Mac’s intuitive environment comprises of tons of useful and hidden features. For some, Mac may appear like a complicated OS but the more we explore, the more we get to know it! So, have you heard of Mac’s Smart Folders? Well, most of us are not aware of this hidden feature and think that they’re of no use. But today we’re going to change your perception of Smart Folders. In this blog, we will discuss Mac’s Smart Folders in a nutshell. With the help of Smart folders, you can easily find your files on Mac within no time.
So, before we learn about how to create a Smart Folder on Mac, first let’s get a basic understanding about its purpose and what all functionalities it offers.
What are Smart Folders?
If we have to keep it short and simple to answer this question, Mac’s Smart Folders allow you to easily organize and find your files. You can consider it more as an advanced search option which allows you to easily look for your files and saves a lot of searching time and effort. It keeps all your files and stuff in one place so that you can easily access them whenever you want!
Surprisingly, a Smart folder isn’t actually a folder. In fact, it’s a common space where all your saved searches are stored. Let’s understand it with the help of an example. Suppose, when you open the Downloads folder on Mac and say you sort all files on basis of date, then all the recently downloaded files will appear on the screen, right? So, if this data is relevant to you and you access it quite frequently then you can create a smart folder for “Recently Downloaded” files so that you find what you’re looking for easily and will save you a lot of effort of sorting the downloads folder every time.
Along with Mac’s Finder smart search abilities, the files that you keep in Smart Folders pop up instantly on the screen as soon as you search for it in the Spotlight.
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As we’re now through how useful Smart folders are on Mac, let’s quickly see the steps how we can use Smart Folders to make the most of Mac’s intuitive environment.
Under the File menu of Mac’s find, you will find the option for “Smart Folders”. So, open File and select “New Smart Folder” option from the list.
A new Smart folder window will appear on the screen, with three basic options of search criteria namely This Mac, Smart Folders and Shared. Picking “This Mac” as a search criteria option is recommended as it will look for each and every file on your system.
Now, tap the tiny plus icon on the right.
Two drop-down menus will appear on the screen namely, “Kind” and “Any”. You can also change these options by tapping the drop-down menu button and pick any option of your choice like File name, content, date created and so on.
If you again tap on the “+” icon, it will allow you to add more search criteria options for advanced searching.
If you pick “Other” from the drop-down list, then you will get access to a whole library of options along with their name and description. You can explore this list and explore a bunch of interesting options and use them whenever needed.
Once you’re done selecting everything, tap on “Save”, specify a name for your Smart Folder and you’re then good to go.
Don’t forget to check “Add to sidebar” option before you hit the “Save” button so that you can easily access smart folders on Mac’s sidebar.
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Using smart folders on Mac is a smart thing to do especially when you’re looking for anything in particular, say a picture with specific geotag or if you’re looking for a big file which is bigger than 1 GB in size or anything particular. Specifying customized search criteria proves out to be super useful when you’re searching for files on Mac.
So, folks, there was a quick guide on how to create a smart folder on Mac and why you should use it. We hope this will improve your experience on Mac and help you find your files easily with minimal time and effort.
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