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10.5: Search for files by name in Finder Desktop
If you are looking for a file by name, and don't want to use Spotlight's File Name button, just press and hold Shift, select the Finder's File menu, and notice that the Find entry has become Find by name.

Select that entry, and the Finder will open a new window with a preset search set up for Name Contains; type your filename, and you're done.

[robg adds: You'll see a bit of a visual bug when you do this: the search dialog will have Contents, not File Name highlighted, and then the Name Contains line below that. So technically, it seems you're searching files whose contents contain a file name you specify. Clearly that doesn't make any sense. In any event, it seems Apple heard the complaints about easier filename searching. You can take the shortcut to this solution by pressing Shift-Command-F, or you can just type name:somefile or name:"some multiword name" into the Spotlight search box.]
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10.5: Search for files by name in Finder | 2 comments | Create New Account
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10.5: Search for files by name in Finder
Authored by: mistersquid on Nov 14, '07 02:43:42PM

As explained here, the "Contents" selector in Finder/Spotlight windows is not really contents but "all metadata" which includes Date Created, Date Modified, Name, File Type, and Contents

In order to specify Contents-only, one needs to select from the pull-down menu and choose "Contents."

How's that for reality distortion?



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10.5: Search for files by name in Finder
Authored by: johnsawyercjs on Nov 14, '07 11:20:21PM

Too bad Apple didn't include easily visible options for configuring Find so we could have Command-F bring up the Find window in whatever configuration we wanted (Find by Name, etc.), without having to resort to a third-party utility to make the modification. You can save a blank "Find by Name" as a Smart Folder, but using such a Find will still require the extra user action of clicking in the Sidebar, where a single Command-F would have been simpler. Also, most people will never even realize there's such a thing as Smart Folders, even with the Save button to the right of the search field.



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