Off Topic / Mac OS Finder

Question

Greetings allThis is unrelated to Indesign, but there's such a knowledge base here I thought I'd ask. I'm looking for a folder utility for the Mac OS. Our server is organized by job name. I view in column mode. Our directories are named with the project ID. For example, 22-ABC-0123_job name. The 4 digit number is unique to each job, no matter the year and front end client (22-ABC-). I'd love to find a utility where I can enter the 4 digit number and jump to that directory. Typing the year, client then job ID requires typing speed i don't often possess. The Mac OS finder is so terrible and seems the bottom of their OS priority list (Search is basically unusable). The year directory can number over 700 sub-directories, so being able to jump to the proper directory would be a time-saver. Thank you anyone for any input.

Conrad_C · Answer

Default Folder is a big time-saver, I’ve used it for over 20 years. But I am not sure if it’s the right solution for this problem because it doesn’t really help with searching; its strengths are in retrieving recent folders and files, and setting up favorite folders that you add manually. But if you need to quickly get to any of hundreds of potential folders by typing, I don’t think that’s something Default Folder can help with.

It sounds like you need an alternate search utility, and because of the problems you have with macOS Spotlight searching, you should specifically look for integrated search utilities that use their own search engine and index instead of Spotlight. I’m not positive that the two ideas below bypass Spotlight, but I think they do, and they are two favorite alternatives of Mac users who think Spotlight is too slow or ineffective. I think they’re both paid apps with free levels.

Alfred

LaunchBar

Whatever solution you try or decide on, take advantage of any customization they offer. For example, Alfred will let you filter the results of the default search so that you could have it list only folders, not files. Or only folders within a certain scope, such as your main project folder, so it doesn’t waste time and CPU looking through the entire Mac.

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