For those of us who have shifted from folder hierarchies to search as our primary method of “filing,” Spotlight has become a way of life. And where Spotlight falls short, HoudahSpot steps in and fills the gaps. I’ve said it enough that it sounds cliché to me, but HoudahSpot really is steroids for Spotlight on macOS.

The latest version of HoudahSpot is a huge update with a ton of new features. Some highlights include:

  • Folding Text Preview — search results can focus on specific paragraphs that match
  • Arranged Results — group search results by date, size, kind, or application
  • Recent Attributes and Values — HoudahSpot remembers recently used search attributes and result columns, as well as things like file extensions, tags, and types
  • Regular Expressions — filter search results by name, path, parent folders, etc.
  • Faster File Tagging — with custom keyboard shortcuts, favorite and recent tags

HoudahSpot can even work directly with Default Folder X (if you have it installed), sending results directly to open and save dialogs.

HoudahSpot 5 is available now for $34 US ($52 for a family license). If you want to make more use of search in your daily computer usage, check it out!