First Look: FileSpot Is What Spotlight Should Be.

We’re not big fans of OS X’s Spotlight. Yes, it works. It’s quick, but not instant. It’s free. It comes with baggage.

Spotlight is like Google. You start the search and keeping searching until you find something useful or get tired. FileSpot makes Spotlight better by giving you more search options.

Mac OS X has Spotlight built in to index all your Mac’s files so you can enter a keyword or two and get a listing of any files that match. Spotlight even categorizes files for you.

Did I mention that Spotlight is like Google. The problem most of us have with Google is the search process. Enter a few keywords and Google coughs up a bunch of links that we have to wade through like mud around a pond in spring. It’s not fun and takes longer than expected.

Spotlight is almost the same. Enter a keyword, then, depending on the results, wade around through a bunch of files until you find what you want. Wouldn’t it be nice if Spotlight had a better idea of what you want when you search for files?

FileSpot gives you that extra control starting with the actual search. Theoretically, the FileSpot Spotlight combo should return better results, faster, and with less wading through the mud around the pond.

Well, that’s exactly what happens. Not all the time, but plenty enough to make FileSpot a useful utility if you have many files and spend time searching for just the right oe. All FileSpot does is make life a little easier and it does it two ways.

The first is a better user interface than Spotlight. Instead of just a few keywords, FileSpot gives you the room to query Spotlight many different ways, so the upfront, first time search effort takes a few extra seconds. The results are remarkable with the advanced query coming at the front of your search steps instead of you stepping through the search results.

The second is a better caching system for frequently used and search for files, which means the final sort often shows what you’re looking for at the top, instead of buried in the middle or near the bottom. This is the kind of finesse most of us never see with Google or Yahoo searches, but can be very handy when used appropriately.

Starting at the top, FileSpot gives you more Query Creation tools which helps to reduce the file finding time on a Mac with many documents. There’s also Precise Matching so you can match a query with file content, such as files that contain a phrase, or start with a phrase, or contain a specific word.

FileSpot also lets you tag and label files which makes future searching and sorting even faster. Remember the value of keywords in iPhoto? Same thing.

One complaint I have about Spotlight is the list of results. It’s basic Finder at its worst with little control over what shows up and how it’s stacked. FileSpot allows Custom Column creation which is great on a Mac because all files have their own set of metadata (extra file data which describes the file).

Use the metadata to sort columns in FileSpot. That is a very cool feature for power users.

On Mac OS X I use the key combination of Command-I, to get info about a file. Mac users have had that option for decades but the file information has been limited. OS X improves on Info, but FileSpot puts Command-I on illegal steroids. Even file preview is better in FileSpot than the Finder.

Other little touches will make FileSpot a favorite among Mac users with hard drives overflowing with files. Focus FileSpot to specific directories or locations on your Mac. Save searches to be used again. Why bother with setting up a new search each time when you already know the steps. That’s a nice touch.

Even better is the ability to copy or move files right from within the FileSpot interface. No more running back to the Finder, grabbing a file and moving it here or there, and then forgetting where it was in the first place. These are the kinds of touches that make FileSpot actually fun to use. Only voice activation would be cooler.

As you would expect with a Mac software published who has an act that’s together, FileSpot has screencasts to show you how to use the interface for basic and advanced searching, and file tagging and column customizing, two very worthwhile features.

If you find Google to be more wading and searching than useful, and you think Spotlight is handy but not all that great because of… all that wading and searching, then give FileSpot a click. It’s nifty for those of us not satisfied with the status quo.