smarter OS X smart folder

Question

Smart folders on OS X are nice and all, but you can only access them from the Finder sidebar, and nowhere else (or am I wrong?). A better way would for them to appear as normal folder in the file system, so they are available from anywhere, say cmd line for isntance. Or if you have a smart folder to find movies/music in ~/Download, and add a shortcut to it in ~/movies, you could see your music/movies from Front Row). THe smart folder wouldnt have to be refreshed immediatly, maybe every hours or so from a cron/launchd job.

Any way to do that?

A

Answer 1

You might want to look at http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/01/spotlight-file-system-for-macfuse.html

Answer 2

The ability to see Smart Folders anywhere in the Finder has been available for as long as I remember. When you create a Smart Folder, it asks you where you want to save it, and has a check box option for ALSO adding it to the sidebar, but you don't have to add it to the sidebar, if you don't want to.

For preset Smart Folders already in your sidebar (i.e. All Images, All Movies, All Documents), you can make a copy of these same searches, by clicking on any one of them, and then dragging the Smart Folder icon at the top of its respective window to any place else that you would like to keep it, including the desktop. Note that this makes a copy of that Smart Folder that will auto update exactly like the original Smart Folder. If you create your own Smart Folder (i.e. by saving search criteria), and it is added to the sidebar, you can move it to wherever you want, using the same steps. Note that this will move it, not make a copy, unless you hold down the Option key while dragging it.

By default, Smart Folders are stored here: ~/Library/Searches ( ~ represents your home folder), but there is no harm in moving them to wherever best suits your organizational pattern.

Hope this helps.