R Hayden-Gilbert wrote:
> On my ageing Powerbook G4, I manage to enter two letters of a long
> file name, & then the wretched thing goes off on its own before
> I've had an opportunity to finish entering the whole filename,
> presenting me with the spinning beachball of death for ages. My
> workaround is to type the filename I'm looking for into a text
> editor and then cut and paste the word into Spotlight. Am I
> missing a setting somewhere, or is this how it is?

On my machines the older machines really have this problem. I start
typing, I get the pizza and I can't type anymore for several
seconds. On the iLamp however, no problem. I type, it starts
searching, I keep typing.

I suspect it has to do with 1) the speed of the HD 2) the speed of
the RAM.

(It's not the CPU, my G4 desktop is 'faster' than the iLamp, 2Ghz
versus 1.25, but it has ATA33 disks and PC133 RAM versus ATA133 and
PC2700 RAM)

Regarding the original thread topic (Spotlight vs. filing)....

The various snippet-keepers that have been reviewed in TidBITS over the years could be seen as test beds for file-free storage of information.

Another great place for storing data without bothering with the file system is in email applications. For years I used Eudora for not just email but also free-form data storage; If, for example, I wanted to store a serial number, I'd simply start a new email message, paste or type in the number and the name of the software, hit Command-S, then close the email and never think about it again unless I needed to reinstall the software. Retrieval was simply a matter of doing an advanced search through my past mail. Spotlight integration in Apple's Mail makes this trick even faster and more worry-free. Of course, if you need per-record encryption or any other "advanced" features, you'll want to look elsewhere.

Finally, while there may always be a need for discreet files in certain situations, Apple could give us the best of both worlds. Imagine if the default behavior when saving a new document was that it would be given an automatic file name and stored in a default location. For situations where the document needs a specific location and filename, you'd just use Save As... instead. This would not only save time by obviating the need for carefully organizing every single file, it could also prevent certain types of data loss by allowing virtually any application to auto-save a user's work in a consistent, Spotlightable manner.

Regarding the offshoot topic of Spotlight searches that get hung up in the midst of typing one's query....

Yes, this is a problem, but the solution isn't to never use Spotlight. The solution is to use LaunchBar X, and then use Spotlight for items you wish to find that are outside of whatever directories you've set LaunchBar to index! Yes, you have to pay extra for LaunchBar, but, as many others have already attested, it's well worth it. Putting aside LaunchBar's significant speed advantage over the Finder's Spotlight menu, LaunchBar also has a cleaner UI and, frankly, it just works.

It's a free download, if you want to give it a shot, and no...I have no connection to Objective Development other than being a happy customer. :)

Cheers, Chris

I am still waiting for the promise of Spotlight to be realized. This morning I entered ".mov" in the Spotlight menu, clicked to show all then clicked to sort by date. I was looking for two movies I saved today. Spotlight showed me an e-mail I had sent previously that made no mention of movies at all and certainly did not include ".mov" anywhere in the content or file name. It was, however, sent today.

I'm mystified by Spotlight's thinking.

Mike

On Jun 7, 2005, at 10:04 AM, C R Hayden-Gilbert wrote:

> Anyone having the same trouble as me with the annoying "search
> before the whole word has been entered" feature?

Yes, very annoying. Workaround: type your query somewhere else (I
use Quicksilver), copy, paste into Spotlight search window.

Best,
Jeff

On 11/6/2005 7:26 AM, "MichaelGibbs" <michaelgibbscox.net> spake thus:

> Spotlight showed me an e-mail I had sent previously that made no mention of
> movies at all and certainly did not include ".mov" anywhere in the content or
> file name.

Could it have been in the message headers? Perhaps in the Message-ID?

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://public.xdi.org/=nigel.stanger