[X-Newbies] Re: Tiger's Smart Folders

[Charles Martin]

> From: Carter Tomassi <carter at messyoptics.com>
>
> Any good sources on the web for Smart Folder sample scripts?

They're not "scripts," they are saved searches, for example "every  
Word document I've opened in the last two weeks" or "All the CMYK  
photos from a particular project" or "All the emails either from or  
to my lawyer."

> A friend explained a little about Smart Folders last night. Could it
> automatically save a list of all files created in a selected
> directory that day?

Child's play -- but if you're running Tiger, you must already know  
this by now, surely? Smart folders (Spotlight) is only available in  
Tiger.

> I understand that it can be programmed to create
> such a folder, but can it be saved permanently and automatically with
> that day's date?

Yes. You would simply press cmd-f and set up a search that gathered  
all the stuff from within your job folder that had been opened on a  
specific date, or perhaps one that gathered stuff from an inspecific  
date (in the past day, the past week, etc). You then save that search  
as a "smart folder."

Each time you re-open the folder, the search is updated, and the  
files that meet that criteria are available. It's a MIRACLE really --  
amazing nobody really incorporated this into an OS before!

> So far the info on Apple's site seems a little sketchy on scripting.

That's because it's not scripting. It's nowt to do with scripting. It  
much closer to "word problems" in maths, or Boolean searches if you  
like, than it is scripts.



_Chas_

FL-MUG: central Florida's Macintosh User Group.
Meetings: second Thursday of the month, 6-9pm,
at the Orlando Science Center.
http://www.flmug.org