HoudahSpot: Spotlight Unleashed, Review and Giveaway

Posted by Rory Rezzelle on 03/18/08 in Featured, Giveaways, Productivity, Utilities

Logo “Your mom told you: Clean up, if you ever want to find your stuff again. Well, she didn’t know HoudahSpot!” is the tagline for HoudahSpot, by Houdah Software, the creators of HoudahGEO. But the tagline falls short of describing the true power of this application. There is so much in this little app (weighing in at 8MB) that it was hard to write a review over everything; I still don’t know if I’ve used everything that this app has to offer.

As if being a great app isn’t enough, you’ve got a chance to win a free license for HoudaSpot! Read to the end to learn how.

HoudahSpot is, at it’s most basic, an extension of Spotlight — it finds files. HoudahSpot lets you build queries to find that exact file you need or lost files you had forgotten about. The simplest way to use HoudahSpot is to just type in a query into the text box and press the little green arrow at the top of the window. HoudahSpot quickly kicks it into high gear and it comes back with all the files that match your criteria.

Screenshot

You can change your search query on the fly (as long as the green arrow isn’t showing) and it will dynamically change the results to match. Exclusions, Limits, Location — there are plenty of attributes to choose from to find the exact file you are looking for. If you can’t find the file with this app, it’s not on your Mac. You can even search for invisible files.

Screenshot

When you install HoudahSpot an icon is also added to your menu bar with a menu that, among other things, allows you to do what is called a “blitz search.” This blitz search is like HoudahSpot on crack; it automatically does a search of whatever you type in with the following attributes: “Name contains [search query]” and “Text content contains fuzzy [search query]“. If you just want to search and don’t care about messing with the attributes of the query too much then this is perfect. As you can also see from the screenshot above, there are shortcut menu items to search different places automatically — just click the item you want and it populates the query document with the correct attributes.

Pierre, from Houdah Software, has graciously agreed to give away 5 licenses for this wonderful app, so you guys know what that means! Download the demo and then answer the following question:

What new feature would you like to see in the next release of HoudahSpot?

Have your answer in by 4PM EST on March 25th, 2008, and, as always, the winners will be announced shortly after that.

This review barely scratches the surface of HoudahSpot. I suggest if you want to go more in-depth with this product (which is a great idea!) then pick up a copy of from Houdah Software for $24.44 (single-user license), or if you are a student you can get away with this wonderful app for $13.04! You can also download a free demo from the site if you want to try it out before buying.

del.icio.us tag this | digg this | permalink | ping

21 Comment(s)

Legend:

Guest

Article Author

Contributor

Louis said on

March 18th, 2008 at 6:37 am

Able to organize files based on the search results. I don’t mean Smart Folders, but actually move the files to a user defined folder based on the search results generated by HoudahSpot.

MJ Valente said on

March 18th, 2008 at 7:31 am

I confess in the beginning I wasn’t terribly found of HoudahSpot, but it has grown on me after a few weeks of trial usage (expansion of trial kindly offered by the developer, which has made all the difference to me). I love the menubar BlitzSearch and the (great) integration with LauchBar. Those alone are worth buying the license.

About the new feature(s) that I would like to see in the next release of HoudahSpot…

1) I’d like to see BlitzSearch do a search according to template parameters, besides the general one. Meaning, we could use a drop menu by the little loupe with our search templates. Therefore, I could search “apple” directly within My Photos or My Documents or any other template that I have made (I’m thinking that would only be possible with the menubar BlitzSearch, and not with LaunchBar, but I may be wrong).

2) Another more cosmetic feature (on the general search window) would be being able to change the position of the “query pane”. This is personal taste, of course, but if the “query pane” could be placed on top of the “results” pane, the horizontal area occupied would be much smaller, thus allowing more columns to be added and seen (a must for some searches).

3) Finally, would it be possible to integrate some feature for tagging files and folders? Specially if it was directly in the metadata and not only in the spotlight comments. That would be great to save different searches related to chosen topics (for instance, all the images related to a research work).

rmaspero said on

March 18th, 2008 at 8:09 am

Maybe to creat smart folders that use the quires and refres live, so instead of having to do a search it does it in the background and puts it all in a folder for you to see.

Ammon Beckstrom said on

March 18th, 2008 at 8:19 am

If you’re still on Tiger, the developer has graciously made the previous version (with less bells and whistles) available for free.

Priscilla said on

March 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am

A warning for everyone trying the demo: when you’re finished a search, press the “stop” button, or it will search every time you type a new letter, and the 20 tries the demo allows will be up before you’ve done 5 searches.

Because of the the above problem, I wasn’t able to try it much, but I know it would be useful as I’m often frustrated at the lack of options in spotlight. As for a suggested new feature, I would like to be able to assign tags to files and bookmarks. Bookmarks especially can so often fit in different categories, but I don’t like clogging my bookmarks folder by duplicating them. It would be so much easier if I could just search for all documents and/or bookmarks with a certain tag.

chris said on

March 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

I think the OSX space is ripe for an app that manages tags, both adding and finding them. My feature request of the HS (or any!) developers would be: help users with a GUI manage their metadata! (and do so with an accepted standard (like the &convention) so that the data has relevance across other programs).

Max said on

March 18th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

HoudahSpot is a great app but there’s always room to improve, right?
Personally, I’d love to see the ability to create live updated stacks in the Dock based on custom search criteria.

Edward said on

March 18th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

The ability to work like Hazel, and move my files into pre-defined locations. Also, to go one step above Hazel and create folders based on file content. For example: if I download a file called “2008 Accounts”, it will go into a folder called “2008 Accounts”. Any subsequent file I download called, say “2008 Accounts - Personal” will be automatically put into the folder.

You train it to organize your files the way you want them based on name and metadata.

Pierre Bernard said on

March 18th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

@Priscilla

That’s not how the demo period is supposed to work. This is a bug. I’ll see to get that fixed soon.

Best,
Pierre Bernard
Houdah Software s.à r.l.

(subscribed to comments) Add karma

Franca Richard said on

March 18th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

This kit is so new to me, I ll try on my new apple. Thanks!

Ron said on

March 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Love the app (except the yellow! maybe customizable?). Would like to see the ability to create a backup collection or a burn folder from find results. Love the integration with LaunchBar.

Richard said on

March 18th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

An optional search history to remember what file types I typically search for through my daily usage would be nice.

Shishir said on

March 19th, 2008 at 7:59 am

Nice app. Would like to have the ability to use quicklook on top of the results. That would make it easier to determine what exactly I was looking for.

Dan said on

March 19th, 2008 at 8:23 am

I hadn’t tried HoudahSpot before. I always assumed I had, but it must have been some other Spotlight extension/app.

Anyway, I’m liking the app, but am a little overwhelmed from my first experience. So, here are my suggestions.

1. Retinker the GUI. I like the two-pane idea. I hate the play/stop button idea. It looks a little out of place for me. I’d prefer binoculars for search an an X for stop.

1.1 Give an indication that a search is going on. Having a static stop button doesn’t tell me much (is it searching? where is it searching? how long is left?). At least make the button pulse while its working.

2. I felt very overwhelmed when I first opened the app. Perhaps give people a choice between a simplified and an advanced view? Simplified would be a single textbox that allows boolean searches. In a way, it would be the same as Spotlight, but the results would look better. The new “Show All” feature in Leopard is a disaster, and I can see HoudahSpot bringing people in just on that.

3. I don’t know if this is a bug or not. I love the quicklook feature. I love being able to hit the space bar to open quicklook and hit it again to close it. That’s where the problem arrises. Doing this with the quicklook button doesn’t work. Hitting the button will open quicklook, but clicking it again does not close it. I’d like to see this feature included, as it saves me from having to move the mouse to the (relatively) tiny close button.

4. Reshuffle the “What…” search options. Currently they are sorted alphabetically, which is cool. I’d prefer to see them listed by use. Name should be on the top. I don’t know, this might just be me.

5. Love, love, love the templates. Would love to see one search for duplicate files, would be a deal-maker for me.

6. Within “Where…” perhaps rename ‘Local volumes + home’ to ‘This Mac’. Slightly less verbose.

7. An intelligent search history feature. Remember searches and results over time, and provide some sort of report. For example. If I use HoudahSpot to find a single file 10 times, perhaps have HoudahSpot suggest that the file is badly placed so that I can put it into a more accessible (or at least easier to remember) folder. So, instead of playing with your files and moving them around (i.e., Hazel), it merely detects commonalities in searches and lets the user decide what to do (this feature would need to be able to be turned off).

7. Some way to integrate with note taking apps, just like it does with Mail at the moment. I’m thinking of integrating with, say, Yojimbo, or DevonThink, as these can already handle files (tagging them/etc).

Pierre Bernard said on

March 19th, 2008 at 11:00 am

@Shishir
QuickLook is there. It’s called Preview. Just hit the space bar to open the QuickLook window. You may also select several result items and then navigate them from the QuickLook window

(subscribed to comments) Add karma

Pierre Bernard said on

March 19th, 2008 at 11:15 am

@Dan: Thanks for the feedback

1. The play/stop button implies that the search stays live even after all results are found: newly created files appear in the results as long as the query is live.

1.1. There is an indeterministic spinning progress indicator above the result list. Just left of the filter field.

2. I hope for the BlitzSearch menu item to bring some relief in this area.

3. Worth a thought. For now the toolbar buttons bring the Preview and Inspector windows to front. E.g. they may be open but hidden behind the main window.

4. You just need to make sure to have your frequently used criteria shown in your preferred template. Criteria rows you don’t fill in are ignored. There is now harm in leaving many of them in the template.

(subscribed to comments) Add karma

Joe Turner said on

March 19th, 2008 at 11:46 pm

A feature I would like would be to change that banana yellow to another color! It is tres ugly

Dan said on

March 20th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

Pierre, thanks for the feedback. It’s always nice to see devs who actually care (I migrated pretty recently from Windows, so to see devs getting involved at all is pretty amazing to me).

I see the point of the play/stop buttons. Still think that a pulsing stop button would be nice, it is nothing but a cosmetic change.

The fourth point I made is something that will be solved by a simpler search form.

I would still love for results to be displayed in the same way that the Tiger spotlight results were, within categories sorted by Kind. The real utility of this is that you can collapse the categories, so if you know that the file is a PDF, collapse all files except the PDF category. You can get the same effect by filtering or searching by type, but the old spotlight interface is just somethign that stuck in my mind as quite useful.

And as Joe Turner said above, perhaps being able to skin the app…

Arthus Erea said on

March 22nd, 2008 at 6:32 pm

I would like the ability to add a different source (such as iTunes).

Pierre Bernard said on

March 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm

@Arthus Erea: Could you please clarify?

iTunes stores its library in the Music folder of your Home folder. It can easily be searched by HoudahSpot. It is in fact searched in the default setup.

Try searching for “Content kind” is “Audio”

(subscribed to comments) Add karma

Pierre Bernard said on

April 13th, 2008 at 4:06 am

@Ron
@Joe

You will be glad to learn that starting with HoudahSpot 2.1.4, you have an option to configure the accent color.

HoudahSpot 2.1.4 adds a hidden preference allowing for the accent color to be customized. Enter one of the following at the command line in Terminal.app and relaunch HoudahSpot.

defaults write com.houdah.HoudahSpot accentColor yellow
defaults write com.houdah.HoudahSpot accentColor red
defaults write com.houdah.HoudahSpot accentColor green
defaults write com.houdah.HoudahSpot accentColor blue
defaults write com.houdah.HoudahSpot accentColor grey

Best,
Pierre Bernard
Houdah Software s.à r.l.

(subscribed to comments) Add karma