Include favorite search attributes in Spotlight menu

Spotlight’s default scope button menu provides only a few of the many predefined search filters available in Mac OS X Leopard. The default choices are Kind, Last opened date, Last modified date, Created date, Name, Contents and Other. If your favorite search attributes aren’t included as default options, you may wish to add them for easier access. Here’s how.

Open the Mac OS X Spotlight window by pressing Command+F. Then click the scope button labeled Type and select Other.

spotlight search attributes

A sheet will slide down revealing over 140 search attributes. Each row includes an In Menu column containing a checkbox. Check the box on your favorites search attributes to include them in the default Spotlight scope button menu.

opening the spotlight window

Command+F → This opens an empty Spotlight window.

Option+Command+Spacebar → This opens a full Spotlight window that filters as you type your search query.

Or open Finder and navigate to File → Find.