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EasyFind Versus Find Any File

J

JoelBC

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 16, 2012
1,057
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I am tired of Finder's less than friendly approach / results for finding remnant files from deleted applications in the ~/Library folder and sub-folders. Finder misses a ton of stuff!!

I have read that EasyFind and Find Any File seem to be the preferred options for a number of reasons including neither relies on the Spotlight index of files.

I would appreciate comments / recommendations / thoughts on EasyFind versus Find Any File vs other possibilities.

Thank you.
 
@BrianBaughn , all good and fair question.

I have already installed both and am undecided between the two and running comparative searches.

I like EasyFind because of the 1 window, the use of wildcards and its simplicity.

I like Find Any File because of the more robust feature set, the ability to save searches, its continuing development and its speed.

The two are very close and similar in my view and would like the input of others who have used either or both for an extended period.

Trust that helps and makes sense.
 
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I like EasyFind for "Location - Active Finder Windows"
For remnant files in ~/Library I usually use find from Terminal:
Code: 
find ~/Library -iname '*google*'
 
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Maybe its more of a personal preference but I have been happily using FindAnyFile and the developer seems to care about it. EasyFind seems like a forgotten side project. In the end pick up what you like.
 
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@MacBH928 appreciate the input.

I will add that I did e-mail EasyFind to ask a technical question earlier today -- a Saturday -- and got a response with 5 hours! I thought that was impressive.
 
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@bogdanw , appreciated, looks very promising.

Quick follow ups, i) does it scan every folder and subfolder (i.e., ~/Library) and files and ii) does it rely on the Spotlight index?

Thank you.
 
OP wrote:
"I have read that EasyFind and Find Any File seem to be the preferred options for a number of reasons including neither relies on the Spotlight index of files"

The answer is easy.
Keep and use BOTH of them.

EasyFind is better for some things.
Find Any File is better for others.

I have disabled Spotlight immediately on all my Macs since the first time it was introduced years ago.
I don't miss it at all.
 
@Fishrrman appreciate the insight.

I could / would consider that but I do use Spotlight to launch apps, do quick math calculations, and a few other tasks.

What, if anything, do you use in its place for these types of actions?

Thank you.
 
I've never used spotlight to launch an app.
I don't even use Apple's "Launchpad".

I put my entire "Applications" folder in the dock. Set it up to view "as a list".
Put my "Utilities" folder into it, too.

Calculations?
I have the little Calculator app in the dock.
 
I've been an EasyFind user for a while, and it has worked well for me. I prefer the simple, single window interface.

I also use it for the task the OP sets out -- look for files associated with an app I trial and decide not to keep.

As part of a side project of small utilities that are free to use, I wouldn't expect it to be frequently updated. The only bug I've run into is where it would fail to remember its window settings, but reverting to an earlier vision didn't come with any palpable penalty.

It's also efficient enough so that searching the entire drive with a "." to capture every file won't cause it to choke, and crash, though it does take some time to scan the directory.
 
I have been using EasyFind for years. I like that you can select the top level directory to start searching from, it allows you to sort the search results, and select the drives you want to search. I never index my mac, EasyFind is so much faster. It will even search within compressed .zip files.
 
I have been using Find Any File for a couple of years, and it has been flawless. I had a question when I first start using it, and the developer (Thomas Tempelmann) responded quickly and gave me helpful advice.
 
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JoelBC said:
I could / would consider that but I do use Spotlight to launch apps, do quick math calculations, and a few other tasks.

What, if anything, do you use in its place for these types of actions?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I have switched to Raycast. The main product is free, and they offer a Pro version that adds sync, unlimited clipboard history, AI, and some minor goodies. My referral links* (ref, ref) will provide a free month of Pro for signing up. Differences between free and pro.

The Raycast calculator is far better than Spotlight. I use it almost daily for scheduling. It recognizes "2h45m" as a duration, for instance. You can see a list of all calculator features here.

Lots of Mac users have praised Alfred but I've never used it. Raycast has a compare page here. Alfred uses workflows, which appear more time consuming to set up, versus Raycast extensions. The Raycast extension store (extensions are free) has a lot of useful tools for me personally. You can browse the store on web before installing Raycast. I'm working on an extension for some HTML tools myself, any user can build extensions.

*I subscribe to Raycast Pro, and if you use my referrals, I will also receive a free month. I have ten total referrals, DM me if these two get used. I am not an affiliate with Raycast past being a Pro subscriber. I simply love it!
 
I really like FindAnyFile. Historically the best ever search engine on Mac OSX was in Panther. Sadly it was replaced by Stoplight in Tiger.

FindAnyFile closely resembles the Panther Search engine (or perhaps Panther copied FAF) and joy of joy it works perfectly with Spotlight completely disabled.

Just got my new M4 mini and FAF was the first app I added.
 
OldMacs4Me said:
I really like FindAnyFile. Historically the best ever search engine on Mac OSX was in Panther. Sadly it was replaced by Stoplight in Tiger.

FindAnyFile closely resembles the Panther Search engine (or perhaps Panther copied FAF) and joy of joy it works perfectly with Spotlight completely disabled.

Just got my new M4 mini and FAF was the first app I added.
Click to expand...

why does it work better if spotlight is disabled?
 
mansplains said:
I have switched to Raycast. The main product is free, and they offer a Pro version that adds sync, unlimited clipboard history, AI, and some minor goodies. My referral links* (ref, ref) will provide a free month of Pro for signing up. Differences between free and pro.

The Raycast calculator is far better than Spotlight. I use it almost daily for scheduling. It recognizes "2h45m" as a duration, for instance. You can see a list of all calculator features here.

Lots of Mac users have praised Alfred but I've never used it. Raycast has a compare page here. Alfred uses workflows, which appear more time consuming to set up, versus Raycast extensions. The Raycast extension store (extensions are free) has a lot of useful tools for me personally. You can browse the store on web before installing Raycast. I'm working on an extension for some HTML tools myself, any user can build extensions.

*I subscribe to Raycast Pro, and if you use my referrals, I will also receive a free month. I have ten total referrals, DM me if these two get used. I am not an affiliate with Raycast past being a Pro subscriber. I simply love it!
Click to expand...

the problem with raycast is that you have to do it in 3 steps, 1) launch raycast , 2) launch file search cmd+3 , 3)search

spotlight is just 2 step : 1) launch spotlight 2) search

For something that I do so frequently it does make a difference.
 
MacBH928 said:
the problem with raycast is that you have to do it in 3 steps, 1) launch raycast , 2) launch file search cmd+3 , 3)search

spotlight is just 2 step : 1) launch spotlight 2) search

For something that I do so frequently it does make a difference.
Click to expand...
The difference is that Spotlight may not bring your files up first, as web results are shown first for me. In Raycast, you cmd+space, type “fs” and hit return, and all results are files. There’s no web etc.

I personally don’t use launchers for files as often as the other much more useful features they have to offer. Spotlight is still mapped to F4 on Apple Keyboards, I can alternate.
 
MacBH928 said:
why does it work better if spotlight is disabled?
Click to expand...
FAF does it's job perfectly whether or not Spotlight is enabled. FAF provides a powerful and very well designed search engine.

If you prefer Spotlight by all means use it to your hearts content. Who knows what you may find? Personally trying to fine tune Spotlight to eliminate all the things I'm not looking for is more work that it's worth, so I disable Spotlight entirely.
 
Last edited:
gregmac19 said:
I have been using Find Any File for a couple of years, and it has been flawless. I had a question when I first start using it, and the developer (Thomas Tempelmann) responded quickly and gave me helpful advice.
Click to expand...

Agreed and appreciated. I asked him a few questions and he responded very quickly!
 
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mansplains said:
I have switched to Raycast. The main product is free, and they offer a Pro version that adds sync, unlimited clipboard history, AI, and some minor goodies. My referral links* (ref, ref) will provide a free month of Pro for signing up. Differences between free and pro.

The Raycast calculator is far better than Spotlight. I use it almost daily for scheduling. It recognizes "2h45m" as a duration, for instance. You can see a list of all calculator features here.

Lots of Mac users have praised Alfred but I've never used it. Raycast has a compare page here. Alfred uses workflows, which appear more time consuming to set up, versus Raycast extensions. The Raycast extension store (extensions are free) has a lot of useful tools for me personally. You can browse the store on web before installing Raycast. I'm working on an extension for some HTML tools myself, any user can build extensions.

*I subscribe to Raycast Pro, and if you use my referrals, I will also receive a free month. I have ten total referrals, DM me if these two get used. I am not an affiliate with Raycast past being a Pro subscriber. I simply love it!
Click to expand...

@mansplains appreciated.

I have done a deep dive into Alfred versus Raycast and both have their pros and cons. There is no clear choice.

I will note thatch problem with both is that they rely on Spotlight search index which i) can break (mine is broken now) and ii) excludes certain folders and files which means the search is not thorough. Neither are therefore suitable for my task though Alfred does have a Workflow that searches the ~/Library folder.
 
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