Mac OS X Bible, Panther Edition

Here’s what you should know after reading this Chapter:

• Use Find to search files and folders on volumes and disks attached to your computer. Use Sherlock to search the Internet for other information.

• Use the Find command to search by name, text content, or a combination of name, content, and other criteria such as file size or modification date. You determine which folders and volumes Find searches. When a search ends, Find displays a list of the files, folders, and volumes that match your search criteria. You can do a lot with items on this list, including see their locations, open the items, and put them in the Trash.

• Before Find can search file contents, it must index them. You can manually start indexing a given folder or volume.

• You can open the Sherlock application from the Dock or from a Finder window.

• You switch channels by clicking channel icons in the toolbar at the top of the Sherlock window.

• You enter the words that you want Sherlock to search for in the text box below the channel toolbar.

• The Search button to the right of the text box starts a search and can stop a search that is underway.

• In the middle of its window, Sherlock lists items it has found. You can resize these lists, sort them in a different order, and move and resize their columns.

• The bottom part of the Sherlock window displays information about whatever is selected in the list above it.

• Sherlock has 10 standard channels for searching the Internet — Internet, Pictures, Stocks, Movies, Yellow Pages, eBay, Flights, Dictionary, Translation, and AppleCare — and you can add more. Each channel lets you search multiple Web search engines, directories, and other search sites all at once. Sherlock displays the combined results of the simultaneous searches in its window. You can see a brief summary of any found site in the Sherlock window, and with one or two clicks in Sherlock, you can have your Web browser go to a found site.

• You can move and copy Internet search sites between channels, add your own search sites, rearrange the channels, and add your own channels.

• Each Internet search site in a Sherlock channel corresponds to a search site plug-in file. Sherlock includes a number of search site plug-ins, and you can get more from various Web sites.

• Sherlock can have a number of searches going at the same time, each in a separate window.