Searching for files on your Mac shouldn’t be the digital version of a needle in the haystack. But lots of Mac users lose precious minutes a day searching through folders in Finder or waiting for Spotlight to return the right results. That daily frustration multiplies, robbing you of time for your important work and creative projects.
FileMinutes changes this experience completely. This deep, inspiring productivity macOS app changes the way you search, browse and manage files on your computer. So rather than wading through stacks of folders and searching for places to put things, you can point your computer to any file in a few seconds with intelligent commands and simple keyboard shortcuts.
Whether you’re a designer taking care of hundreds of design files, a student organizing research papers, or a business owner with lots of projects, FileMinutes fits into your workflow. The app integrates with Finder, not against it, so it becomes a natural part of your working day – not an obstacle that slows everything down.
Mac is using Finder as the default file manager, however it does come with limitations that delay your workflow. First of all, you have to go through deep folder structures and a lot of clicks and waiting time for folders to open up. Every click is another step away from your starting point, an easy way to get lost.
Also, the Finder’s search feature comes up with far too many poor results. But search for “report,” and you may receive hundreds of files with that word buried somewhere in the content, which can make it more challenging to locate the exact document you’re looking for.
Spotlight does system-wide searching, and that must be useful, but now there’s a new set of problems. Files, emails, contacts, and web suggestions are mushed together in search results. Also, you can’t easily search for things within specific folders using Spotlight, you have to wade through results from your entire system.
Also, neither Finder nor Spotlight will offer you any help unless you remember the precise file names or search terms, and that those terms appear within the file. This is inadequate when you remember where something is supposed to be, but not its name.
FileMinutes gives you the best of both worlds in a seamless experience. It tells the app what people are really doing with their files – by location, project, and context, as well as by name.
FileMinutes doesn’t make you choose between browsing and searching, it lets you do both at once. You can jump to a specific folder and search within it, or get the results of a search and look around where it found them.
The main features of FileMinutes work in concert to speed up file management for you:
~/Projects>report to find all files in your projects folder containing “report”. This razor-focused mindset removes the bad results and gets you results fast.Perhaps FileMinutes’ most impressive feature is the simplicity of its search syntax. Rather than canvassing your entire computer, you need to target specific locations where you know your files reside. This significantly cuts down on search time and eliminates irrelevant decisions.
So, for example, typing ~/Documents>invoice searches only the Documents folder within your home folder for a file containing “invoice”. The tilde (~) is your home directory, and the greater-than (>) is the delimiter between the location and the search term.
FileMinutes gives you two simple but powerful ways to structure searches:
folder>term → Start from a folder and search inside it.term<folder → Start with a search term, then narrow results to a folder.This flexibility means you can search based on where you expect the file to be, or what you’re looking for first.
On top of that, FileMinutes lets you combine search terms with file types or file categories for pinpoint accuracy.
| Search Pattern | What It Does |
|---|---|
| ~/Projects/Website>logo .image | Finds images in the Website project whose names contain “logo” |
| invoice .pdf<downloads | Finds PDFs with “invoice” in the name, then filters them to your Downloads folder. |
FileMinutes also features keyboard shortcuts, so you can navigate quickly and without the mouse.
You can use the arrow keys to move through various sections of the interface, navigating from search results to folders to recent files without touching your mouse. This keyboard-first design keeps your hands in their correct typing position, preserving your workflow momentum and eliminating the transition from mouse to keyboard.
FileMinutes makes file browsing and manipulation from a click-heavy effort into a seamless keyboard-driven task. The up and down keys review your list of files, the left and right arrows explore from folder to folder and, if you must, a subfolder, and so on.
Hitting Enter opens the file you highlighted in its corresponding app, letting you open like you double-click in Finder. But FileMinutes takes this a step further by also providing previews for files that can work without opening up the full application.
The Space bar brings up FileMinutes’ quick preview screen, which lets you view the contents of files without opening them in other apps. This works for images, PDFs, text files, and many other types of files.
Quick preview shaves time off the clock as you wade through multiple files to find the one you want. Rather than having to open applications and then close them afterwards, you can browse through dozens of files at once, until you find what you are looking for.
When you’ve located your target file, FileMinutes offers shortcuts to common actions:
Cmd+C: Copy the file to the clipboardEnter: Opens the file in the default applicationCmd+Enter: Show file in FinderSpace: QuickLookThese keyboard shortcuts mean you do not have to right-click or go to Finder for simple file actions. It all takes place in FileMinutes leaving your workflow free of any disruption.
FileMinutes’ Favorites is a lot like bookmarks for your most essential files and folders. Rather than running down folder hierarchies over and over, you can add them to favorites and access them quickly. This setup is especially good for current projects, reference materials, and your working papers.
Smart favorites management will help you create a daily routine you will stick to. Consider creating favorites for:
FileMinutes has taken the typical routine of looking for and opening files in Finder and doing something with them. Rather, you can perform the majority of file actions right from the search interface, minimizing clicks and workflow disruptions.
When you get the file that you need, Cmd+K will show you the Action List with the common operations. Copy, Open, QuickLook or Show In Finder. This all-in-one approach keeps you focused on your work instead of moving windows around.
Since the app comes with a built-in preview mechanism, you can make sure you have found the correct file before applying an action to it. This is a verification step that ensures that you do not open the wrong document or move a file to the wrong place.
You can preview for many types of files such as:
FileMinutes doesn’t just stop at finding your files. It brings your Finder experience directly into your workflow. With a simple shortcut, you can browse all your open Finder windows and tabs without switching contexts. Press Option + F to see every Finder window/tab and their contents.
From there, managing your windows is effortless. Hit Enter to jump to a selected window or tab, Command + W to close one, or Command + Shift + W to close all of them. It’s a fast, keyboard-driven way to navigate Finder, giving you full control without leaving FileMinutes.
FileMinutes totally beats Finder and Spotlight for looking for specific files. Because Spotlight covers the whole system not just files in the current Finder window, and Finder requires you to manually navigate through the file structure, FileMinutes is a perfect blend of the two.
Here’s how the three methods stack up when it comes to the ability to find a particular document:
| Method | Average Time | Average Clicks |
|---|---|---|
| Finder Navigation | 45-60 seconds | 8-12 |
| Spotlight Search | 15-30 seconds | 3-5 + scrolling |
| FileMinutes | 5-10 seconds | 1 search command |
Far from a mere raw search speedup, FileMinutes lowers the cognitive overhead of file management. No need to remember convoluted folder structures or file names, natural search patterns that correspond to how you think about your files will do the trick.
This cognitive economy adds up over the course of the day. It all adds up to time you avoided while clicking around in search results or manually scrolling through folders instead of focusing on your actual work.
FileMinutes is a nice and light app that doesn’t take up much in the way of system resources. Unlike indexing heavy search tools, FileMinutes performs on-the-fly searches and uses a tiny amount of memory and processor while idle.
The app is lightweight, so it’s not going to pull the brake on your Mac or compete with other applications. You can let FileMinutes run constantly and it won’t slow down the computer.
FileMinutes installs in minutes, with no complicated setup. Download the app from the developer’s website, open it and give the required file system permissions.
In the first week or so of use, begin by marking as favorites a small collection of key folders. Focus on the places you use daily such as your current project folders, your Desktop, Downloads and Documents folders are good places to start.
Experiment with search commands gradually. Start with simple folder searches like ~/Desktop>filename and gradually add more complex patterns to your workflow. This will help you gain confidence with the interface and discover what features are most useful for you in your workflow.
FileMinutes lets you set things up to match your preferences:
FileMinutes is different from popular Mac productivity apps like Raycast, Alfred and LaunchBar, which include their own file search features. These tools offer many capabilities like launching applications, executing workflows, web searches, and more.
FileMinutes specializes in file management with its complete interface, plus deeper searches and file-specific actions.
Some Mac users experiment with third-party search tools like HoudahSpot or Find My Files. These have been developed to support general and powerful search, but require learning complex interfaces or query languages.
FileMinutes is a mix of power and simplicity. The syntax is easy to understand, yet flexible enough for power users. That’s a way that the app remains beginner friendly while taking care of its power users.
Unlike other search apps, FileMinutes is a natural match for macOS and Finder. This means there’s less moving around between applications (less “context switching”) and fewer interruptions in workflow between other applications that work independently of the system’s file management structure.
Seasoned FileMinutes users create search habits that change the way they organize their files and access them. These sequences are nothing more than collections of favorites, search commands and keyboard shortcut combinations.
For instance, a graphic designer could set a workflow that begins from a favorite client folder, searches through the right project types through executing specific commands, and previews if the right files actually are the right ones before they can be opened through design applications.
FileMinutes is happiest if your files are organized in a sensible order. Try keeping work in folders of your own making that map to your browsing tendencies.
Managing projects and files through the use of a folder structure such as /Projects/[ClientName]/[Project] allows you to perform searches with terms such as ~/Projects/Apple>logo .image and you can find all logo concepts for projects related to Apple. This structure allows FileMinutes to take advantage of targeted search.
If FileMinutes is returning query results that appear strange according to your expectations, or if it seems to be missing files that you know should match your query, double-check these common problems:
FileMinutes can be slow once in a while, especially if you’re searching in folders with lots of files, or if your Mac is short on free memory. Try these solutions:
Can I trust FileMinutes with my sensitive files? Yes. FileMinutes does not track or collect any data on how you use the app, and your files remain completely local and private unless you explicitly choose to share them. You can browse and search your files with full peace of mind.
Does FileMinutes search inside files or compressed archives? FileMinutes lets you search by file name, type, and the contents of certain file types. Currently, it doesn’t support searching inside compressed archives, but this feature is planned for a future release.
Does FileMinutes integrate with cloud storage providers? FileMinutes searches any folders or files that are part of your Mac’s file system and indexed by Spotlight, which normally includes synchronized cloud storage folders for services such as iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. The app is capable of searching files that have been locally synced, but can’t search cloud-only files that you haven’t downloaded onto your Mac.
How large is the footprint of FileMinutes? FileMinutes doesn’t consume much hard drive space, using no more than 20MB, usually much less, for the application itself. Unlike some search tools, the app does not generate its own index files, instead relying on macOS’s spotlight index to perform searches on-demand.
Can I use FileMinutes on more than one Mac? FileMinutes needs to be installed on each Mac independently, and it won’t sync your favorites and preferences automatically across computers. You will have to create favorites and customize settings on every Mac you use the app on.
Can we replace Finder with FileMinutes? Not at all, FileMinutes is not meant as a replacement for Finder, but as an add-on to Finder. FileMinutes is for quick searching and quick file actions, but Finder is good for more complicated file operations, getting detailed file info and doing system administration work.
FileMinutes turns the daily battle of finding files on your Mac into a streamlined workflow. Using intelligent search commands, keyboard-driven navigation, and seamless Finder integration, the app tackles the pain points that slow down your workflow.
The best thing about the app is that it makes common sense when it comes to managing files. Rather than requiring you to learn complex search languages, or forcing you to give up the system you currently use to organize your files, FileMinutes works the way you do, providing a way to filter your files based on the way you naturally think about them and where they fit.
No matter if you handle a couple dozen documents or thousands of files across several projects, FileMinutes scales with you. The targeted search, favorites pinning, and direct actions make for