Spotlight on Spotlight - Carol Smith Home Page

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performance. To accomplish this, a data set of textual documents is first created and defined,
and then used to test <strong>Spotlight</strong>’s performance in indexing and accessing the data set.
<strong>Spotlight</strong> Features – Brief Overview
<strong>Spotlight</strong> indexes the contents of a drive automatically, with no explicit action required by
the user. For textual documents, the full text is indexed, and for all file types, application
metadata is also indexed. The <strong>Spotlight</strong> engine works closely with the Mac operating system,
updating the index anytime a new file is created or modified. Additional detail about
<strong>Spotlight</strong>’s indexing architecture and processes is provided in the Indexing Processes and
System Review sections of this paper.
Because the <strong>Spotlight</strong> indexing/retrieval engine is an integrated component of the Mac
operating system, it is ‘always on’ and doesn’t need to be launched in the manner of a
traditional application. The <strong>Spotlight</strong> query window is always available within a few
keystrokes, and can be accessed in a number of alternate ways:
1. The upper right-hand window of the Mac interface contains a permanent ‘spyglass’
icon that is always within view– clicking on this icon brings up the basic <strong>Spotlight</strong>
query window:
2. The same query window can alternately be reached via a command-space bar
keystroke combination.
3. <strong>Spotlight</strong> query windows are built into popular Apple applications and utilities,
including Mail, Preferences, Address Book, Calendar and others.
4. <strong>Spotlight</strong> queries can also be executed within the Apple Finder window. This final
access method also permits the creation and saving of customized queries called
‘Smart Folders.’ Apple envisions these virtual folders as a new method for organizing
and managing information, one that may at least partially supplant traditional
physical file organization.