11 Smart Folders To Make You More Productive On Your Mac
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- macmost.com/e-2919 Learn how to use Smart Folders on your Mac and see some examples that you can put into use today.
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00:00 Intro
00:31 How To Create a Smart Folder
01:15 1. Recently Opened Files
02:55 2. Recently Created/Modified Files
03:32 3. Files By Application Kind
04:14 4. Files From Multiple Applications
05:13 5. Large Files
06:01 6. Files With Contents
06:19 7. Shared Files
06:43 8. One or More Tags
07:22 9. Files Downloaded From a Site
08:13 10. Files Exported From an Application
08:55 11. Frequently-Used Applications
#macmost #mactutorial 
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Gary, a never cease to be amazed about you knowledge of the Apple OSX. I for one can't keep up with you when you are explaining how stuff works. Probably because at 82 years of age my brain is a little slower than most. Nonetheless, thanks for providing these videos. Some are helpful, as long as I can keep up with them. Cheers
Dick, did you know that you can change the playback speed? Click the “gear” icon in the upper corner of the screen and click “playback speed” - here you can change it to 0.75x or even slower if desired. Hope this helps 😊 it’s a great feature in general for any video or podcast since there are different presentation styles and learning styles - you can customize it to your liking.
I am amazed to know that at 82 years you keep so much interest and ability to operate apple OSX and you recognise the ever appreciable videos of Gary. It 👏shows you are doing very well.
Exactly how I feel! I'm also a senior, and playing around with Macs keeps me sharp. It's clear that you are too, and I think we both owe Gary great thanks for his efforts and the positive effect his work has on us.
40 years of using Macs and never done this! As usual an excellent, content and presentation wise, video. Thanks.
For someone coming from Windows, your tutorials on how one can improve her productive are a great help, Gary. Thank you.
I've been using the same feature for iTunes for years. It's so nice having a Most Played, Long Songs, Most Recent etc. playlist set up with ease.
So much useful information, if you own a Mac, you need to visit here often. Great work Gary, you are the best Mac resource on RUclips.
the "option/click" on the plus button was just what I needed! Now my search folders are incredibly useful! Thank you.
Exactly, this is a hidden gem! Seems like a well-hidden secret! I've been using Apple macOS for ages and didn't know about such an essential option! It's crazy that Apple does not educate its users with tutorials about these powerful and so-needed features!
using Macs since 2012, I had no clue these were searches, never used this before, I added saved searches folder to finder side bar
Oh very cool, Gary. I didn't understand what a Smart Folder was until I watched you very informative tutorial. Thank you very much for all the practical guidance you give all of us new and experienced Mac users. Much appreciated.
I didn't even know the possibility of option-clicking the „plus“ exists. This is sooo helpful, I have been looking for a way to do these more specific types of searches forever. You are amazing, thank you!
Exactly! I've been using Apple macOS for ages and didn't know about such an essential option! It's crazy that Apple does not educate its users with tutorials about these powerful and so-needed features!
Most informative. Thank you.
You, my friend are an absolute legend 👍
Amazing, using Mac for decades and didn't know any of these features and combinations. Thanks for sharing!
So useful! Amazing video as usual. Always looking forward to them as a new-ish mac user.
Hi Gary! You are so easy to understand but on this one with so many steps I will have to watch it a few times before I get the hang of it. I'm a slow learner sometimes. Thanks for doing what you do! I count on you alot.
As usual great stuff. I use Smart Folders but never knew about all the other options under other. Thank you!
Never used smart folders.
I thought that they’d move files from folders into the smart one, which I really didn’t want to do. Now I see that they are really saved searches yielding active links.
What have I been missing.
Inspiring ideas as ever.
Brilliantly presented.
I’m off now to get started making some on my Mac ❤🎉
Thanks (again !!!)
You are the best.
Thank you as always Gary! very helpful
Thank You very much, Gary!
This Saved search is a Blessing, I always have problems finding files I have been working on
Very informative! The large files criteria will help me to keep storage low.
Smart folders is one of my favorite features. I use a Smart Folder search to gather custom tags to gather my current project files. I then plop those smart folders on my dock (which is otherwise empty of all other apps & files, save for trash and open apps). I create a dummy application with automator that gets tagged and serves as the docked smart folder's cover. Took awhile to set up, but my productivity has skyrocketed since doing this last year!
Thanks! I have been wanting a recent folder shortcut. Now I have one.
This video demystified Smart Folders. Now I'm shocked with how powerful it can be.
This is so useful! Thank you! 👏
Really useful content. Thanks.
Excellent advice
Thank you, Gary. This was such a useful video.
Thanks Gary! I've been an Apple user for almost 30 years, but you still teach me new things.
Your videos are impressive and helpful. Thank you so much.
Very helpful 🙏
Excellent!
aqui é minha referência, simplesmente assistirei a todos os vídeos. Thank you so much!
Been using it for years. Very interesting, that you need to press alt to show more options though.
Epic, epic stuff here man. Thank you for this!!
Thanks a lot man
Wonderful !!
A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary!👏❤️
Thanks very much, Gary, for this super useful video! The search capabilities in Finder never cease to amaze me,
Thank you, Garry.
Very helpful 😊
Finally, I now know about smart folders. Thanks.
Some great ideas, thanks! need to explore if this could be used to efficiently tag photos. Btw, the option-clicking on the plus sign is definitely discoverability problem, not sure if it's accessible either.
whoa! Do many really know what a smart folder is let along how they work. Now we do. Thnx.
Thank you.
Excellent
I just wanted to say, that I am very-very greatful to you, because I 've learned so much from you, considering all of your videos. Again, thank very-very much, ⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐
Thanks bunches
very intriguing
I’ve watched every Trek series and episode and this is it’s finest franchise.
It´s a good idea of database behind all indexing spotlight does.
Or filtering a huge Excel sheet.
Servus
Your videos are truly the best, Gary. Thank you so much.
Thanks from a new apple user
The My Apps tip was genius!
Came here for "Smart Folders" . But learnt what is the essence of Mac OS itself !
Mac user since May 1984, I discover this feature 👍
You just knew where things were at all times.
Servus
I have set up a smart folder in my sidebar which I use a lot. In my documents folder search for documents created within the last 7 days, edited within the last 14 days or has the tag of Pinned. Pinned is for those I know I will have to return to but not sure when. To drop it from this folder, remove the tag.
I have so happy I found your videos. If I need to know something I try you first. I have learned to use more of the options on my mac❤
I need a similar video for smart folders in Apple Mail. Have you done that one ? ....I've tried to figure it out but no dice .
BRAVO
Hey Gary!
Could you please explain how to exclude subfolder when creating smart folder? Thank you!
You can't. Smart Folders (and Finder searches) have a single location and everything under that location is searched. If the files in that subfolder have another common element you can work with that (something in the name, extension, etc) or you can apply a tag to all of those files and use that to exclude them from the Smart Folder.
Hi Gary, Thanks a lot again. How can we delete a smart folder ? Removing it from side bar is good enough?
That would leave the Smart Folder behind, which really isn't an issue since you'd rarely look in your Saved Searches folder for it to bother you. But if you want, you can Control+click the sidebar item, use the Show In Enclosing Folder to go to the Saved Searches folder (or wherever you saved it) and then delete it there.
Thank you! In my attempt to keep my files organized I've struggled to decide how to organize my graphic design files....content or application. I can do both! This will save me much time.
Really, really helpful, Gary! Thank you!
This is great, but you might have mentioned that the (quote) folder contains search results as "pointers", not copies of the actual files. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Gary. I’m persisting with Smart Folders, despite its limited popularity, which I think is due to its poor interface. I like that you can set up a search criteria for tagged files that will retain their integrity despite name changes and file movements.
However, IMHO until Apple simplify the whole procedure, it will be made redundant at some future point which would be a shame
I was never really aware of this option. Thanks - Am I missing something, or can you only search on the internal drives? I'd like to search across attached external drives. Hope I can get some guidance on this as an option.
You can search across your drives. Just make sure you start at the top level of your Mac or in the drive you want to search. But also, make sure those drives are formatted for Mac.
Should've explained the advanced raw query which enables you to search same parameters in different folders, circumventing the need to save multiple smart folders.
Since this is exactly what I would like to do... I googled "Advanced raw query on a Mac" and didn't find anything, how about a tip on how to use this feature?
I’m not sure if this is what you need, but Gary had made this video some time ago : ruclips.net/video/mxUeqBJ6dtw/видео.html
@@ebutuoy6701 Thanks, I'll check it out!
I'm wondering what the best utility is for these smart folders, as they seem to be much better than standard folders and I think this would be a good way to organise your files and find duplicates. I am wondering though, do the smart folders actually store a copy of the files, or just a link within the smart folder.
So if I used spotlight, would 3 versions show up like smart folder, folder, icloud drive?
Smart Folders are just "saved searches." The files aren't IN the Smart Folders. Nothing is. Only the actual file in its actual location exists.
Excellent tutorial. Very useful information. Many thanks!
Hi Gary thanks for an useful video. Is it possible to exclude folders from searchresult, since its files i'm looking for I dont need both the file and the folder in which it reside to come up in the result
Not sure what you are asking here. When viewing search results in the Finder you will see a list of files. The folder is not shown in the list with each file.
You have so much knowledge. I’m excited to look at this feature. Thank you.
Cool
Excellent video!!
Every time I watch your videos I learn something new. Thank you!!
great concept, explained greatly👍
Thanks Gary! Will start using this feature now. Never realised Smart Folders is so useful.
Without your newsy emails, I'd be less productive on my Mac! Thanks Gary! I have confused me, however. I have told my Smart Folder to search on ANY: date created, or modified or added within past 5 days, but I am getting MANY results that are months old! What have I missed?
PS: My Smart Folder opens to several folders. When I click on a folder, I see many very old files, not the ones I expect to see that I've touched in the past 5 days. Maybe buried in those busy folders is a file that matches criteria? I sure don't want to go browsing to find it, though!
UPDATE: My problem was related to: the 1st line of my search had the search criteria of ANY, which apparently brought in system files. I deleted the Smart Folder, re-did and the ANY doesn't appear and the search works fine. Wondering how that ANY got in there..... I can't replicate it. Is there a way to specify a slightly more complex search using OR and AND?
And again a very useful video!! Thanks!
Wow.
Such a powerful tool, which I never used so far☺️
Great video. Thank you. Question. Is a Smart Folder a repository? Meaning… does it move my folder from its original location and places it in the Smart Folder?
No, not at all. Nothing is "in" a Smart Folder because it isn't a location. From the beginning of this video: "Smart Folders are a way to setup something that looks like a folder but it's actually conducting a search every time you view it. In fact these are also called Saved Searches. "
@@macmost Thank you. Yes, I recall hearing that... but wanted to make sure I was not going to scramble my organization.
Folderol app stopped working awhile ago and I am looking for a replacement app or way to color folders. Do you have any solutions?
Do you mean change the icon? You can just do that without any app. Make your own folder graphics (or download some) and copy and paste into the Info window. ruclips.net/video/ykubMRVZofw/видео.html
Very interesting Gary. I am trying to figure out how to incorporate smart folders with my desktop "madness". Of course desktop already has a feature, STACKS, that sorts file types into stacks of similar file types. I also try to keep stuff that I want quick reference to in folders on my desktop, but within another folder called "desktop quick" so that the desktop itself is not so cluttered with tons of folders. Of course the potential problem with doing this is using up hard disk space. I do have an external drive that I use for time machine, but that has a partition for files just like this that I have already moved from my main hard disk.
Question if you are done with the Smart Folder can you just delete the Smart Folder and the contents won’t get deleted?
Right. The contents aren't IN the Smart Folder.
Excellent information. I use the search a lot, but I should save the results more frequently. By the way, for future reference, "criteria" is plural. Its singular is "criterion."
Very useful and detailed video. Can you help me with this? We have a shared drive from a Windows PC server, and after adding that server to my Mac, when I create Smart Folders and search pdf. It does not show any results. I believe I am not catching the correct search criteria to search from Windows Shared Server. Please help me with this 😞 .
I don't think you'll be able to do that using a Windows server.
@@macmost thank for quick reply. Even it doesn’t show any search file in finder search bar. Pls give me a solution.
@@zubairkhan7461 I can't investigate a solution for you because I don't use a Windows server, sorry.
Okay thanks Gary @@macmost
Weird that your 7M keynote file was included in the list of files greater than 10M.
Great information, as usual. Thanks, Gary. Is there a way to update old pages files? Or, does that matter.
Just open them in the current Pages.
I’m using smart folders for basically managing all my files on icloud , I rarely use the normal folders, I have smart folders for all my files by different criterias like Authors, publishers,subjects,priorities,Type . It’s faster than Tags . Tags sometimes will just stop working for me but smart folders get updated automatically. And I was wondering like how the hell I do more than on criteria at a time so thx Gary ur vids also hep me . One issue I have on my iphone or ipad I can’t open these smart folder , it’s just displayed as files and without the purple color and I can not open them , plz help😢.
Yes, Smart Folders are for Macs only.
Do you personally use any smart folders? Are smart folders searchable by spotlight or Alfred?
You've reminded me of a real macOS annoyance.
Why is "Recents" in Finder broken?
It is woefully out of date and inaccurate. Mine is months out of date. My 3 most recently opened files are only one a day ago, and the next two are from February. Next 2 are January then it jumps to last year.
Frequently it fails to show me a file that is actually open right in from of me in an App.
I've run into this issue too on both Mac and in Files on iPhone/iPad. I long for the days when Finder was intuitive and useful. Ever since they got rid of my beloved Coverflow it feels like its been downhill. Don't get me started on how Apple defaults to hiding many search results forcing you to "show all", making it impossible to quickly track down files you know you have.
Is there a shortcut to create a Smart Folder or a way to customize the toolbar to include a Smart Folder icon instead of going through the menu items.
Not sure what you are asking. Which Toolbar do you mean?
@@macmost I mean the icons at the top of the finder window. I couldn’t see one when I tried to customise it, but I wondered if I could make a shortcut?
@@martinhanson3528 For creating Smart Folders? No, I guess there isn't a button for that. But you can easily do it with Command+F as the Find interface has the Save button right there.
@@macmost Great, I’ll give it a try thanks.
How to see Video Clip Dimention in finder?
File, Get Info.
One frustration is that only Finder understands smart folders. For example, if I navigate to a smart folder from Photos's Import command or Microsoft Word's Open command , smart folders are grayed out. Is there a way to convince applications (besides Finder) to work with smart folders? (I understand it makes no sense to create a file in a smart folder but it makes sense to access an existing file in a smart folder.)
Not sure what you mean. If I have a Smart Folder in the sidebar and I try to do something like Import in Photos, I can select the Smart Folder in the Import dialog just fine.
@@macmost You're right - Photos recognizes Smart Folders in the sidebar but if you navigate Photos Import to the actual location of the Smart Folder, the Smart Folder is grayed out.
@@donlibes I think there is nothing in that smart-folder other than "information", refernces, pathstructure e.g. that is not visible like an alias.
Is Smart Folder a folder?
Servus
With SmartFolders it's apparently not possible to exclude files from the search, or is it?
Sure. You can just include more complex boolean logic. I show some examples of that here. So you can include Pages documents, but not ones that are older than 90 days, for instance.
Re: File size - What's the difference between physical size and logical size?
Storage is in blocks. Say a block is 4096 bytes. If a file has a physical size of 5000 bytes, then it needs 2 blocks of storage. So its logical size is 8192.
@@macmost I knew that for fifteen minutes 35 years ago!
I don't find the function is not in file extension or file format. For example I what to find all files containing "beer" in the name, except the .xml one
The first line should be: name contains "beer."
Then Option+click the three-dots button and add "none" of the following are true.
Then under that should be name contains ".xml"
How do I get my password on my Mac M1 onto my other 2 notebooks using iCloud?
As long as you are using the same Apple ID on all devices and haven't disabled Password & Keychain in the settings for any of them, then it should be automatic.
Super useful as always. Two gripes (not at you);
1) for the life of me I can't understand why they won't add [is not] when you use "Kind"?!
2) why won't they let you add a column header of [File Path] so you can see where all the files are at a glance?! (no fun clicking on each one repetitively to look at the path bar and wondering if it's the same as the first one etc...)
My smart folder doesn't do what your doing.
Check the criteria carefully, including the search location at the top.
huh?
Hi Gary, thank you for this informative video
i have made a smart folder/search to filter all my dng-files, however it also shows the dng-files on my cloud storage (onedrive in this case)
i have tried the following but it does not work:
www.michelpyck.be/macmost/smartfolders.jpg
You will see in the screenshot that the shown selected file is located on OneDrive
Excellent