Super-fast alternative to Spotlight

If you thought that Spotlight indexed absolutely everything there is to index on your Mac then think again. Applications like FoxTrot Personal Search go way beyond the norm.

FoxTrot indexes files using both their metadata and content and then allows you to narrow down searches using categories suggested based on the information found, which is pretty neat. If FoxTrot brings up a deluge of results, you can use a slider to narrow down searches and display the most relevant ones first. If you’re searching for a word within a document, FoxTrot Personal Search highlights the terms in a preview of the document.

In terms of range, FoxTrot can handle just about any file from PDFs to QuickTime movies and Mp3 files. What’s really impressive about FoxTrot Personal Search however is quite simply the speed. FoxTrot seems markedly quicker than Spotlight which is saying something. However, if you activate the ‘Search as you type’ option in preferences, the speed is somewhat equivalent to Spotlight. However, if you don’t need this option, you’ll be amazed by how quickly FoxTrot produces results when you hit Enter.

The categories suggested by Foxtrot are sometimes odd or inaccurate due to the way it reads metadata and the content of your data but this is a minor drawback.

FoxTrot Personal Search is a remarkably quick search tool for all those that need something a bit more thorough that Spotlight.

FoxTrot 3.1 / 3.1.1 could sometimes fail to launch if no previous version had ever been used on the machine or user account.The indexer could disconnect in some cases when using multiple search criteriae if the last one was left empty.First rapid compatibility validation with Lion Developer Preview; minor known issues:Opening the Quick Look window may fail.A message can appear from time to time when trying to use PowerPC metadata importers, as Lion does not support PowerPC.

Changes

• FoxTrot 3.1 / 3.1.1 could sometimes fail to launch if no previous version had ever been used on the machine or user account.The indexer could disconnect in some cases when using multiple search criteriae if the last one was left empty.First rapid compatibility validation with Lion Developer Preview; minor known issues:Opening the Quick Look window may fail.A message can appear from time to time when trying to use PowerPC metadata importers, as Lion does not support PowerPC.