Houdah Software

How should I use Tembo?

When you start Tembo, a new window opens. Start typing to initiate a search. Use the sidebar to configure the search. Change sort order, time frame, and location.

Results are grouped by type. For each group, Tembo lists the top ten matches according to the sort order set in the sidebar. You may configure which groups are enabled and in what order they are shown from the Preferences window.

How can I see more results?

Click the arrow button on a group header to drill down into that group. Tembo will list up to 2500 matches. Rather than have you scroll through the long list to find the desired result, Tembo provides filters to narrow down the list.

What can I do with search results?

• Double-click a file to open it.
• Hold the option key while double-clicking to send Tembo to the background
• Hit the space bar to get a QuickLook preview of the file
• Control-click or right-click to access the contextual menu

What if the file I am looking for is not in the top 2500 matches?

The best approach to take is to further narrow down the search by entering more information in the search field.

You may also change the sort order using the sidebar next to the grouped results. While the file may not be among the 2500 last modified files, it may be among the 2500 last opened or created files.

From the sidebar you may also narrow the search scope or time frame.

What attributes does Tembo search?

By default, Tembo searches file names and file contents as well as any text attributes indexed by Spotlight.

Tembo supports a minimal query language to let you control which attributes are searched. For this you need to prefix the searched for word with one of the following keywords:

• name: search only file names
• text: search only text contents
• any: search any text attribute but the name and text contents
• tags: search only OpenMeta tags
• whereFrom: search the files' origins

text:Houdah name:Tembo searches for files whose name contains "Tembo" and whose contents includes "Houdah"
whereFrom:iChat text:Tembo searches for iChat transcripts which contain "Tembo"

How does Tembo match text?

Tembo searches for word prefixes. Searching for "Paris" matches "Paris" and "parison", but not "comparison". Searching for "Window" matches "MyWindowClass" and "Broken Window".

You may use the * wildcard to control text matching. A search string of "*paris*" matches "comparison".

Why can't Tembo find that file?

Tembo searches the Spotlight index. Some files and locations are permanently excluded from indexing. You may have excluded further locations using the Privacy tab in Spotlight preferences.

If you wish to locate files which out of Spotlight's reach, we recommend you give Find Any File a try. This excellent tool finds files by name no matter where they are located.

Why can't Tembo see the contents of that file?

Spotlight relies upon importer plug-ins to index files. Application vendors need to provide the importers for the custom file formats they create. It is left up to them to decide what attributes the importers expose to the Spotlight index.

How can I set a keyboard shortcut to activate Tembo?

Tembo provides a "Mac OS X Service" to launch Tembo and open a new window. You may use the Keyboard System Preferences pane to assign a shortcut to this service.

Tembo also provides a "Mac OS X Service" which allows for initiating a Tembo search from the currently selected text.

What are the system requirements for Tembo ?

Tembo runs on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later.
Tembo requires Spotlight to be enabled.