[chrisford]

Hello all -

I'm trying to like smart folders (despite the fact that they seem very slow on a dual 2gHz pm) but I have a problem which I hope one of you can solve.

I have created a "recent documents" folder to make it easier to find commonly modifed docs. I've just set the criteria to:

• Last modified: This week

• Kind: All documents

This works, but the folder will show my music files. As I listen to a lot of music on my mac, this clutters the window with files that are irrelevant to me.

So - can I specify a 'NOT' in smart folders? It seems that (unless I'm being dense) criteria in smart folders are 'AND' by default with no option to set 'OR' so I can't say:

• Last modified: This week

• Kind: Images OR text OR pdfs OR presentations

or

• Last modified: This week

• Kind: Documents NOT music

which is what I want. Anyone have any bright ideas?

(Edit: I know that I can view the files 'grouped by kind' but I'd still like to not see the music at all - not even in collapsed view. Also, my Mac never seems to remember which view I want...)

(Edit again!: I can specify a number of folders I want searched - manually excluding my Music folders - but I still don't be able to say "All folders NOT Music"!)

I hope this make sense btw..!

Thanks
c

[pat++]

I don't think you can do with the User Interface. What you can do is create the Smart Folder with Kind Music, then drag&drop the Smart Folder on TextEdit and change the

kMDItemContentTypeTree = 'public.audio'

to

kMDItemContentTypeTree != 'public.audio'

[pat++]

you can use && for AND and || for OR and -- for NOT to combine search expressions. Hopefully Apple will add this basic stuff in the Finder for 10.4.3... I'm wondering why it's not yet there...

[pat++]

Actually I just noticed there is a way to specify the query directly in the Finder, just add a 'Raw Query'. No need to use TextEdit.

[chrisford]

Pat++

Many thanks for that - it worked perfectly!

I appreciate your help.

c

[monkeybrain]

On a related question, I've tried creating a similar Smart Folder but it gets cluttered with files that have completely crazy modification and creation dates (for some reason they have dates like 1928, 2034). Since a few of them are .docs, I guess it's a typical silly Microsoft thing. Anyway, is there a way to change the creation dates of these files?