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How can I do full text searches on files and have a preview?

On Windows XP I used Google Desktop Search which provided full text searches on files and emails with a preview of results, like a Google search. It indexed files when needed.

I'm looking for something like this on OS X Snow Leopard. Spotlight and Finder search don't produce a preview. Google desktop isn't the same thing on the Mac.

What can I use?

How to help Mac OS X's Finder determine movie dimensions/duration?

In Finder I can see some info about video files: dimensions and duration, but I can see it only for .mov, .mpg, .mp4 and maybe some other files. What can I do to see this info for .mkv, .avi, .flv, .ts and other video files?

How can I quit frozen Spotlight without rebooting my computer?

I opened up Spotlight, typed '12*' to do some multiplication and it's been frozen for the last 20 minutes.

I am looking for how to restart the program/service/whatever it technically is, but it's not in the Force Quit menu, so what is the quickest way to kill this process without restarting my computer? (I am on Mac OS X Snow Leopard)

How to stop Spotlight indexing a networked Time Machine backup?

My Time Machine backs up to a hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme. After I've upgraded to Lion I have noticed that the mds process (the Spotlight indexer) has been running at 100% cpu every now and then. A simple file activity check told me that it was trying to index my Time Machine backup.

I have gone and added the Time Machine disk to the Privacy list in Spotlight settings, which is supposed to exclude the disk from the Spotlight index, but alas, Spotlight still tries to index it sometimes. Is it a bug in Lion or am I missing something?

Is it possible to remove JAR files from the application list in Spotlight?

When I'm looking for applications using Spotlight, the top entries are often JAR files. This is annoying. Is it possible to change Spotlight so that JAR files are not considered applications?

Initiate a chat in Adium with Spotlight

On Linux I can use gnome-do to quickly initiate a chat in Pidgin with my friends by just typing their IM's usernames in gnome-do's search box then press Enter.

Can Spotlight do the same ? I'm open to alternative desktop search/launcher programs as well

Recreate Mail.app Search Index?

It seems that the search index for my Mail.app has been corrupted. I have 4 years of emails, but when searching via the built-in search in Mail.app it always returns no results. Anyone have any idea how the search index can be rebuilt or recreated in Mail.app on OS X?

How to prevent spotlight from searching external hard drives

I have an external hard drive connected to my Macbook Pro that I always leave on. When I use spotlight to search for something, it always searches this drive. I don't want it to do this because usually the drive is in standby mode, so it takes a while to power up when I use spotlight to find something, and usually what I'm trying to find isn't on that hard drive. How can I prevent spotlight from searching this drive?

How to search with Spotlight more effectively

I'm used to using various flags to modify the results of Google searches, to only show results from a particular site, or only certain kinds of files.

For example you can restrict Spotlight searches to only look for pdf files like this example, when I'm looking for a pdf cheatsheet for using YUI's grid system css framework on my computer.

YUI grid kind:pdf

I'd be amazed if Apple's Spotlight didn't have loads of other handy flags to fine tune a search in the same way - what tricks do you use, or where do you look to find more tips to improve your Spotlight-fu?

How to see what files spotlight is currently indexing

Spotlight has been driving me nuts, over working my poor Harddrive so that my whole computer goes to a crawl. (CPU usage is still pretty low, then again I do have a core i7).

I saw somewhere that there was a way to see what it was currently indexing but I don't remember where.

Any ideas as to see what it's indexing?

I want to see if it's some files that keep doing it, then just put that folder in the ignore list.

MDS errors: "DiskStore: No block in wakeup" and "Ignored bogus fetch for MDSQueryWithBlockTask"

I've been getting tons of these entries in my system log. I can't find any indication of what they mean.

I assume it's a problem with spotlight somewhere, and I've rebuilt the spotlight indexes, but the error persists. Searching for the text of these errors yields nothing.

Does anyone know what this is?

Why does MDS run wild in Mac OS X 10.6?

I've been having trouble with the MDS process running wild on my MacBook Pro 13". I've read on other support forums indicating that improperly formatted external drives can be an issue, but I have no drives connected. How can this problem be debugged and fixed?

If it helps, I do have a massive Mail archive. I have not turned off the indexing of this archive, because I haven't been able to find a correlation between the two, but I'm considering it.

(This might be normal right after doing an upgrade from 10.5 to 10.6, in which case the Spotlight search index needs to be rebuilt by mds. But in this case it's been a few weeks.)

Spotlight doesn't solve math operations any more

It used to be that Spotlight would figure out math operations for me (for example, if I typed 5 + 3, the first Spotlight result, before any located files or other search results, would be the answer). For the last few weeks, it hasn't anymore - if I type a math operation, it just finds a bunch of documents.

I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.7. UPDATE: So far I've tried, based on the suggestions below:

• Deleting the Spotlight preferences.
• Setting defaults write com.apple.spotlight CalculationEnabled -bool YES
• Opening up the Calculator app and confirming that it's still in its default location.
• Forcing Spotlight to reindex my hard drives.
• Re-installing the 10.5.7 combo update.
• Rebooting after each of the above.

Unfortunately, nothing has worked - Spotlight still doesn't solve the operations.

Why should I use Quicksilver instead of Spotlight?

I recently purchased a Macbook (13") and have been perusing various blogs and zen/hacker sites which provide insight and instructions on becoming a proficient user. I feel relatively comfortable on it, though not quite as comfortable as on my native OS (Linux).

One thing I keep coming across is Quicksilver. Most productivity tips include utilizing this application for more extensible app launching, and better system navigation. I've used Launchy extensively on my Linux systems (and my Windows box at work), and I wouldn't say it's revolutionized my work flow.

I've been using Spotlight since it came with my Mac. Are there compelling reasons to switch to Quicksilver?

How to disable Spotlight in Snow Leopard?

It seems previous Spotlight disabling method that worked in Leopard, no longer works in Snow Leopard.

How can I disable Spotlight in Snow Leopard?