How can I tell Spotlight to show me plist files?

[dmetzcher]

Spotlight under Tiger used to do this. Under Leopard, it does not. I'm tired of having to remember where a preference file (.plist) is located in order to delete it. I want to simply type a partial name of the file and get it with a Spotlight search.

Can this feature be turned back on? There's got to be a Terminal command that tells Spotlight to display ANY file on the hard drive that matches what I type into the search box. I want to see them all.

Thanks!

 

[dmetzcher]

I did find that opening a new Spotlight window (default is alt+command+space) and clicking the small plus sign (+) to the far right (just under the search field) allows you to select the type of files you want to find. Selecting "Other..." will give you a new window where you can choose "System files" (type "preference" into the search field in that window and the list of file types will be narrowed to "System Files").

OK, so that works, but how can I tell Spotlight to always show the .plist files? Is that even possible anymore?

 

[Giaguara]

Plists are nearly always in ~/Library/Preferences/.
(the rare exception is /System/Library/Preferences/).

 

[dmetzcher]

Plists are nearly always in ~/Library/Preferences/.
(the rare exception is /System/Library/Preferences/).

Almost always, yes, but there are several subfolders inside the ~/Library/Preferences folder. Also, doing a Spotlight search for part of a file name is easier than remembering the exact name, or what it begins with (for alphabetical sorting by file name), when you're in a hurry. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a solution other than the one I've already posted in the first comment. If someone else knows a trick, please post it.

 

[zo219]

Using a utility like the free EasyFind ... one that will find absolutely anything on your machine.

 

[dmetzcher]

Using a utility like the free EasyFind ... one that will find absolutely anything on your machine.

Thanks! I'll give it a try. I'm totally willing to use another app to search when I need to find preference files, since it will only be once every few weeks or so.