How to Search for Files on Mac?

I need to find a small number of files that are located in a folder with a very large number of files. All of the files I need end in one specific file extension. On a PC I would search for *.txt and that would return all of the text files, for example. But does doing that on the Mac behave differently? Because I definitely see a bunch of *.txt files in my folder, but using the little search box (is it a search box? it is where the search box is located on Windows, and it shows a magnifying glass, so I assume it's a search box) returns nothing. This has to be simple right? I must be missing something.

Try "Spotlight". Click on the little magnifying glass icon in the upper right area of the menu bar:



- Nick

To search your whole computer do as pigoo3 said, use Spotlight on the right end of the menu bar. To search just i the folder from Finder Type in the Search box just .txt leave off the *

Ah ha! Leave the * off! Brilliant! It works!

DThompson55 said:

Ah ha! Leave the * off! Brilliant! It works!

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Soon you'll be an expert!

Took years to learn Windows. Takes minutes or seconds to learn the Mac OS!

- Nick

Also, you can sort your files in any Finder window to get the .txt files together and search among those.

You should (if you are just using a normal Finder window) close it and on an empty Desktop press Command + F this brings up an empty search window to which you can add additional search parameters like File Kind and Type. Also a useful little addition for a standard Finder window is "Show Path Bar" in the Finder View Menu. This will always show the path at the bottom of the window to any selected file in the window.