I am a professional translator and have used full-text search tools for years. On my Mac I have used an application called Foxtrot Pro for years. It’s a very full-featured and fast application that is highly customizable (in terms of where it looks and what types of files it can search). You can also have multiple indexes, depending on your needs. The beauty is that it not only tells you which files contain a search string but then can display the search string in context in a side window. Very powerful. Definitely not free but worth the cost if you use it regularly. Can’t recall what I paid for it, but the Web site is here: http://foxtrot-search.com
I’ve used Find Any File for years and I think it can find anything and quickly if you set it correctly, which is easy to do.
Both Easy Find and Find Any File search for file names whereas Easy Find as well as Spotlight also search for text within files.
FAF is my main tool for finding all traces left by software that I’d like to completely remove when uninstaller is not available. AppCleaner is also a big help for that purpose.
1 Like
I’ve used both Macs and FileMaker (now Pro) since they both came out, and have had a long-standing bitch: there seems to be no way to find text in a FM doc with any kind of Find utility (especially disappointing, since FM is essentially an Apple product). I’ve just now tried every app mentioned in this thread, also without result (obviously, they’re all new to me, so I may be missing something). Does anyone know of any way, any app, any magic dust, which can do what I’d need?
Try FoxTrot Pro. It can read most anything, but check the spec sheet to see if it includes FileMaker files.
FAF will also search “File content.” It is the last option at the very bottom of the long popup menu when you click on “Name.”
Apropos of this topic, Howard Oakley compares HoudahSpot, Find Any File and EasyFind here: https://eclecticlight.co/2021/02/04/spotlight-on-search-better-and-different-3rd-party-apps/
2 Likes
The Finder can search for arbitrary filename sub-strings, if one uses Name>Contains rather than Name>Matches (shot below). Spotlights omni-search field seems to only perform name-matches (but confusingly labels it “contains”).
2 Likes
Anybody can hit 1 out of 50. The search method is not consistent. And I shouldn’t have to keep everything I create in the Documents folder just to find it. If I was the only one who believed this, there wouldn’t still be so many so-called “Find” applications out there.