HoudahSpot Changelog

What's new in HoudahSpot 6.5.1

Jan 15, 2024
  • HoudahSpot can now show file label colors even when that information is missing from the Spotlight index.
  • You can now see the exact total size in bytes of selected files. Hover over the combined size in the Inspector pane to get the byte value as a tooltip.

New in HoudahSpot 6.5 (Dec 15, 2023)

  • Addresses a change in macOS Sonoma where HoudahSpot fails to load file tag colors
  • Updated ForkLift integration to work with the latest version of ForkLift
  • Fixes a bug displaying files with multiple tag colors
  • Fixes a problem where Text Preview failed to show .eml mail message files
  • Various minor fixes and enhancements

New in HoudahSpot 6.4.1 (Sep 22, 2023)

  • Fixes a performance issue introduced in HoudahSpot 6.4. Thank you Andreas.

New in HoudahSpot 6.4 (Sep 13, 2023)

  • Updated for macOS 14 Sonoma
  • Caveat: Apple Mail on macOS 14 no longer accepts plug-ins. HoudahSpot will not be able to search your Apple Mail messages
  • Improves performance when selecting a large number of files
  • HoudahSpot can now edit Finder comments
  • Various bug fixes. Thank you for reporting bugs

New in HoudahSpot 6.3.2 (Aug 25, 2023)

  • Compatibility Mail on macOS 13.6 Ventura
  • Note: macOS 14 Sonoma will no longer allow Mail plug-ins

New in HoudahSpot 6.3 (Mar 26, 2023)

  • Compatibility Mail on macOS 13.3
  • Some of the sample search templates now auto-start upon opening
  • HoudahSpot now translates Mail flags to color names
  • New sample template: "Name Does Not Contain"
  • Adding double quotes to search text in the main search field has HoudahSpot search for an exact match
  • USB install - Use for client work and troubleshooting: You can now copy both HoudahSpot and your license file to a removable drive. This install can be used without copying the license file to the user home folder.

New in HoudahSpot 6.2.6 (Dec 30, 2022)

  • Duration for audio and video files is now displayed in hours, minutes and seconds
  • Fixes a problem with Text Preview on macOS 13.1

New in HoudahSpot 6.2.5 (Dec 23, 2022)

  • Works around a macOS Ventura bug where previewing address book cards can crash
  • Fixes an unexpected slowdown when switching between windows
  • Fixes a bug when re-saving a recently renamed template

New in HoudahSpot 6.2.4 (Nov 8, 2022)

  • Fixes issues with the "is set" operator used to find files where a certain property is known
  • Improved support for login item options on macOS 13 Ventura

New in HoudahSpot 6.2.3 (Oct 18, 2022)

  • Updated for compatibility with macOS 13 Ventura

New in HoudahSpot 6.2.2 (Aug 21, 2022)

  • Fixes a bug displaying tag colors that was introduced in HoudahSpot 6.2.1

New in HoudahSpot 6.2.1 (Aug 14, 2022)

  • Fixes the "Search Finder Window" option from the global menu item
  • Tentative compatibility with the latest beta of macOS Ventura
  • Various bug fixes

New in HoudahSpot 6.2 (Apr 10, 2022)

  • Support for images searches by orientation: portrait vs. landscape
  • Tentative compatibility with the latest beta of macOS Monterey 12.4
  • Various bug fixes

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.11 (Jan 31, 2022)

  • Works around a macOS Monterey bug where searches can return duplicate results
  • Fixes an issue with Quick Look preview for documents stored in DEVONthink
  • Fixes an issue with enhanced Quick Look previews for XMP sidecar files

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.10 (Dec 24, 2021)

  • Works around a macOS Monterey 12.1 bug where searches by "Kind" fail
  • Works around an issue where HoudahSpot may hang when an external drive is connected

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.9 (Dec 8, 2021)

  • Fixes a bug with the keyboard shortcut to activate HoudahSpot
  • Addresses a situation where the suggested value for a folder filter where not updated
  • Fixes a few rare bugs and crashes

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.8 (Nov 1, 2021)

  • Fixes a crash when loading certain saved searches or search templates

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.7 (Oct 28, 2021)

  • Updated for macOS 12 Monterey
  • Improved Quick Look support for documents stored in DEVONthink

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.6 (Oct 14, 2021)

  • Works around a crashing bug on macOS 10.14 Mojave
  • Updates the HoudahSpot Mail plug-in for compatibility with the latest macOS 12 Monterey beta

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.5 (Sep 10, 2021)

  • Bug fix: parent folder name column could fail to show a value
  • Bug fix: a search failure in Mail could lead to an error message in HoudahSpot
  • Bug fix: on some configurations the Filter pop-up window was too small

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.4 (Aug 5, 2021)

  • When searching for DEVONthink items, HoudahSpot now suggest known database names
  • Added menu items and keyboard shortcuts to toggle (show/hide) File Info and Text Preview windows
  • Fixes a situation where HoudahSpot erroneously reported waiting for an Apple Mail search
  • Fixes various minor bugs

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.3 (May 25, 2021)

  • Restores compatibility with macOS 10.15 Catalina

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.2 (May 24, 2021)

  • Improves status update while waiting for the Mail plug-in
  • Fixes minor bugs

New in HoudahSpot 6.1.1 (Apr 19, 2021)

  • Avoids "beachball" while gathering Mail search results
  • Various bug fixes

New in HoudahSpot 6.1 (Apr 14, 2021)

  • Find mail messages by MailTags keywords & projects. Requires MailSuite 2021 for macOS Big Sur.
  • Faster Apple Mail messages search
  • Improved Quick Look Preview for files hosted by DEVONThink
  • Text Preview can now be set to use a fixed width font
  • You can now select and copy text from the Quick Look preview pane
  • You can now hide the Tag cloud
  • The window toolbar offers more space where to grab and move the HoudahSpot search window
  • Fixed a bug where "Find by Example" failed to pick up file properties
  • Worked around a macOS Catalina bug where toolbar items can disappear when working with tabs
  • Fixed a bug where Mail search results initially failed to show

New in HoudahSpot 6.0.4 (Feb 5, 2021)

  • HoudahSpot is now available on Setapp: a subscription service for Mac and iOS apps. For $9.99/mo, use HoudahSpot plus over 200 other apps. No extra fees, no ads.
  • Fixes a crash when organizing search criteria snippets in HoudahSpot preferences
  • Fixes a bug with filtering search results by folder name in path
  • HoudahSpot now works with both the direct download and Setapp version of Default Folder X

New in HoudahSpot 6.0.3 (Jan 14, 2021)

  • Fixes a bug introduced in HoudahSpot 6.0.2. HoudahSpot could fail to open saved searches or templates

New in HoudahSpot 6.0.2 (Jan 14, 2021)

  • Fixes a bug where excluding ~/Library also excluded results from Mail searches
  • Fixes a possible crash when grouping search results by volume name or by kind

New in HoudahSpot 6.0.1 (Dec 30, 2020)

  • Fixes a bug where the Info pane failed list current attribute filters
  • Fixes a bug where filters using regular expressions did not work as expected
  • Fixes a bug where clicking the menu bar icon did not always perform the action specified in HoudahSpot preferences
  • The HoudahSpot 6.0 plug-in for Apple Mail could slow the start of the Mail application

New in HoudahSpot 6.0 (Dec 7, 2020)

  • Smart Text Preview: Focus on paragraphs that match your search
  • Arranged Results: Group search results by date, size, kind, or application
  • Recent Attributes: HoudahSpot remembers recently used search attributes and result columns
  • Recent Values: HoudahSpot remembers recently used file extensions, tags, and file types
  • Customizable Search Field: Option to search by name, text content, or any text
  • Improved Date Searches: Search for files by dates in a given month or year
  • Enhanced Grid View: See pertinent file info right next to icon or thumbnail
  • Regular Expression Filtering: Filter search results by name, path, parent folders, etc.
  • Faster File Tagging: Custom keyboard shortcuts, favorite, and recent tags
  • Templates Menu: Organize your search templates into folders and submenus
  • Compact Mode: Shrink the HoudahSpot window. Make room for easy drag-and-drop to other applications
  • Vertical Layout: See details and previews below search results. Save screen space
  • Fewer Windows: Reset a search. Start over with a new search in the current window
  • Dark Mode: HoudahSpot also looks good in black
  • Touch Bar: Access common functions from the comfort of your MacBook Pro keyboard
  • Finder Extension: Summon HoudahSpot from the Finder toolbar
  • Quick Action: Open HoudahSpot from the context menu on folders in Finder
  • Printing: Print search results as lists or contact sheet
  • Much more: Many refinements make HoudahSpot more efficient than ever

New in HoudahSpot 5.1.6 (Oct 9, 2020)

  • Prepare for macOS 11.0 Big Sur

New in HoudahSpot 5.1.5 (Aug 6, 2020)

  • Addresses a compatibility with the Dropshare app
  • Fixes a problem with configuring keyboard shortcuts for assigning Finder tags

New in HoudahSpot 5.1.4 (Jul 7, 2020)

  • Fixes a crash on launch when running on macOS 11 Big Sur beta
  • It will take a lot more work to update HoudahSpot for macOS 11 Big Sur. The next major version is currently distributed as developer preview or beta. We cannot currently recommend you install this pre-release software on computers you need to rely on.

New in HoudahSpot 5.1.3 (Jul 7, 2020)

  • Fixes known issues and one crashing bug

New in HoudahSpot 5.1.2 (Jun 11, 2020)

  • Fixes an bug where the Search->Add Criterion menu items failed to function

New in HoudahSpot 5.1.1 (Jun 11, 2020)

  • Multiple searches created from the same template now have names that allow telling the windows/tabs apart
  • Fixes an issue where HoudahSpot failed to open a new window when clicking the Dock icon
  • Works around a crashing bug when closing windows on macOS 10.13

New in HoudahSpot 5.1 (Apr 17, 2020)

  • Enhanced Quick Look Preview: Quick Look Preview of as XMP sidecar now shows the actual image file
  • Enhanced Quick Look Preview: Quick Look Preview of a DEVONthink item now shows the cataloged file
  • Use Templates from Finder: The HoudahSpot Finder toolbar item now gives direct access to HoudahSpot search templates
  • Simplified Chinese: Improved support for searches using Simplified Chinese
  • Re-save Templates: When saving a search created from a template, HoudahSpot now suggests updating the original template
  • New Keyboard Shortcuts: You can now set custom keyboard shortcuts to start a HoudahSpot search from Finder or bring HoudahSpot to the front
  • Improved File Tagging Control: You can now click a recently used tag to add it to the files' tags
  • Text Preview in Dark Mode: Text matches are now highlighted with colors that provide better contrast in dark mode

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.11 (Nov 20, 2019)

  • File tagging from the context menu now also works when opening the context menu without releasing the mouse button
  • Fixes an issue where some menu items failed to work in fullscreen mode
  • Adds an option during activation to save your license to 1Password 7

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.10 (Oct 10, 2019)

  • Updated for macOS 10.15 Catalina
  • Adds support for the version of ForkLift distributed via SetApp
  • Fixes a rare crash when using snippets

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.9 (Sep 25, 2019)

  • HoudahSpot now scrolls to the selected files after sorting search results
  • Fixes an issue where loading and sorting search results were slower than expected
  • Fixes an issue where previews in grid mode appeared washed out
  • Fixes a rare crash when printing search results

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.8 (Sep 2, 2019)

  • Templates and saved searches now open with the grid view set to the previously saved zoom level
  • When searching DEVONthink databases, HoudahSpot now suggests possible "Document Kind" values

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.7 (Jul 8, 2019)

  • In preparation for macOS 10.15 Catalina, HoudahSpot recently started using the new "hardened runtime". Unfortunately, this broke things that went unnoticed during testing.
  • "Search current Finder window" could fail to access the path of the Finder window
  • Fixes a bug that prevented Text Preview from reading some third-party file formats
  • Fixes a crash in HoudahSpot > Preferences > Extensions

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.6 (Jul 8, 2019)

  • The Alfred workflow is now compatible with the Alfred 4 application
  • Fixes a bug that caused the trick outlined in the “Find Images With No GPS Coordinates” blog post to fail
  • Fixes a bug that prevented HoudahSpot from using old 32-bit Spotlight importer plug-ins
  • Works around a bug where the system erroneously reports that HoudahSpot has been granted access to photos

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.5 (Jun 17, 2019)

  • Integration with the Fork Lift application.
  • Adds a keyboard shortcut to tag files: control-command-T
  • Allows for Apple Script to start a search by names
  • Fixes a crash when tagging files using the MacBook Touch Bar
  • Fixes a couple of minor bugs

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.4 (May 15, 2019)

  • Improves auto-completion of search criteria values. E.g. known tag names
  • The purple file label color is now a better match for macOS 10.14 Mojave
  • Fixes a crash in Text Preview
  • Fixes a crash when using Snippets on macOS 10.13 High Sierra

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.3 (Apr 24, 2019)

  • Improves performance of Text Preview when working with large files and non-latin characters
  • Fixes a bug where the Finder Extension failed to install
  • Fixes a bug where templates could not be loaded from Apple Script commands
  • Fixes a bug where arrow buttons in Text Preview did not show

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.2 (Apr 18, 2019)

  • Fixes a bug where the View > Arrange By > Kind menu item was not shown
  • Fixes a bug where the HoudahSpot LaunchBar action could fail over non-latin characters
  • Fixes a bug where searches by date did not work from the main search field

New in HoudahSpot 5.0.1 (Apr 11, 2019)

  • Fixes a bug in the LaunchBar action. Install the updated action from HoudahSpot > Preferences > Extensions
  • Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot failed to determine the folder of the current Finder window
  • Improves the performance of Text Preview on large files

New in HoudahSpot 5.0 (Apr 5, 2019)

  • Smart Text Preview: Focus on paragraphs that match your search
  • Arranged Results: Group search results by date, size, kind, or application
  • Recent Attributes: HoudahSpot remembers recently used search attributes and result columns
  • Recent Values: HoudahSpot remembers recently used file extensions, tags, and file types
  • Customizable Search Field: Option to search by name, text content, or any text
  • Improved Date Searches: Search for files by dates in a given month or year
  • Enhanced Grid View: See pertinent file info right next to icon or thumbnail
  • Regular Expression Filtering: Filter search results by name, path, parent folders, etc.
  • Faster File Tagging: Custom keyboard shortcuts, favorite, and recent tags
  • Templates Menu: Organize your search templates into folders and submenus
  • Compact Mode: Shrink the HoudahSpot window. Make room for easy drag-and-drop to other applications
  • Vertical Layout: See details and previews below search results. Save screen space
  • Fewer Windows: Reset a search. Start over with a new search in the current window
  • Dark Mode: HoudahSpot also looks good in black
  • Touch Bar: Access common functions from the comfort of your MacBook Pro keyboard
  • Finder Extension: Summon HoudahSpot from the Finder toolbar
  • Quick Action: Open HoudahSpot from the context menu on folders in Finder
  • Printing: Print search results as lists or contact sheet
  • Much more: Many refinements make HoudahSpot more efficient than ever

New in HoudahSpot 4.4.2 (Mar 28, 2019)

  • Fixes a bug where the "+" button to add search criteria could get stuck
  • Fixes a bug where dragging search criteria snippets to the Refine pane could fail
  • Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot failed to request permissions to search your photos

New in HoudahSpot 4.4.1 (Feb 6, 2019)

  • Fixes a bug that could cause Quick Look preview to crash

New in HoudahSpot 4.4 (Jan 26, 2019)

  • During initial activation, HoudahSpot now offers the option to save your license to 1Password
  • On macOS Mojave, HoudahSpot needs to ask permission to automate Finder when you want it to search the frontmost Finder window
  • Fixes a bug where searching using "contains all" produced different results depending on the order of search words
  • Fixes a bug where previews could fail to follow selection in the list of results
  • Fixes a bug that could cause Quick Look preview to crash
  • HoudahSpot could quit unexpectedly when the option to "quit on close of last window" is enabled

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.9 (Oct 3, 2018)

  • Improved instructions for enabling "Full Disk Access" on macOS Mojave
  • Works around a bug where Quick Look preview can crash on macOS Mojave

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.8 (Sep 20, 2018)

  • Text preview for Apple Mail messages loads much faster
  • After clearing a search, HoudahSpot now puts the focus back on the search field so you can immediately start typing
  • Added new privacy controls for access to photos, mail messages, etc. on macOS Mojave
  • Fixes an issue where search criteria input fields showed duplicate or incorrect suggested values
  • Fixes various minor bugs

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.7 (May 25, 2018)

  • In order to prepare for future macOS updates, the HoudahSpot Finder toolbar item is now a 64-bit application
  • Added a link to our privacy policy in the About box

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.6 (Apr 17, 2018)

  • Fixes a bug where the "Search Folders in HoudahSpot" Service failed to appear in Finder
  • Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot could crash on fresh installs of MacOS High Sierra
  • Corrects mistakes in the German and French localisations

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.5 (Feb 21, 2018)

  • Improves performance and reactivity when updating search results as new files are found
  • Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot could crash while moving a large number of files to the Trash
  • Works a around a bug where results, when shown as grid of icons or previews, would scroll without reason
  • Works a around a bug where opening an Xcode file from search results had Xcode open two windows for the file

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.4 (Dec 18, 2017)

  • Works around a crashing bug with Quick Look preview for contacts and vcard files on macOS High Sierra.

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.3 (Dec 2, 2017)

  • Works around a bug that prevented HoudahSpot from previewing text for Microsoft Office files on macOS High Sierra
  • Fixes a possible crash when closing tabs

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.2 (Nov 8, 2017)

  • Addresses a compatibility issue with Microsoft Outlook where an error message was shown when opening a mail message from HoudahSpot
  • Works around a bug where HoudahSpot crashed on macOS 10.13 High Sierra while adjusting system color or accessibility settings
  • Fixes a problem that caused excessive CPU usage when opening search templates with many criteria or search locations

New in HoudahSpot 4.3.1 (Aug 25, 2017)

  • HoudahSpot now follows aliases when looking for its Templates folder. This allows you to store search templates in a DropBox folder and keep these synchronized across different Macs
  • When renaming files, HoudahSpot now accepts names that include a forward slash
  • When moving files to a folder excluded from search, results are updated to exclude the moved files
  • Updated file label colors to match closely with the colors shown in Finder on El Capitan and Sierra

New in HoudahSpot 4.3 (May 31, 2017)

  • Improved performance. Faster scrolling. Faster refresh when files change
  • Easy file tagging from the contextual menu
  • Improved autocomplete on Finder tags in search and file tagging
  • Improved support for international character sets in text preview
  • Corrections to the German and French language versions

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.10 (Feb 20, 2017)

  • Fixed a performance problem (beachball) introduced in HoudahSpot 4.2.9.

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.9 (Feb 16, 2017)

  • In Text Preview, URLs are now highlighted and clickable
  • Improved support for macOS Spaces: New searches now open in the current Space

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.8 (Dec 16, 2016)

  • Some labels and values were displayed in the system language, rather than the application language. HoudahSpot is currently available in English, German, and French.

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.7 (Dec 1, 2016)

  • The "Search Folders in HoudahSpot" service failed to appear in the context menu in Finder
  • The HoudahSpot menubar icon now reveals its menu on option-click
  • Fixed various minor bugs

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.6 (Oct 26, 2016)

  • HoudahSpot used to refuse to rename a file if only letter case was changed
  • Fixed a bug with initial keyboard focus on macOS Sierra
  • Fixed a bug where HoudahSpot could crash while closing an active search

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.5 (Oct 12, 2016)

  • On macOS Sierra, keyboard focus did not honor settings in HoudahSpot > Preferences > Advanced
  • On macOS Sierra, the tab key did not work reliably to navigate between input fields in the Refine pane

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.4 (Sep 13, 2016)

  • Ready for macOS 10.12 Sierra.

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.3 (Aug 5, 2016)

  • Fixed a bug where dragging files to the Trash failed.

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.2 (Jul 11, 2016)

  • HoudahSpot now remembers your preference to have the toolbar hidden
  • Text preview now remembers font size preference
  • Text preview occasionally failed to show file content

New in HoudahSpot 4.2.1 (May 24, 2016)

  • Quick Look preview refreshes when switching between tabs
  • Fixed a crash on revealing the info or preview pane

New in HoudahSpot 4.2 (May 9, 2016)

  • Text preview loads much faster
  • Grid view shows Finder tag colors next to file names
  • Grid view wraps long file names over two lines
  • File name and path filters now accept the * as wildcard to match any number of characters
  • File tagging shows which tags are applied to all or only to some of the selected files
  • Fixed a bug that prevented disabled search criteria from being saved to templates
  • Fixed a bug that prevented search for phrases containing double quotes

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.8 (Apr 8, 2016)

  • Fixes a few cosmetic bugs.

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.7 (Mar 25, 2016)

  • Works around an issue which caused text preview to fail for some Microsoft Word files
  • Searches for spreadsheet files now also finds Microsoft Excel .xlsb files

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.6 (Mar 9, 2016)

  • Fixes a crashing bug introduced by HoudahSpot 4.1.5.

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.5 (Mar 8, 2016)

  • Added a new sample template. “Misplaced Music Files” finds music files outside the Music folder
  • It is now possible to use up/down arrow keys to select a template in the HoudahSpot search bar
  • Uses the latest version of the Sparkle app update. This includes security fixes.

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.4 (Feb 9, 2016)

  • It is now possible to search for text within Text Preview. Simply press command-F
  • The keyboard shortcut to put the focus on the search field has changed to command-option-F
  • HoudahSpot prevents accidentally copying a folder to a subfolder of that same folder
  • Fixes a bug that prevented excluding certain folders from searches

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.3 (Jan 14, 2016)

  • Fixes a bug that could prevent HoudahSpot from quitting
  • Restores German and French localization of the context menu
  • Fixes a bug that could prevent Text Preview from loading document content

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.2 (Dec 2, 2015)

  • Fixes a bug that could cause a crash when switching to grid view
  • Fixes a bug that could cause a crash when grouping search criteria

New in HoudahSpot 4.1.1 (Nov 16, 2015)

  • Works around a bug that prevented opening files using Microsoft Word 15.

New in HoudahSpot 4.1 (Nov 12, 2015)

  • HoudahSpot searches can now be exported as Finder Smart Folders
  • You can now temporarily disable individual search criteria. This is particularly useful in combination with templates: have different criteria preconfigured, enable as needed
  • You can now search for the asterisk character by entering \*. Without the backslash, the asterisk is used as wildcard to match any number of characters.
  • Text preview now has arrow buttons to navigate between highlighted matches
  • Grid view now shows full names and additional information on hover
  • “Copy as Tab Delimited” now includes column headers
  • Added more options when searching by file extension or kind
  • Added a sample template that searches for HD video files
  • Added French localization. Disponible en version française

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.10 (Aug 26, 2015)

  • Search results can now be saved as tab delimited text files
  • The quick search field now understands a wider variety of date formats
  • Addresses minor compatibility issues with the beta version of OS X El Capitan
  • Fixes a bug that could cause a crash on closing windows or tabs

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.9 (Jul 9, 2015)

  • The search field can now find files that have no value for a given metadata attribute. For example, images with no latitude information: kind:image NOT latitude:*
  • Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot 4.0.8 failed to show file sizes

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.8 (Jul 6, 2015)

  • “File extension” can now be added as a column in search results
  • HoudahSpot now suggests you save your preferred setup of criteria, locations, columns, etc. as default for new searches
  • Fixes a bug where keyboard shortcuts for templates in the search bar did not update

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.7 (Jun 15, 2015)

  • The Preview pane now distinguishes between interaction with the preview and drag-and-drop
  • HoudahSpot can find files in folders not indexed by Spotlight. The folders need to be explicitly listed in the Locations pane
  • Copy as tab delimited could include extra columns
  • Fixes a crash when when rearranging tabs
  • Fixes a crash when dragging from the Info pane to the Refine pane

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.6 (May 11, 2015)

  • HoudahSpot now shows a progress bar when tagging a large number of files
  • Larger drop-down menus for Kind, Content Type, Keywords and Tags criteria
  • Templates are now listed in the same order as they are in Finder
  • The results grid view can now be zoomed using a pinch gesture
  • Right-clicking a file in grid view now selects the file
  • Folders can now be dragged from the file path at the bottom of the window to other applications
  • Fixes a bug that could prevent searches from being saved as files or templates

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.5 (Apr 10, 2015)

  • Adds option to show relative dates in the search results list
  • Adds Apple Script commands to set view options
  • Fixes an issue where the grid view showed file previews in icon mode
  • Fixes a potential crash when nesting search criteria in a group

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.4 (Mar 24, 2015)

  • German localization: “HoudahSpot spricht jetzt Deutsch”
  • Fixes a bug with handling spaces in searches from LaunchBar Search Templates
  • Works around a bug that prevents pasting multiple file names to some applications including Word 2011 and TextWrangler
  • Works around a bug that prevents opening files using the latest Microsoft Word 2016 preview version

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.3 (Feb 27, 2015)

  • Fixes a bug that could cause excessive CPU usage

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.2 (Feb 24, 2015)

  • Files can now be selected by dragging across the list of results
  • Improves the performance of loading value lists in criteria
  • Improves the performance of auto-completion in the tagging window
  • Tabs can now be moved to a different window by drag and drop onto the target window
  • Adds lower values to the search results limit option
  • Fixes a bug where opening alias files failed
  • Fixes a bug where the scroll bar in grid view did not display correctly

New in HoudahSpot 4.0.1 (Feb 14, 2015)

  • Adds options to search by dates within a past number of minutes or hours
  • Adds menu items and keyboard shortcuts to switch between tabs
  • Fixes a few minor bugs
  • A migration tool to convert HoudahSpot 3.x searches is now available from the Houdah Software support forums

New in HoudahSpot 4.0 (Feb 10, 2015)

  • Quick search field: start a search by typing just a few words
  • Improved criteria editor: set up and combine search criteria faster than ever before
  • Snippets: save sets of frequently used search criteria
  • Info panel: shows concise information on your files
  • Filters: reduce the number of results shown by selecting values in the Info panel
  • Quick Look and text previews within the main window
  • Sidebar: provides quick access to templates, snippets and tags
  • Tabs: our most requested feature

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.8 (Jan 8, 2015)

  • Bug fix: "None" group - Fixes a bug where search could fail when using a "None" group.

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.7 (Jan 5, 2015)

  • Enhancement: Privacy preferences - HoudahSpot preferences now allow you to check if HoudahSpot has access to calendar events, reminders and contacts
  • Bug fix: Excessive CPU usage - Reverts a change which could cause excessive CPU usage by HoudahSpotHelper and WindowManager
  • Bug fix: Sort indicator - The sort indicators in the results list are now drawn correctly on OS X Yosemite

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.6 (Nov 27, 2014)

  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot templates & tagging tray - Fixes a crash when temporarily disabling the tray

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.5 (Oct 18, 2014)

  • Enhancement: Yosemite - Compatibility fixes for Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.4 (Oct 10, 2014)

  • Bug fix: Performance:
  • Fixes a bug which slowed loading of search results. Thank you, Erik!

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.3 (Sep 15, 2014)

  • New feature: Tag Mail messages - Tag mail messages by drag-and-drop from Apple Mail.app to the HoudahSpot Tray
  • Bug fix: Search mounted NAS volumes - HoudahSpot failed to search certain Spotlight-indexed network volumes
  • Bug fix: Preferred Template - Selection in the menu to select a preferred template was off by one

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.2 (Aug 26, 2014)

  • Enhancement: Mac OS X Gatekeeper - Updated for compatibility with upcoming changes to Mac OS X Gatekeeper

New in HoudahSpot 3.9.1 (Aug 13, 2014)

  • Enhancement: Sort by name - Sort file names the same way as Finder: respects number values
  • Bug fix: Error message in preferences - No longer shows an error message when changing accent color
  • Bug fix: Search by decimal values - Fixes an issue with searching by decimal value. E.g. "focal length"
  • Bug fix: Crashes - Fixes a few crashing bugs. Thank you for sending in reports

New in HoudahSpot 3.9 (Aug 5, 2014)

  • New feature: File tagging - HoudahSpot can tag found files using both Mavericks / Finder and Open Meta tags
  • New feature: Copy as tab delimited - Search results can now be copied as tab delimited list for use in spreadsheets
  • New feature: Filter to find similar files - The Inspector adds an option to filter results to find similar files
  • New feature: Customizable date formats - The display of date columns can now be customized fro the View menu
  • Enhancement: Auto-completion - Improved auto-completion when searching by type, keywords or tags
  • Enhancement: Text Preview - Font size in Text Preview can now be adjusted
  • Enhancement: Toolbar - New toolbar buttons for Quick Look and Text Preview
  • Enhancement: Help - Documentation available from the Help menu has been updated

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.7 (Mar 31, 2014)

  • Fixed various bugs.

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.6 (Mar 13, 2014)

  • Bug fix: Save as template - HoudahSpot crashed after saving a search as template

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.5 (Mar 10, 2014)

  • New feature: Display Finder label colors as colored rows:
  • Added a hidden preference to choose between colored dots or row colors to represent Finder labels. See forums for details
  • New feature: New keyboard shortcuts:
  • Command-Up Arrow reveals selected files in the Finder. Command-Down Arrow opens files
  • Enhancement: Cancel file rename:
  • File renaming can now be aborted by hitting the Escape key or clicking outside the editing field
  • Bug fix: Duplicate instances of HoudahSpot Helper:
  • Migration of the HoudahSpot Helper login item could leave 2 instances of the helper running
  • Bug fix: Crash when disabling the Tray:
  • Fixed a bug which crashed HoudahSpot Helper on temporary disabling of the Tray

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.4 (Feb 17, 2014)

  • New feature: Save As Preferred Template:
  • Configure the default search document by saving the current search as preferred template
  • Enhancement: HoudahSpot Helper:
  • Improves handling of automatic launch of the HoudahSpot Helper application
  • Enhancement: HoudahSpot Tray:
  • Performance improvements to the HoudahSpot Tray
  • Bug fix: Rare crashes:
  • Fixed bugs discovered with the help of user-submitted crash reports. Thank you!

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.3 (Jan 30, 2014)

  • Enhancement: Date critera - HoudahSpot now supports minute as a unit of time
  • Enhancement: Finder labels - On Mavericks, HoudahSpot now displays Finder label colors as dots
  • Bug fixes: Favorite tags - Editing favorite tags in the Tray could fail
  • Bug fixes: Tray modifier keys - HoudahSpot could show the Tray even if not all required modifier keys were pressed
  • Bug fixes: Empty query - HoudahSpot allowed an empty query to be run producing unexpected results

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.2 (Dec 27, 2013)

  • Bug fixes: Various - Fixes various minor bugs

New in HoudahSpot 3.8.1 (Nov 20, 2013)

  • Enhancement: AppleScript blitzSearch - Enhanced the AppleScript blitzSearch to allow tag searches and custom search scopes
  • Enhancement: Tagging service - The tagging service now returns focus to the previously active application when done
  • Enhancement: Appearance - Refreshed the appearance of the Inspector and Query Inspector windows
  • Bug fix: Various - Fixed a couple of occasional crashes

New in HoudahSpot 3.8 (Oct 29, 2013)

  • New feature: Mavericks tags:
  • On Mac OS X Mavericks, HoudahSpot file tagging updates both Open Meta and Mavericks tags
  • New feature: Tag migration:
  • HoudahSpot includes new tools to find and merge mismatched Mavericks and Open Meta tags
  • New feature: Tag search templates:
  • HoudahSpot 3.8 adds 2 new templates: "Mavericks Tagged Files" and "Open Meta Tagged Files"
  • New feature: File extension criterion:
  • HoudahSpot can now search for files by file name extension
  • Enhancement: Refreshed look:
  • HoudahSpot looks better than ever. Especially on Retina Macs
  • Enhancement: Updated documentation:
  • HoudahSpot Help is now provided as searchable PDF file

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.11 (Sep 4, 2013)

  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - Fixed a bug where BlitzSearch would always search by file name
  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot Tray - The list of recent tags did not always update automatically
  • Bug fix: Preferences - The modifier keys for the HoudahSpot Tray defaulted to all keys

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.10 (Jul 30, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Keyboard Maestro:
  • Fixed a bug where Keyboard Maestro caused HoudahSpot to crash
  • Bug fix: Focus lost:
  • HoudahSpot 3.7.9 could lose window focus shortly after being launched
  • Bug fix: General stability:
  • Fixed several minor bugs which caused occasional crashes
  • Pre-Announcement: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5:
  • HoudahSpot 3.8 will not run on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.9 (Jun 14, 2013)

  • Bug fix: HoudahSpotHelper - Installing the HoudahSpotHelper login item is now more robust
  • Bug fix: Attribute name lookup - HoudahSpot could crash while looking up Spotlight attribute names
  • Enhancement: Mac OS X Mavericks - HoudahSpot now runs on Mac OS X 10.9 Developer Preview
  • Enhancement: Tags & keywords - The "Tags & keywords" criterion now also matches Mavericks tags
  • Pre-Announcement: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 - HoudahSpot 3.8 will not run on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.8 (May 21, 2013)

  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - BlitzSearch would not always bring HoudahSpot to front
  • Bug fix: Registration - HoudahSpot would ignore the license file if launched with a saved search
  • Bug fix: File size criterion - The file size criterion was missing a "less than" operator

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.7 (May 16, 2013)

  • New feature: Search tags & keywords - Added a synthetic criterion to search both system keyword and OpenMeta tag attributes
  • Enhancement: Fit columns - HoudahSpot gently tries to adjust column widths when adding an additional column
  • Enhancement: Retina status item - The HoudahSpot global menu now has a retina icon
  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot Tray - Fixed a bug in the HoudahSpot Tray that could crash HoudahSpotHelper
  • Bug fix: Console logging - Fixed a bug which caused excessive logging to the console

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.6 (Apr 22, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Gatekeeper - HoudahSpotHelper 3.7.5 had a damaged code signature. Gatekeeper would advise against running it
  • Bug fix: File operations - Fixes an bug where HoudahSpot reported an error after a successful file operation (copy, alias, move)

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.5 (Apr 17, 2013)

  • Enhancement: Grid view zoom level - Grid view zoom level is now saved in search documents and templates
  • Enhancement: AppleScript - Grid view zoom level can now be set using AppleScript
  • Bug fix: Inspector window - Fixed a bug where the Inspector would remain empty
  • Bug fix: Mission Control - HoudahSpotHelper no longer appears in Mission Control

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.4 (Apr 12, 2013)

  • New feature: Spotlight-like name search - HoudahSpot can now perform "contains fuzzy" searches on names
  • Bug fix: Find by example - Fixes a bug were HoudahSpot would crash on attempt to "find by example"
  • Bug fix: Find by example - Fixes an occasional crash when a file could not be completed

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.3 (Apr 8, 2013)

  • Bug fix: TextPreview - Fixes bugs where TextPreview could fail to display or crash
  • Bug fix: Move to Trash - Gracefully handles failure to trash locked files
  • Bug fix: Spotlight corruption - Safeguards to prevent crashes when Spotlight index is corrupted

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.2 (Mar 25, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Activation - HoudahSpot 3.7.1 was missing the window need to enter the activation code.

New in HoudahSpot 3.7.1 (Mar 25, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Crash on close of window - HoudahSpot 3.7 could crash upon closing a search window.

New in HoudahSpot 3.7 (Mar 19, 2013)

  • New feature: Rename in place - Rename files right from the list of search results
  • New feature: Autocompletion for kind and tags criteria - HoudahSpot now autocompletes criteria when searching for file kind or tags
  • Enhancement: File operations - Faster file operations: copy, move, alias
  • Enhancement: Context menu - Context menu opens quickly even when many files are selected
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - The BlitzSearch window was not displayed correctly in HoudahSpot 3.6.4

New in HoudahSpot 3.6.4 (Feb 26, 2013)

  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot Helper:
  • Fixes issues with preferences syncing between HoudahSpot and HoudahSpot Helper
  • Note: HoudahSpot Helper is in charge of the global menu, hot keys, BlitzSearch and the Tray window
  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot Tray:
  • Fixes issues with loading recent tags in the HoudahSpot Tray window
  • Bug fix: Finder toolbar:
  • Fixes an issue where HoudahSpot could fail to install itself as Finder toolbar item
  • Bug fix: Multiple screen setups:
  • Fixes an issue with the HoudahSpot Tray on setups with multiple screens

New in HoudahSpot 3.6.3 (Jan 11, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Mac OS X Leopard - Restores compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
  • Bug fix: Results list - Fixes display problems with custom columns in the results list
  • Bug fix: Criteria editor - Fixes a display bug in the criteria editor

New in HoudahSpot 3.6.2 (Jan 5, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Inspector - Fixes a bug where the Inspector window would crash HoudahSpot
  • Bug fix: Column headers - Clicking column headers to change sort order could trigger HoudahSpot to open the selected files
  • Bug fix: Status menu item - Opening templates from the global menu item would not bring HoudahSpot to front

New in HoudahSpot 3.6.1 (Jan 5, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Results list - The results list was not functional for templates where it was not the default presentation
  • Enhancement: Search scopes and exclusions - It is now possible to add several items to the search scopes and exclusions in one go

New in HoudahSpot 3.6.1 (Dec 29, 2012)

  • Bug fix: Results list - The results list was not functional for templates where it was not the default presentation
  • Enhancement: Search scopes and exclusions - It is now possible to add several items to the search scopes and exclusions in one go

New in HoudahSpot 3.6 (Dec 13, 2012)

  • Change: HoudahSpot Tray - The HoudahSpot Tray is now disabled by default
  • Enhancement: Discrete graphics card - HoudahSpot now delays the activation of the discrete graphics card until needed
  • Enhancement: Sandboxed applications - Opening found files using sandboxed applications could fail with previous versions
  • Enhancement: Various - HoudahSpot's inner workings have been modernized for improved speed and reliability

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.8 (Sep 13, 2012)

  • Bug fix: Open Selection with… - The "Open Selection with…" contextual menu item would not always list compatible applications
  • Bug fix: PowerPC support - HoudahSpot Helper and Finder toolbar item were not compatible with PowerPC Macs

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.7 (Aug 7, 2012)

  • Bug fix: Text Preview - Restores the Text Preview feature when running under Mountain Lion

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.6 (Aug 7, 2012)

  • Bug fix: Excessive CPU usage - Reverts a change in 3.5.5 which is suspected to cause excessive CPU usage by HoudahSpotHelper and WindowManager.

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.5 (Jul 18, 2012)

  • Enhancement:
  • HoudahSpot is now signed with a Developer ID certificate for Gatekeeper compatibility

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.4 (May 25, 2012)

  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot Tray - Fixes display glitches with the Tray window
  • Bug fix: Mountain Lion - Improves compatibility with Mountain Lion

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.3 (Apr 11, 2012)

  • Bug fix: Criterion duplication - Fixes a bug where duplicating a criterion would leave the copy ignored by the query
  • Bug fix: Limit… feature - Fixes a bug where the Limit… was not applied correctly

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.2 (Feb 10, 2012)

  • Enhancement: Display number of selected files - Now shows the number of selected files in the results title bar
  • Enhancement: Opening Adobe InDesign files - Works around a bug when opening files with Adobe InDesign
  • Bug fix: Activation - Fixes a bug where upgrade purchase or activation may crash

New in HoudahSpot 3.5.1 (Jan 16, 2012)

  • Bug fix: CPU usage - Fixes a problem with excessive CPU usage by HoudahSpot Helper
  • Bug fix: Leopard compatibility - Restores compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

New in HoudahSpot 3.5 (Jan 10, 2012)

  • New feature: Finder label colors - Show results with their respective Finder label colors
  • New feature: Short path column - Added a new column for a minimal path display
  • Enhancement: Tag search - Improved tag search with a list of known tags
  • Enhancement: Kind search - Improved search by kind with a list of known kinds
  • Bug fix: Text preview - Text preview again works for Apple Pages, Microsoft Word, … documents
  • Bug fix: Tray drop area - The drop area for tagging file would on occasion disappear

New in HoudahSpot 3.4.4 (Oct 24, 2011)

  • Fixes the sort ordering used to limit search results

New in HoudahSpot 3.4.3 (Sep 23, 2011)

  • Bug fix: Mac OS X Leopard - Restores compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard.

New in HoudahSpot 3.4.2 (Sep 22, 2011)

  • Bug fix: Adding criteria - Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot could hang when adding criteria.

New in HoudahSpot 3.4.1 (Aug 11, 2011)

  • Enhancement: Named windows - Improvements in the window naming logic
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - HoudahSpot no longer shows an extra empty window on BlitzSearch
  • Bug fix: Total size - HoudahSpot now reports the correct size of very large folders
  • Bug fix: QuickLook - Restores support for QuickLook on Mac OX X Leopard

New in HoudahSpot 3.4 (Jul 27, 2011)

  • New feature: Named windows - HoudahSpot now names windows based upon the criteria entered
  • New feature: Multiple screen support - The Tray window now supports multiple screen configurations
  • New feature: Search by name - Searches by name now also check alternate names
  • New feature: Mac OS X service - HoudahSpot now exposes a service to open a new window. Use Keyboard System Preferences to assign a keyboard shortcut
  • New feature: PathFinder integration - HoudahSpot adds an option to get file info in PathFinder
  • Enhancement: BlitzSearch window - Options are now remembered across restarts
  • Enhancement: QuickLook window - The QuickLook Preview window may now be closed using the common cmd-W shortcut
  • Enhancement: Mac OS X Lion - HoudahSpot has seen interface enhancements to match the Mac OS X Lion appearance
  • Bug fix: File operations - File operations (copy / move) could hang while handling conflicts

New in HoudahSpot 3.3.1 (Jun 25, 2011)

  • New feature: File path bar
  • Folders may now be dragged from the bottom bar to the "Where…" and "Exclude…" sections of the query pane
  • Enhancement: File path bar
  • Command-option click a folder in the bottom bar to add it to the "Exclude…" sections of the query pane
  • Bug fix: Empty NONE groups
  • HoudahSpot could crash over searches including an empty NONE group

New in HoudahSpot 3.3 (Apr 29, 2011)

  • New feature: Collapsible query pane - The query pane may now be hidden to make more room for the search results.

New in HoudahSpot 3.2 (Mar 4, 2011)

  • New feature: Total sizes - HoudahSpot now computes folder sizes. Faster than the Finder!

New in HoudahSpot 3.1.3 (Feb 19, 2011)

  • Enhancement: Date created column - The Date created column now shows both date and time
  • Bug fix: Various - This version brings over several minor fixes from components shared with Tembo

New in HoudahSpot 3.1.2 (Feb 9, 2011)

  • Enhancement:
  • Tray positioning - The Tray is now smarter about positioning itself when attached to the bottom of the screen
  • Enhancement:
  • Tray sizing - The Tray no longer uses the full height of the screen when attached to the bottom of the screen
  • Enhancement:
  • Tray vs. Dock - The Tray no longer overlaps with the Dock when the Dock is not set to auto-hide
  • Enhancement:
  • Tray hiding - The Tray may now hides faster after the last interaction with it

New in HoudahSpot 3.1.1 (Jan 9, 2011)

  • Bug fix: Various - HoudahSpot 3.1.1 addresses several crashing bugs

New in HoudahSpot 3.1 (Oct 18, 2010)

  • New feature: Search by type and creator codes - HoudahSpot now supports the legacy type and creator codes
  • New feature: Source code text previews - Text preview of source code now bypasses the Spotlight engine
  • New feature: Reveal multiple items - HoudahSpot may now reveal multiple items at once in Finder or PathFinder
  • Enhancement: Selected criterion rows - HoudahSpot now highlights the selected criterion rows

New in HoudahSpot 3.0.4 (Sep 14, 2010)

  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch & tag searches:
  • HoudahSpot could bring up an extra empty window upon launch
  • Bug fix: Template saving:
  • Saving and re-saving templates is now more reliable
  • Bug fix: Font size:
  • Font size adjustment feature was broken

New in HoudahSpot 3.0.3 (Jul 6, 2010)

  • Enhancement: Searching for mails
  • HoudahSpot 3.0.3 adds a template for finding mail messages
  • Enhancement: Dock
  • The Tray no longer overlaps with the Dock
  • Bug fix: Preferences
  • Fixes an issue where HoudahSpot Helper's preferences became out of sync with the main application
  • Bug fix: Tagging multiple files
  • Tagging multiple files should default to only tags shared by all files
  • Bug fix: Login items
  • HoudahSpot failed to add its Helper to the login items

New in HoudahSpot 3.0.2 (Jul 1, 2010)

  • Bug fix: File tagging - Fixes an issue where file tagging did not work on certain systems.

New in HoudahSpot 3.0.1 (Jul 1, 2010)

  • Bug fix: Upgrade store
  • The upgrade store failed to work with "Quit on close of last window" enabled

New in HoudahSpot 3.0 (Jun 30, 2010)

  • New feature: The Tray - The main purpose of the HoudahSpot Tray is to provide access to the file tagging features. The Tray may also list your templates
  • New feature: File tagging - HoudahSpot 3 adds the ability to tag files.
  • Tags are non-hierarchical keywords assigned to files. They serve a similar purpose than folders. The crucial difference being that a file may be assigned several tags and be located by any of them.
  • HoudahSpot's tagging feature is based upon the OpenMeta technology. It is thus compatible with a growing number of third party tagging applications.
  • New feature: Tag searches - The HoudahSpot Tray lists your favorite tags as well as tags recently used by HoudahSpot or another OpenMeta tagging solution.
  • Drag a file to a tag to assign it that tag. Drag a file to the file well to be presented with a window to enter any number of tags.
  • Select tags and double-click to start a search. Hold down the option key while double-clicking to match any of the selected tags.
  • Enhancement: HoudahSpot menu bar item - The behavior of the HoudahSpot menu bar item has been changed slightly.
  • Clicking the menu bar item now reveals the BlitzSearch window.
  • Right-clicking the menu bar item opens an actual menu listing HoudahSpot templates.

New in HoudahSpot 2.7.4 (Jun 7, 2010)

  • Bug fix: HoudahSpot Helper - Under HoudahSpot 2.7.3, HoudahSpot Helper (global menu & shortcuts) failed to launch.

New in HoudahSpot 2.7.3 (Jun 4, 2010)

  • New feature: Find similar files - From within the Inspector, you may now find other files matching the selected properties
  • Bug fix: Preferred Template - Searches created from the preferred template would auto-start under some situations
  • Bug fix: QuickLook - The main window no longer loses focus when activating QuickLook using the space bar
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - Under Mac OS X Leopard, HoudahSpot would not always come to front for a BlitzSearch

New in HoudahSpot 2.7.2 (May 4, 2010)

  • Bug fix: Crash on install - HoudahSpot could crash while copying itself to the Applications folder
  • Bug fix: Crash on opening file - HoudahSpot could crash when a search result was double-clicked
  • Bug fix: Error messages on first launch - HoudahSpot 2.7 and 2.7.1 may display an alert while upgrading templates

New in HoudahSpot 2.7.1 (Apr 28, 2010)

  • Enhancement: Search locations - Upon adding a search location, HoudahSpot now picks a location which is not already covered.
  • Enhancement: Date columns - Modification & creation date columns now also show time.
  • Bug fix: Global shortcuts & menu - HoudahSpot 2.7 failed to install itself as login items when it should have.

New in HoudahSpot 2.7 (Apr 24, 2010)

  • New feature: Any text criterion
  • The any text criterion now also matches text content.
  • New feature: Global shortcuts
  • Global shortcuts may now be enabled independently of the global menu item.
  • New feature: Inspector window
  • Links in the Inspector window are now clickable.
  • Enhancement: Trashing remote files
  • HoudahSpot now offers the option to delete files which it cannot trash.
  • Bug fix: Various
  • HoudahSpot 2.7 includes various bug fixes. It is a recommended update for all users.

New in HoudahSpot 2.6.3 (Feb 1, 2010)

  • Enhancement: Inspector windows - HoudahSpot now remembers which inspectors were open and restores them on launch.
  • Bug fix: Crash with empty "text content" criteria - HoudahSpot could crash when running a search with an empty "text content" criterion.
  • Bug fix: Boolean values - HoudahSpot was unable to restore boolean values (e.g file invisible) from saved files or templates.
  • Bug fix: Result counter - The result counter was off after files were removed from and restored to the searched location.
  • Bug fix: Hot key preferences - The global hot keys are available only when the global menu is enabled.

New in HoudahSpot 2.6.2 (Jan 4, 2010)

  • Enhancement: File size display - On Snow Leopard, HoudahSpot now uses 1000 Bytes = 1 KB.
  • Enhancement: Help book - The Help book as seen some updates and corrections.
  • Bug fix: Column width persistence - Column with is again correctly restored as persisted.
  • Bug fix: Column width in new documents - Column again use up the full width of a new document.

New in HoudahSpot 2.6.1 (Dec 31, 2009)

  • New feature: Automatic install - HoudahSpot suggest to install itself in the Applications folder.
  • Enhancement: Finder toolbar button - The Finder toolbar button has been renamed to show a shorter title.
  • Bug fix: Adding criteria to a group - Clicking the "+" button on a group criterion did not work in HoudahSpot 2.6.
  • Bug fix: Services on Leopard - Integration with third party services was broken under Leopard
  • Bug fix: Column width - Column with is again correctly restored as persisted.
  • Bug fix: Uppercase search strings - Uppercase crteria values could broduce incorrect results on Snow Leopard.

New in HoudahSpot 2.6 (Dec 27, 2009)

  • New Feature: "Add group" toolbar items - HoudahSpot 2.6 adds toolbar buttons for "Add ALL Group", "Add ANY Group" and "Add NONE Group".
  • New Feature: "Search Location" service - A "Search Location in HoudahSpot" service is now provided in the Finder as well as in other applications working with files.
  • New Feature: Narrow down search scope - You may narrow down a search by command-clicking folders in the path control at the bottom of the window.
  • New Feature: Adjustable icon size in grid view - The grid view now has a slider to adjust icon size.
  • New Feature: Contextual menu in grid view - The grid view now provides the same contextual menu as the list view.
  • New Feature: Query Inspector - You may now see the MDQuery string passed to Spotlight.
  • Enhancement: Add criterion behavior - Clicking a "+" button on a criterion row duplicates the current row. This makes it easier than ever to refine a search.
  • Enhancement: Mac OS X services - HoudahSpot 2.6 improves integration with other applications through Mac OS X services. Services are also available for the contextual menus.
  • Enhancement: BlitzSearch services - The BlitzSearch service is now enabled by default under Snow Leopard.
  • Enhancement: Font size - Result list font size is adjustable and preference is persisted.
  • Enhancement: Toolbar icons - HoudahSpot 2.6 features new toolbar and preferences icons by Lars Herrmann.
  • Enhancement: Result item deletion - The keyboard shortcut for item deletion has been changed to match other applications.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.10 (Nov 12, 2009)

  • Upcoming Price Increase - With the release of HoudahSpot 2.6, the price of HoudahSpot will go up. Buy now to get it at the current low price.
  • Enhancement: Support for OpenMeta tags - HoudahSpot 2.5.10 brings enhanced support for OpenMeta tags. HoudahSpot adopts recent changes made to OpenMeta.
  • Bug fix: Inspector - The Inspector window had a bug in HoudahSpot 2.5.9 where it remained blank.
  • Bug fix: Spotlight warning - HoudahSpot 2.5.9 could would warn about a corrupted Spotlight index when set to start immediately upon login.
  • Bug fix: File copy - The warning alert shown when file copy, rename or move hit a problem, was not functional.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.9 (Sep 26, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Ignored criteria on Leopard - HoudahSpot 2.5.9 running on Leopard could ignore criteria and report excess files in search results.
  • Bug fix: Missing files from results - When limiting the search to a fixed number of results, HoudahSpot sometimes listed fewer files than requested.
  • Bug fix: Memory leak - HoudahSpot could leak memory causing its memory consumption to build up over time.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.8 (Sep 20, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Files missing from results - HoudahSpot failed to list files which to Spotlight's knowledge were never opened.
  • Bug fix: Finder toolbar item - HoudahSpot is now able to add a "Search in HoudahSpot" item to the Finder toolbar under both Leopard and Snow Leopard.
  • Bug fix: QuickLook preview - Under Snow Leopard, the QuickLook preview again follows the current selection.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.7 (Sep 2, 2009)

  • Enhancement: Finder toolbar item - HoudahSpot is now able to add a "Search in HoudahSpot" item to the Finder toolbar under Snow Leopard.
  • Enhancement: File deletion - File deletion now uses the same command-backsapce keyboard shortcut as used by the Finder.
  • Bug fix: File operations - Warnings during file copy / move / rename operations can now be correctly acknowledged.
  • Bug fix: Help book - Fixes broken links in the HoudahSpot Help book.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.6 (Jul 6, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Apostrophes - HoudahSpot correctly handles single quote characters entered as search criteria.
  • Bug fix: Apple Script - AppleScript access to result items was broken with the 2.5 release.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.5 (Jun 29, 2009)

  • Snow Leopard compatibility.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.4 (Jun 5, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Global menu item - Fixed a bug where HoudahSpot crashed when activated from the global menu item.
  • Bug fix: AppleScript - Fixed a bug where HoudahSpot crashed when asked to open a new document from AppleScript.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.3 (Jun 5, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Global menu item
  • Fixed a bug where HoudahSpot crashed when activated from the global menu item.
  • Bug fix: AppleScript
  • Fixed a bug where HoudahSpot crashed when asked to open a new document from AppleScript.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5.1 (May 31, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Search by date
  • HoudahSpot 2.5 failed to produce results when searching by exact date.
  • Bug fix: Text Preview
  • HoudahSpot 2.5 did not reliably highlight search strings in "Text Preview".
  • Bug fix: Search string
  • HoudahSpot 2.5 did not reliably pass on search strings when opening document.

New in HoudahSpot 2.5 (May 24, 2009)

  • New feature: Search "any text" criterion - The new "any text" criterion matches all text attributes of files.
  • New feature: Grid view - HoudahSpot now includes an option to show results as a grid of icons.
  • New feature: CoverFlow view - HoudahSpot now includes an option to show results using CoverFlow.
  • New feature: BlitzSearch "any text" attribute - The "any text" criterion is available from BlitzSearch.
  • Enhancement: Preview now works with audio files - QuickLook preview now supports previewing audio files.
  • Bug fix: Files that were never opened were not found - HoudahSpot is now able to find files which have "never" before been opened.
  • Bug fix: Drag and drop - Changes to criteria made via drag and drop were sometimes not accounted for.

New in HoudahSpot 2.4.4 (Feb 16, 2009)

  • Bug fix: Search - In HoudahSpot 2.4.3 some searches produced more results than expected.
  • Bug fix: Finder labels - In HoudahSpot 2.4.3 Finder labels were not displayed correctly.

New in HoudahSpot 2.4.3 (Feb 13, 2009)

  • Enhancement: Year recorded - The "Year recorded" attribute is now displayed with integer formatting.
  • Bug fix: Global menu - In HoudahSpot 2.4.2 the global menu was inoperational on PPC machines.
  • Bug fix: Text preview - HoudahSpot now reliably determines the search string to use in the Text Preview.

New in HoudahSpot 2.4.2 (Feb 11, 2009)

  • Enhancement: Global menu - The global menu now tries to be rightmost: closest to the system clock.
  • Bug fix: Clear result list - The result list was not reliably cleared on stop.
  • Bug fix: Missing files - A workaround for another bug made some files invisble to HoudahSpot.

New in HoudahSpot 2.4.1 (Feb 5, 2009)

  • Enhancement: Get Finder Info - It is now possible to get Finder info for several result items at a time.
  • Enhancement: Open file - It is now possible to open several result items at a time.
  • Enhancement: OpenMeta support - The "Tags" attribute now shows by default in the criteria drop down menu on systems where OpenMeta is used.
  • Bug fix: Text preview - The text to highlight is now determined more reliably from the current search criteria.
  • Bug fix: Global shortcuts - HoudahSpot and its helper process now synchronize changes to global shortcuts more reliably.

New in HoudahSpot 2.4 (Jan 26, 2009)

  • New feature: Text preview - Top user requested feature: text preview with search string highlighting.

New in HoudahSpot 2.3.3 (Jan 5, 2009)

  • Bug fix: License detection - Fixes an issue where the registered license was not detected reliably.

New in HoudahSpot 2.3.2 (Jan 2, 2009)

  • Expired trial periods are reset.
  • Fixed: Some Finder labels were incorrectly named in HoudahSpot.

New in HoudahSpot 2.3.1 (Jan 2, 2009)

  • Trial period - Now comes with a 15-day trial period.
  • File name search - It is now possible to search for file names by words.
  • Various fixes.

New in HoudahSpot 2.3 (Nov 4, 2008)

  • New feature: Finder labels - HoudahSpot 2.3 now displays and queries Finder labels by their name.
  • New feature: Query editing - HoudahSpot 2.3 adds new menu items which allow for criterion and group creation from the menu.
  • New feature: BlitzSearch keyboard shortcuts - The BlitzSearch window may now be controlled using the keyboard only. The command key reveals the new keyboard shortcuts.
  • New feature: BlitzSearch template shortcuts - The BlitzSearch feature now supports the keyboard shortcuts assigned to templates in the main applications.
  • New feature: Accent color - The accent color used in the main and BlitzSearch windows may now be customized within HoudahSpot’s preferences. The default is now blue. The former default was yellow.

New in HoudahSpot 2.2.2 (Aug 1, 2008)

  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch URL scheme - The custom URL scheme was not fully compatible with URLs constructed by LaunchBar's search templates. Plus signs were substituted for spaces.
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - When starting the HoudahSpot application using BlitzSearch, a second empty document was created.
  • Bug fix: Filters - The filtering feature was partially broken in HoudahSpot 2.2 and 2.2.1.
  • Enhancement: Accent color - Added an intructions to the built-in Help on how to change the accent color (yellow) used in the main window as well as in the BlitzSearch window.

New in HoudahSpot 2.2.1 (Jul 27, 2008)

  • Enhancement: Spaces - The BlitzSearch window now shows in all Spaces.
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch URL scheme - The custom URL scheme did not produce the expected results with special characters or spaces in the searchString or templateName parameters.
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch URL scheme - The templateName required you to include the ".hspot" file extension. This is now optional.

New in HoudahSpot 2.2 (Jul 23, 2008)

  • The BlitzSearch feature has been rewritten from scratch! It now presents a much more powerful and flexible interface. You may chose to search in file names, text contents and/or Spotlight comments.
  • You may now specify a template to use for your BlitzSearch query. E.g you may have a template set up to search only specific locations.
  • New: AppleScript support. You may initiate BlitzSearch queries using AppleScript. Moreover AppleScript may access the search results as well as the current selection.
  • New: File filter. The filter predicate is now persisted with documents and templates. Re-open HoudahSpot documents to fin them exactly as they were when saved.
  • New: PathFinder integration. HoudahSpot 2.2 adds a "Reveal in PathFinder" feature.
  • New: Date formats. HoudahSpot now shows date and time for file modifications. Date formats are listed in the HoudahSpot preferences file. Advanced users may want to edit that file. Available formats are shortDate, shortDateTime, longDate and longDateTime.
  • New: Font size. It is now possible to adjust the font size of the results list.
  • Enhancement: Inspector. The Inspector now lists a file's path. You may copy it from there and paste it into other applications.
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch. Formerly BlitzSearch on occasion opened a second blank window. This is fixed.
  • Caveat: Updated AppleScript dictionary. HoudahSpot 2.2 comes with an updated AppleScript dictionary. This unfortunately breaks existing scripts. Please review your scripts for compatibility. Sorry for the inconvenience.

New in HoudahSpot 2.1.5 (Apr 25, 2008)

  • Enhancement: Result sorting - HoudahSpot 2.1.5 adds a menu item that makes sorting results even easier. It is now possible to sort by attributes which are not displayed as columns.
  • Enhancement: Criteria text fields - HoudahSpot 2.1.5 also features larger text entry fields for criteria.
  • Enhancement: BlitzSearch appearance - The BlitzSearch menu item now respects the accent color of the user's choice.
  • Bug fix: Result sorting - HoudahSpot 2.1.5 fixes sorting of multi-valued columns (e.g. Authors).

New in HoudahSpot 2.1.4 (Apr 14, 2008)

  • Bug fix: Filter predicate - Recent versions of HoudahSpot 2 failed to apply the filter predicate.
  • Enhancement: Maximum result count - Upped the maximum allowed result count to 10,000.
  • Enhancement: Accent color selection - HoudahSpot 2.1.4 adds a hidden preference allowing for the accent color to be customized.

New in HoudahSpot 2.1.3 (Mar 20, 2008)

  • Bug fix: Trial period - The trial count was decremented on each change to the query.

New in HoudahSpot 2.1.2 (Mar 13, 2008)

  • Bug fix: Result sorting - HoudahSpot 2.1.1 broke sorting. Sorting can again be controlled by clicking column headers

New in HoudahSpot 2.1.1 (Mar 12, 2008)

  • Enhancement: QuickLook - The preview view now uses the same zoom effect as the QuickLook window in Finder.
  • Enhancement: Preview - The main window keeps the focus when opening the Preview window. You may navigate files using arrow keys.
  • Bug fix: Add columns - Newly added columns immediately show their values. Previously the search had to be restarted.
  • Bug fix: Global shortcuts - Changes to global shortcuts are now always immediate.
  • Bug fix: Show icons in result list - The "Show icons in result list" preference was ignored in HoudahSpot 2.1.
  • Bug fix: Show results immediately - The "Show results immediately" preference was ignored in HoudahSpot 2.1.
  • Bug fix: Global menu - The global HoudahSpot menu takes focus from the frontmost application. Closing the menu properly restores focus.
  • Bug fix: BlitzSearch - Running a BlitzSearch created a stray empty window.

New in HoudahSpot 2.1 (Feb 25, 2008)

  • New feature: BlitzSearch - BlitzSearch lets you start of your search with the same convenience as the standard Spotlight menu. Yet down the road you will find all the power and customizability that exists only in HoudahSpot.
  • New feature: Always-on global menu - The global menu item may now be displayed without HoudahSpot running. This gives you access to the full power of HoudahSpot. Yet you will not have the HoudahSpot icon cluttering your Dock.
  • New feature: Finder toobar item - HoudahSpot may add an icon to the toolbar of Finder windows. With this, searching a specific folder is only a click away.
  • New feature: AppleScript support - You may invoke BlitzSearch using AppleScript:
  • New feature: LaunchBar integration - HoudahSpot 2.1 also integrates with third party products like LaunchBar. Start a search from within LaunchBar. Refine it in HoudahSpot. Manipulate the results using LaunchBar.
  • New feature: Service menu - BlitzSearch is now available from the Services menu in all applications.
  • New feature: Spotlight menu - HoudahSpot 2.1 may work as full replacement for the default Spotlight UI. You will probably want to disable the default Spotlight menu.
  • Enhancement: Column display - HoudahSpot 2.1 correctly displays columns with multiple values. E.g. Authors.
  • Enhancement: Contextual menu - Dramatically improved speed of the contextual menu item.
  • Enhancement: QuickLook preview - The preview window now has the full power of QuickLook.
  • Enhancement: Open with� - You may now freely chose which application to open result items with.
  • Bug fix: Fractional file sizes - Searches for files of sizes less than 1 now works correctly.