Skip to content

The Eclectic Light Company

Macs & painting – 🦉 No AI content
Main navigation
  • Downloads
  • Freeware
  • All Macs
  • M1-M5 Macs
  • Troubleshooting
  • Painting
  • Mac Front Page

Finder

How large is that file?

When the numbers simply don’t add up. How some extended attributes may be included in quoted file sizes, but others are ignored, and Sequoia hasn’t really changed this since Classic Mac OS of 25 years ago.

September 1, 2025 Macs, Technology

How to search successfully in Spotlight: Saved Search

T T Read More

How to create and use a Saved Search or Smart Folder, which isn’t a folder at all, how you can change its search, and how it works.

June 3, 2025 Macs, Technology

How to search successfully in Spotlight: GUI tools

Using the Spotlight window and Finder’s Find window to locate local files that match your search criteria. Word boundaries and their effect on search results.

June 2, 2025 Macs, Technology

Searching for the file that won’t be found

T T Read More

How the name of one of the two ancient Greek Graces confuses Spotlight’s search box, and which characters can separate words.

May 29, 2025 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Bring back the magic

The magic of Mac was how you could double-click a document and it opened in the right app. Now that works differently with LaunchServices, it offers me 70 apps to edit any text document. Can we return to magic please?

March 30, 2025 Macs, Technology

Friday Magic: How to make disk space unpurgeable

When it started up after its macOS update, available space on its internal SSD had shot from about 160 GB to nearly 400 GB. Where had all my files gone?

February 28, 2025 Macs, Technology

Add custom file and folder icons in Sequoia

Adding your own custom icons to files and folders goes back a long way, to Classic Mac OS […]

February 7, 2025 Macs, Technology

A brief history of the Finder

T T Read More

From its clean and spartan origins in Classic MacOS, the Finder has changed it metaphor, and now works more like a browser. Over 25 years of history.

February 1, 2025 Macs, Technology

What to do when macOS won’t let you unmount a volume

You’re in a rush to eject an external disk, but the Finder tells you it’s in use by unnamed apps. What should you do next, and what has Sloth to do with it?

January 24, 2025 Macs, Technology

Solving Finder tag problems

Finder tags should sync in iCloud Drive, and should be found when you use Spotlight search for their tag labels. Here’s what to check when there are problems.

December 24, 2024 Macs, Technology

Posts navigation

Previous 1 2 3 4 … 25 Next
Blog at WordPress.com.
Footer navigation
  • About & Contact
  • Free Software Menu
  • Macs
  • Painting
  • Downloads
  • SilentKnight, Skint, SystHist, silnite, LockRattler & Scrub
  • XProCheck, T2M2, LogUI, Ulbow, blowhole and log utilities
  • Mints: a multifunction utility
  • xattred, SpotTest, Providable, Spotcord, Metamer & xattr tools
  • Versatility & Revisionist
  • DelightEd & Podofyllin
  • Precize, Alifix, UTIutility, Sparsity, alisma, Taccy, Signet
  • System Updates
  • Spundle, Cormorant, Stibium, DropSum, Dintch, Fintch and cintch
  • Virtualisation on Apple silicon
  • Cirrus & Bailiff
  • Text Utilities: Textovert, Disclipper, Nalaprop, Dystextia and others
  • sysctl information
  • Extended attributes (xattrs)
  • 32-bitCheck & ArchiChect
  • Keychains & Permissions
  • PDF
  • VisualLookUpTest
  • Updates
  • Long Reads
  • Mac Troubleshooting Summary
  • Saturday Mac Riddles
  • Last Week on My Mac
  • Painting topics
  • Mac problem-solving
  • M-series Macs
Secondary navigation
  • Search

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • The Eclectic Light Company
    • Join 9,034 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Eclectic Light Company
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...