finding notebook files in Mac's Spotlight search

[Julie Baird]

I have a Mac running 10.5.8 and Smart Notebook 10.6.95.0. I never see any of my Notebook files when I do a Spotlight search. The files show up in the finder but only if the word I'm looking for is in the title.  Is there a way for Finder or Spotlight to search the contents of a SmartBoard Notebook file?

Thanks for any help. I looked at Spotlight preferences and didn't see any place where I could check off individual file extensions for the search.

[Obe Hostetter]

I see my Notebook files when I search on my 10.5.8 MAC. I can search by either by filename or just type in .notebook in spotlight and it shows. I would check your spotlight preferences has documents checked so they show.

[Julie Baird]

Thanks, Obe. I looked and Documents are checked in the Spotlight preferences. I tried just typing .notebook in the spotlight search and saw lots of my SmartBoard files. That will help. Maybe I just have too many files but I didn't see any Smartboard files in my spotlight search before.

When I use the Finder search my Mac doesn't search inside a Notebook file like it does for Word or PDF files. Is there a way to get my Mac to search the contents of a Notebook file? I have tried typing in a keyword, clicking on the + sign to get more option and then adding "notebook" for the file extension but I end up with 0 items. Are the contents of a SmartBoard file not searchable?

[Obe Hostetter]

Spotlight comes with importers for certain types of files (Word, Quicktime, Excel, MP3, and PDF documents). Apple publishes APIs that allow developers to write Spotlight Importer plug-ins. I don't think SMART Notebook is setup to be searchable for the words within the file. You could contact SMART and request this for future Notebook versions.

Tips:
1. I have also found typing in the words below in Spotlight bring up most if not all of my Notebook files:
kind:notebook

2. You can add words to Spotlight comments on any file so it will show up when you search for those key words. For example, find a Notebook file, and click on File-get info (Apple + I keys). Click on the triangle beside Spotlight comments and list search words separated by commas. Now you can search spotlight for those key words and that Notebook file will appear in the results.

[Julie Baird]

Awesome Info! Thanks a bunch, Obe. I haven't used the key words or tags on my files but I will for Notebook files. You've been a big help with this. Thanks again!

Julie

[JG]

When I first trialled Smart Notebook about 18 months ago I soon realised I could not search for notebook files in the way I do for every other file on my Mac. Like you suggested, I submitted a feature request.

I use other third party software and they have no problem creating the necessary Spotlight plugins which are installed automatically so that I can find stuff easily on my Mac. How come Smart still haven't done this? When they ignore OS level functionality like this it makes me question their commitment to producing great software.

[Julie Baird]

JG, What is the name of the 3rd party software?

[JG]

Sorry, Julie, what I meant was that there are many third party software developers who have included spotlight plugins that are included when you install their application. This means that files created in these applications are automatically searched by content like Office and iWork files, which is vey useful.

This seems like such a fundamental step for a developer, why have SMART not included this functionality yet?

(Sorry for the delay, the email link went to junk mail, fixed now!)

[Julie Baird]

Thanks, JG. No problem on the delayed answer. School has started and life here is hectic.

I know that there are several 3rd party apps that are like Finder on Steroids and I thought that is what you meant. I'll follow Obe's advice and add Spotlight comments to my files so I know what's in there.

Thanks for the discussion.