Spotlight

Spotlight has no connection with the web.  Only long lost files on the
users computer.  Google supposedly has a free windows program that can
search your hard drive like Apples spotlight, as well as searching the
web.  Maybe so but I don't see why Spotlight was not set up to search
saved web pages also.

People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web, maybe
the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In that
way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why they
will not let you search the content of saved web pages with Spotlight?

"-oo0-GoldTrader-0oo-" <nomads_05@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Spotlight
> 
> Spotlight has no connection with the web.  Only long lost files on the
> users computer.  Google supposedly has a free windows program that can
> search your hard drive like Apples spotlight, as well as searching the
> web.  Maybe so but I don't see why Spotlight was not set up to search
> saved web pages also.
> 
> People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web, maybe
> the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
> additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In that
> way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why they
> will not let you search the content of saved web pages with Spotlight?

that is incorrect. in safari you can save a site or just a single page 
as a "web archive" and spotlight will automatically index it.

In article <1115965290.965271.197370@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
 "-oo0-GoldTrader-0oo-" <nomads_05@yahoo.com> wrote:

> People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web, maybe
> the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
> additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In that
> way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why they
> will not let you search the content of saved web pages with Spotlight?

Wait, do you mean pages that are actually saved as webarchive documents 
to the local drive? Seems to on my machine.

-- 
Goal 2005: Convincing James Hetfield to cover the Strawberry Shortcake
"Are You Berry Berry Happy?" song.

Thanks, you guys are right.  The web archived pages show up in
Spotlight!

Gregory Weston wrote:
> In article <1115965290.965271.197370@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
>  "-oo0-GoldTrader-0oo-" <nomads_05@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web,
maybe
> > the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
> > additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In
that
> > way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why
they
> > will not let you search the content of saved web pages with
Spotlight?
>
> Wait, do you mean pages that are actually saved as webarchive
documents
> to the local drive? Seems to on my machine.
>
> --
> Goal 2005: Convincing James Hetfield to cover the Strawberry
Shortcake
> "Are You Berry Berry Happy?" song.

In article <csma-AA2DF6.01214513052005@news.uswest.net>,
 Oxford <csma@mac.com> wrote:

> "-oo0-GoldTrader-0oo-" <nomads_05@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > Spotlight
> > 
> > Spotlight has no connection with the web.  Only long lost files on the
> > users computer.  Google supposedly has a free windows program that can
> > search your hard drive like Apples spotlight, as well as searching the
> > web.  Maybe so but I don't see why Spotlight was not set up to search
> > saved web pages also.
> > 
> > People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web, maybe
> > the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
> > additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In that
> > way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why they
> > will not let you search the content of saved web pages with Spotlight?
> 
> that is incorrect. in safari you can save a site or just a single page 
> as a "web archive" and spotlight will automatically index it.

It would be nice if it also searched your history, though. It wouldn't 
be that hard for Apple to make Safari keep copies of recently visited 
pages, that Spotlight could index.

-- 
"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply
ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table."
   -- George W. Bush in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 22, 2005

ZnU wrote:
> In article <csma-AA2DF6.01214513052005@news.uswest.net>,
>  Oxford <csma@mac.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>"-oo0-GoldTrader-0oo-" <nomads_05@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Spotlight
>>>
>>>Spotlight has no connection with the web.  Only long lost files on the
>>>users computer.  Google supposedly has a free windows program that can
>>>search your hard drive like Apples spotlight, as well as searching the
>>>web.  Maybe so but I don't see why Spotlight was not set up to search
>>>saved web pages also.
>>>
>>>People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web, maybe
>>>the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
>>>additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In that
>>>way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why they
>>>will not let you search the content of saved web pages with Spotlight?
>>
>>that is incorrect. in safari you can save a site or just a single page 
>>as a "web archive" and spotlight will automatically index it.
> 
> 
> It would be nice if it also searched your history, though. It wouldn't 
> be that hard for Apple to make Safari keep copies of recently visited 
> pages, that Spotlight could index.
> 


Your browser likely already does keep a cache of recently visited pages 
(unless you've shut that off).  Spotlight probably just doesn't look in 
the cache directories - it has a list of built in stuff that it ignores. 
  I don't know if you can force it to look at the cache directories, but 
you could certainly write something to copy that stuff somewhere it 
would look at..



-- 
Tony Lawrence
Unix/Linux/Mac OS X  resources: http://aplawrence.com

In article <1115965290.965271.197370@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
 "-oo0-GoldTrader-0oo-" <nomads_05@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Spotlight
> 
> Spotlight has no connection with the web.  Only long lost files on the
> users computer.  Google supposedly has a free windows program that can
> search your hard drive like Apples spotlight, as well as searching the
> web.  Maybe so but I don't see why Spotlight was not set up to search
> saved web pages also.
> 
> People were probably afraid that if spotlight can search the web, maybe
> the web could search Spotlight.  This is probably why we have to
> additionally save web pages we want to search as pdf files.  In that
> way all of the web links are probably stripped off.  Any ideas why they
> will not let you search the content of saved web pages with Spotlight?

What on earth are you talking about? Spotlight doesn't search the web 
because Google is much better than it. However, if you save websites to 
a local disk, then spotlight indexes them immediately and you *can* 
search through them. (Whether its PDF or not). Moreover, PDFs can have 
links in them, its just that Apple's "Save as PDF" button chooses not to 
do this.

In no way at all could other people search your computer over the 
internet unless you sent them your spotlight indices; even then they 
can't access the files without being given the appropriate permissions.

You can relax now.

-- 
|\/|  /|  |2  |<
mehaase(at)sas(dot)upenn(dot)edu

In article <4MWdnS7GDZegNBnfRVn-rg@taconic.net>,
 Tony Lawrence <foo@pcunix.com> wrote:

> Your browser likely already does keep a cache of recently visited pages 
> (unless you've shut that off).  Spotlight probably just doesn't look in 
> the cache directories - it has a list of built in stuff that it ignores. 
>   I don't know if you can force it to look at the cache directories, but 
> you could certainly write something to copy that stuff somewhere it 
> would look at..

Safari usually stores its cache in ~/Library/Caches/Safari. Both the 
system and user library directories are indexed by default, so the cache 
files should get indexed. Apparently, however, they are not indexed. I 
tried typing the name of a cache file into spotlight and I didn't get 
any results. Even if they were indexed, however, Safari stores its cache 
in a compressed format, so you can't index the contents anyways.

Apple could, of course, write a "handler" for safari cache files, which 
would be a neat idea for a feature to drop directly into safari, since 
spotlight has its own API.

-- 
|\/|  /|  |2  |<
mehaase(at)sas(dot)upenn(dot)edu

Mark Haase wrote:
> In article <4MWdnS7GDZegNBnfRVn-rg@taconic.net>,
>  Tony Lawrence <foo@pcunix.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Your browser likely already does keep a cache of recently visited pages 
>>(unless you've shut that off).  Spotlight probably just doesn't look in 
>>the cache directories - it has a list of built in stuff that it ignores. 
>>  I don't know if you can force it to look at the cache directories, but 
>>you could certainly write something to copy that stuff somewhere it 
>>would look at..
> 
> 
> Safari usually stores its cache in ~/Library/Caches/Safari. Both the 
> system and user library directories are indexed by default, so the cache 
> files should get indexed. Apparently, however, they are not indexed. I 
> tried typing the name of a cache file into spotlight and I didn't get 
> any results. Even if they were indexed, however, Safari stores its cache 
> in a compressed format, so you can't index the contents anyways.
> 
> Apple could, of course, write a "handler" for safari cache files, which 
> would be a neat idea for a feature to drop directly into safari, since 
> spotlight has its own API.
> 

Well, that's how Spotlight works - it has handlers that know how to read 
the files and index them appropriately.  I didn't realize Safari 
compresses its cache, but it makes sense, so if you wanted to copy them 
elsewhere, you'd need to uncompress - assuming that's possible.

Spotlight needs work.. it shouldn't have hard coded exclusions, and it 
should do rudimentary tests to determine files it can index.  Right now, 
it will completely miss an ordinary text file that isn't named 
"correctly" (see http://aplawrence.com/Words2005/2005_05_07.html ).

But that's not a real gripe: it's new, it will get better.  And it's 
useful right now.


-- 
Tony Lawrence
Unix/Linux/Mac OS X  resources: http://aplawrence.com

In article <lcCdnWqKCZ6mixjfRVn-ig@taconic.net>,
 Tony Lawrence <foo@pcunix.com> wrote:
> Spotlight needs work.. it shouldn't have hard coded exclusions, and it 
> should do rudimentary tests to determine files it can index.  Right now, 
> it will completely miss an ordinary text file that isn't named 
> "correctly" (see http://aplawrence.com/Words2005/2005_05_07.html ).

So far the one that has most annoyed me is that it skips files whose 
name starts with ".".  I hope they change it to allow including those.

-- 
--Tim Smith