8 ms·

Spotlight was never useful, because of an absurd and glaring design defect: It doesn't show you WHERE it found stuff. There's no path shown with hits. Same blun

Spotlight was never useful, because of an absurd and glaring design defect: It doesn't show you WHERE it found stuff. There's no path shown with hits. Same blunder in Finder's search, and you can't even optionally add "path" as a column. WTF. So... when the hits include six identically-named files, you can't eliminate ones that you know are wrong (on a backup volume or whatever). The level of stupidity here is just mind-boggling.

phony-account 2y ago
> There's no path shown with hits I guess you do know the path is shown at the bottom of the window if you select the filename in the list of results?
- pickdan 2y ago
  In all fairness, you do need to hold down the command key to show the file location in Sequoia. It is an interesting default behavior to pretend the files location doesn't exist, mobile-centric.
  - Reason077 2y ago
    No you don’t. In Finder search results, the path is always shown at the bottom. For regular Finder windows, you can optionally show the path with “View -> Show Path Bar”
    - DidYaWipe 2y ago
      Not a solution, because, again, you have to click on every single entry one at a time, and you can't sort by it.
  - DidYaWipe 2y ago
    In all fairness, secret hotkey BS may as well not exist. Are you supposed to mash every modifier key and every combination thereof on every screen and in every menu, looking for hidden goodies? Absurd.
    - xarope 2y ago
      we have simplified the interface to just one home button and the screen interface, as well as the volume up/volume down key. To select, just press on the item. To hover, press and hold for at least 2 seconds. To get a list of options, press and hold for at least 2.5 seconds, but not more than 3.5 seconds. To delete, press and hold for 3.6 seconds, but not longer than 3.9 seconds. To save, press and hold for 4.1 seconds. Pressing and holding for exactly 4.0 seconds activates the archive action. Pressing and holding for 4.2 or more seconds sends the item to the blocked list. To retrieve the list of items in the blocked list, press and hold and simultaneously press the volume up and volume down key. To delete all items in the block list, press and hold and simultaneously press the volume up key only. To completely reset your device, press and hold and simultaneously press the volume down key only, whilst holding the device in a completely vertical plane, and rotating clock-wise and counter-clockwise, smoothly, at precise 2.35619 radians every 30 seconds. To trigger the emergency call feature, drop the device at an acceleration of no less than 9.6m/s and no more than 9.7m/s /s (kind of)
    - 9dev 2y ago
      No: you are supposed to read the documentation to learn about power user features. Microsoft also doesn’t shove the advanced keyboard shortcuts in your face; you need to read the manual to learn stuff like this.
      - DidYaWipe 2y ago
        Showing WHERE things are found when you do a search is not a "power-user" feature. It's an essential aspect of what the user is trying to accomplish. The whole point is that secret hotkeys are design dereliction.
        9dev 2y ago
        Is it, though? Most people don’t really have a notion of the file system, or hierarchical file structures. They drop files onto their desktop, or keep them in the downloads folder. Just ask a parent or your next-door neighbour. That’s a bit of a problem when discussing problems of normal users with power users, because they don’t even realise how what they’re doing is actually not what normies do. I’m inclined to agree that hotkeys in MacOS are hard to discover, but cluttering the interface with stuff many users simply do not need cannot be the correct answer.
- DidYaWipe 2y ago
  Yep, but that's totally unacceptable because you have to tediously select every entry, one at a time, and peer at the status bar. It also doesn't allow you to sort results by location, as you could if it were a column.
toomim 2y ago
You hold down command to see the path.
- DidYaWipe 2y ago
  Where? And how is that option displayed to the user? I also just tried it in Spotlight and Finder, and it did nothing. Which I consider a relief, because undiscoverable bullshit is worse than the feature not existing.
  - sofixa 2y ago
    macOS and iPadOS are full of those undiscoverable "if you do this combination of buttons/swipes while at full moon, something happens". As a Mac user not by choice (work issued) I hate how impossible to discover these are.
    - Aaargh20318 2y ago
      As a Mac/iOS/iPadOS user it seems that it’s almost mandatory to watch each Keynote / product announcement video if you want to keep up with new features. Lots of cool features that I only knew about by watching those videos that are completely undiscoverable otherwise.
    - vvillena 2y ago
      These kinds of shortcuts are part of Apple software as a whole, and apparently have been a thing since at least OSX. These behaviors were supposed to be covered in the documentation, but I don't know how true this is nowadays. Special mention to all text input fields in macOS having Emacs-style shortcuts.
      - regularfry 2y ago
        It goes back further than that. I remember being able to buy key-combo cheat cards for System 7, and I have no reason to think the shortcuts they covered wouldn't also have been present in System 6.
  - 2y ago

phony-account 2y ago

> There's no path shown with hits I guess you do know the path is shown at the bottom of the window if you select the filename in the list of results?

pickdan 2y ago
In all fairness, you do need to hold down the command key to show the file location in Sequoia. It is an interesting default behavior to pretend the files location doesn't exist, mobile-centric.
- Reason077 2y ago
  No you don’t. In Finder search results, the path is always shown at the bottom. For regular Finder windows, you can optionally show the path with “View -> Show Path Bar”
  - DidYaWipe 2y ago
    Not a solution, because, again, you have to click on every single entry one at a time, and you can't sort by it.
- DidYaWipe 2y ago
  In all fairness, secret hotkey BS may as well not exist. Are you supposed to mash every modifier key and every combination thereof on every screen and in every menu, looking for hidden goodies? Absurd.
  - xarope 2y ago
    we have simplified the interface to just one home button and the screen interface, as well as the volume up/volume down key. To select, just press on the item. To hover, press and hold for at least 2 seconds. To get a list of options, press and hold for at least 2.5 seconds, but not more than 3.5 seconds. To delete, press and hold for 3.6 seconds, but not longer than 3.9 seconds. To save, press and hold for 4.1 seconds. Pressing and holding for exactly 4.0 seconds activates the archive action. Pressing and holding for 4.2 or more seconds sends the item to the blocked list. To retrieve the list of items in the blocked list, press and hold and simultaneously press the volume up and volume down key. To delete all items in the block list, press and hold and simultaneously press the volume up key only. To completely reset your device, press and hold and simultaneously press the volume down key only, whilst holding the device in a completely vertical plane, and rotating clock-wise and counter-clockwise, smoothly, at precise 2.35619 radians every 30 seconds. To trigger the emergency call feature, drop the device at an acceleration of no less than 9.6m/s and no more than 9.7m/s /s (kind of)
  - 9dev 2y ago
    No: you are supposed to read the documentation to learn about power user features. Microsoft also doesn’t shove the advanced keyboard shortcuts in your face; you need to read the manual to learn stuff like this.
    - DidYaWipe 2y ago
      Showing WHERE things are found when you do a search is not a "power-user" feature. It's an essential aspect of what the user is trying to accomplish. The whole point is that secret hotkeys are design dereliction.
      - 9dev 2y ago
        Is it, though? Most people don’t really have a notion of the file system, or hierarchical file structures. They drop files onto their desktop, or keep them in the downloads folder. Just ask a parent or your next-door neighbour. That’s a bit of a problem when discussing problems of normal users with power users, because they don’t even realise how what they’re doing is actually not what normies do. I’m inclined to agree that hotkeys in MacOS are hard to discover, but cluttering the interface with stuff many users simply do not need cannot be the correct answer.
DidYaWipe 2y ago
Yep, but that's totally unacceptable because you have to tediously select every entry, one at a time, and peer at the status bar. It also doesn't allow you to sort results by location, as you could if it were a column.

toomim 2y ago

You hold down command to see the path.

DidYaWipe 2y ago
Where? And how is that option displayed to the user? I also just tried it in Spotlight and Finder, and it did nothing. Which I consider a relief, because undiscoverable bullshit is worse than the feature not existing.
- sofixa 2y ago
  macOS and iPadOS are full of those undiscoverable "if you do this combination of buttons/swipes while at full moon, something happens". As a Mac user not by choice (work issued) I hate how impossible to discover these are.
  - Aaargh20318 2y ago
    As a Mac/iOS/iPadOS user it seems that it’s almost mandatory to watch each Keynote / product announcement video if you want to keep up with new features. Lots of cool features that I only knew about by watching those videos that are completely undiscoverable otherwise.
  - vvillena 2y ago
    These kinds of shortcuts are part of Apple software as a whole, and apparently have been a thing since at least OSX. These behaviors were supposed to be covered in the documentation, but I don't know how true this is nowadays. Special mention to all text input fields in macOS having Emacs-style shortcuts.
    - regularfry 2y ago
      It goes back further than that. I remember being able to buy key-combo cheat cards for System 7, and I have no reason to think the shortcuts they covered wouldn't also have been present in System 6.
- 2y ago