HoudahSpot 5 - Release Notes

MacOS 10.15 Catalina Warning

MacOS 10.15 Catalina bans third-party applications from searching the Mail.app Spotlight index. On macOS Catalina, HoudahSpot will thus no longer be able to find your Apple Mail messages.

If you rely on HoudahSpot to search your mail messages, we recommend that you voice your concerns through Apple's Feedback Assistant. Request that they give third-party applications access to searching all of "Core Spotlight" where the index of Mail messages now lives.

Tips & Tricks blog

Latest HoudahSpot posts on the Houdah Tips & Tricks blog:

HoudahSpot 5.1.7

Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot can hang when set to show file labels and tags
Fixes a bug where the download of the HoudahSpot 6.0 upgrade fails
HoudahSpot 6.0 is a paid upgrade

HoudahSpot 5.1.6

Prepare for macOS 11 Big Sur

HoudahSpot 5.1.5

Addresses a compatibility with the Dropshare app
Fixes a problem with configuring keyboard shortcuts for assigning Finder tags

HoudahSpot 5.1.4

Fixes a crash on launch when running on macOS 11 Big Sur beta

It will take a lot more work to update HoudahSpot for macOS 11 Big Sur. The next major version is currently distributed as developer preview or beta. We cannot currently recommend you install this pre-release software on computers you need to rely on.

HoudahSpot 5.1.3

Fixes known issues and one crashing bug

HoudahSpot 5.1.2

Fixes an bug where the Search→Add Criterion menu items failed to function

HoudahSpot 5.1.1

Multiple searches created from the same template now have names that allow telling the windows/tabs apart
Fixes an issue where HoudahSpot failed to open a new window when clicking the Dock icon
Works around a crashing bug when closing windows on macOS 10.13

HoudahSpot 5.1

Enhanced Quick Look Preview: Quick Look Preview of as XMP sidecar now shows the actual image file
Enhanced Quick Look Preview: Quick Look Preview of a DEVONthink item now shows the cataloged file
Use Templates from Finder: The HoudahSpot Finder toolbar item now gives direct access to HoudahSpot search templates
Simplified Chinese: Improved support for searches using Simplified Chinese
Re-save Templates: When saving a search created from a template, HoudahSpot now suggests updating the original template
New Keyboard Shortcuts: You can now set custom keyboard shortcuts to start a HoudahSpot search from Finder or bring HoudahSpot to the front
Improved File Tagging Control: You can now click a recently used tag to add it to the files' tags
Text Preview in Dark Mode: Text matches are now highlighted with colors that provide better contrast in dark mode
Read more…

HoudahSpot 5.0.11

File tagging from the context menu now also works when opening the context menu without releasing the mouse button
Fixes an issue where some menu items failed to work in fullscreen mode
Adds an option during activation to save your license to 1Password 7

HoudahSpot 5.0.10

Updated for macOS 10.15 Catalina
Adds support for the version of ForkLift distributed via SetApp
Fixes a rare crash when using snippets

HoudahSpot 5.0.9

HoudahSpot now scrolls to the selected files after sorting search results
Fixes an issue where loading and sorting search results were slower than expected
Fixes an issue where previews in grid mode appeared washed out
Fixes a rare crash when printing search results

HoudahSpot 5.0.8

Templates and saved searches now open with the grid view set to the previously saved zoom level
When searching DEVONthink databases, HoudahSpot now suggests possible "Document Kind" values

HoudahSpot 5.0.7

In preparation for macOS 10.15 Catalina, HoudahSpot recently started using the new "hardened runtime". Unfortunately, this broke things that went unnoticed during testing.
"Search current Finder window" could fail to access the path of the Finder window
Fixes a bug that prevented Text Preview from reading some third-party file formats
Fixes a crash in HoudahSpot > Preferences > Extensions

HoudahSpot 5.0.6

The Alfred workflow is now compatible with the Alfred 4 application
Fixes a bug that caused the trick outlined in the “Find Images With No GPS Coordinates” blog post to fail
Fixes a bug that prevented HoudahSpot from using old 32-bit Spotlight importer plug-ins
Works around a bug where the system erroneously reports that HoudahSpot has been granted access to photos

HoudahSpot 5.0.5

Integration with the Fork Lift application. Read more…
Adds a keyboard shortcut to tag files: control-command-T
Allows for Apple Script to start a search by names
Fixes a crash when tagging files using the MacBook Touch Bar
Fixes a couple of minor bugs

HoudahSpot 5.0.4

Improves auto-completion of search criteria values. E.g. known tag names
The purple file label color is now a better match for macOS 10.14 Mojave
Fixes a crash in Text Preview
Fixes a crash when using Snippets on macOS 10.13 High Sierra

HoudahSpot 5.0.3

Improves performance of Text Preview when working with large files and non-latin characters
Fixes a rare crash in Text Preview
Fixes a bug where templates could not be loaded from Apple Script commands
Fixes a bug where arrow buttons in Text Preview did not show

HoudahSpot 5.0.2

Fixes a bug where the View > Arrange By > Kind menu item was not shown
Fixes a bug where the HoudahSpot LaunchBar action could fail over non-latin characters
Fixes a bug where searches by date did not work from the main search field

HoudahSpot 5.0.1

Fixes a bug in the LaunchBar action. Install the updated action from HoudahSpot > Preferences > Extensions
Fixes a bug where HoudahSpot failed to determine the folder of the current Finder window
Improves the performance of Text Preview on large files

HoudahSpot 5.0

Smart Text Preview: Focus on paragraphs that match your search
Arranged Results: Group search results by date, size, kind, or application
Recent Attributes: HoudahSpot remembers recently used search attributes and result columns
Recent Values: HoudahSpot remembers recently used file extensions, tags, and file types
Customizable Search Field: Option to search by name, text content, or any text
Improved Date Searches: Search for files by dates in a given month or year
Enhanced Grid View: See pertinent file info right next to icon or thumbnail
Regular Expression Filtering: Filter search results by name, path, parent folders, etc.
Faster File Tagging: Custom keyboard shortcuts, favorite, and recent tags
Templates Menu: Organize your search templates into folders and submenus
Compact Mode: Shrink the HoudahSpot window. Make room for easy drag-and-drop to other applications
Vertical Layout: See details and previews below search results. Save screen space
Fewer Windows: Reset a search. Start over with a new search in the current window
Dark Mode: HoudahSpot also looks good in black
Touch Bar: Access common functions from the comfort of your MacBook Pro keyboard
Finder Extension: Summon HoudahSpot from the Finder toolbar
Quick Action: Open HoudahSpot from the context menu on folders in Finder
Printing: Print search results as lists or contact sheet
Much more: Many refinements make HoudahSpot more efficient than ever

Paid Upgrade

HoudahSpot 5.0 is a paid upgrade from previous versions.

The trial version will load your current license file and offer you the option to purchase an upgrade.
Licenses purchased on or after October 1, 2018 qualify for a free upgrade.