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42 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
42 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
# Set Default Search Directory For Finder
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In MacOS's Finder.app, when I click the Search (magnifying glass) icon and type
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something in, it performs the search across all of "This Mac". This has always
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really bugged me because I'm usually already in the directory that I want to be
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specifically searching in.
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A small quality-of-life improvement for me was to update the setting that
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controls this to search in the current directory instead.
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This can be done via the Finder.app menu at the bottom of the _Advanced_ section
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in the _Settings_. The three setting options are:
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- Search This Mac
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- Search the Current Folder
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- Search the Previous Search Scope
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This can also be controlled from the command line using the `defaults write`
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command. The specific setting is called `FXDefaultSearchScope` and the above
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three settings translate to:
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- `SCev` (Search This Mac)
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- `SCcf` (Search the Current Folder)
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- `SCsp` (Search the Previous Search Scope)
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I can see the current default setting with `defaults read`:
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```bash
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❯ defaults read com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope
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SCev
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```
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I can then change it to the _Search the Current Folder_ option like so:
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```bash
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❯ defaults write com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope -string "SCcf"
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```
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All the open Finder windows still hold the original setting. I need to do a
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`killall Finder` to effectively reload them. Now if I try doing a search, it
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should default to the current directory instead of _This Mac_.
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