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Search for a File You Worked on in the Past Month in the Finder

Can’t remember the name of a file you created or edited the other day, last week, or even in the past month?

The Finder makes searching for files really easy in OS X Leopard. Open a Finder window and look for The SEARCH FOR section of the Side Bar. Click “Past Week” and all the files you have edited in the past week will open chronologically, starting with the latest.

But what if the document you are looking for was created in the past month? The Spotlight in the Finder allows you to make searches using AND, OR, and NOT in OS X 10.5 Leopard. You can use the Finder window to add specifications to the search as well. Furthermore, you can Save Searches and then add them to the Side Bar.

In this short tutorial, I will show you how to set up a Saved Search for the Past Month in the Side Bar. The ideas in this tutorial can be expanded for other search criteria too.

Open the Finder, Select the Mac from the Side Bar, put a period (.) in the Spotlight Search Bar (you will erase this period later) and Hit Return.

Notice how a new Search Bar appears under the Tool Bar. It tells you where you are searching, and even gives the options to search the contents of files or just the file names. But look directly to the right and you will see a plus (+) sign. Click the plus sign. A new search criteria will appear, and it will say “Kind is Any”. Change these variables to say “Created date is within last 31 days”.

The following is not necessary for these steps but good to know when making customizable searches in the Finder.

If you hold down Option at this point the plus sign will become a … button. This will allow you to add further criteria to the search string using Any (OR), All (AND), or None (NOT).

Remove the . (period) from the Search bar you originally used to start the Search.

Click the Save Button. Name the new Search something meaningful like “Past Month”. Make sure Add to Sidebar is checked. Hit Save. A new Search called “Past Month” will now be available in the Search For section of the Sidebar.

For a more technical explanation and even a video, visit MacWorld: Max OS X Hints Article, “Add Conditions to Finder Searches.