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Is there any tool equivalent to spotlight search in OS X for Ubuntu 12.04?

Something where you just type a search string and files, folders or installed programs will appear in a list.

king_julien
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Gaurav Agarwal
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    Do you mean the "Finder File Browser"? or a more specific function of the Finder itself? – Geppettvs D'Constanzo Aug 12 '13 at 19:43
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    @GeppettvsD'Constanzo Some thing similar to Finder where you just type file name, folder name or installed program name and it will appear in the list. – Gaurav Agarwal Aug 12 '13 at 19:44
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    Have you tried a launcher like Synapse? (https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/synapse/) This does exactly what you mention but I won't add it as an answer because of your question seems ambiguous in its original context. Maybe if it works for you and/or you change the context of both your question and its title. :) Good luck! – Geppettvs D'Constanzo Aug 12 '13 at 19:52
  • @GeppettvsD'Constanzo Yes. I can only support that :) Did somebody downvote your answer? – king_julien Aug 13 '13 at 12:30

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Synapse is a GUI tool which does exactly what you expect from a graphical program. It is a place where you just type file name, folder name or installed program name and it will appear in the list as shown in the next screenshot:

enter image description here

After installing you can configure your key bindings which you can use to invoke Synapse in order to write what you wish to find. It may require a certain amount of time in order to get the list of files and applications for the first use but it will improve as you use it.

Good luck!

Geppettvs D'Constanzo
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  • How is this different to Gnome Do? – king_julien Aug 12 '13 at 20:22
  • I have tried Do in the past but the results are quite different. Starting from the fact that Do is slower than Synapse. You give it a chance. If you are a "Do" user I am sure you'll prefer Synapse. :) – Geppettvs D'Constanzo Aug 12 '13 at 20:27
  • Well, I have just installed Synapse and it does not find any files in my Music directory at all... Back to Unity! :P – king_julien Aug 12 '13 at 20:30
  • You should be patience. As I mentioned in the answer, it takes some time to get the elements. And Synapse will find your music files not just in the folder but inside of the Music libraries of your favorite software. :) You may wish to give it a second try and be more patience. The more software you use, the best the results will become. It is not instantly. But it is worth. Good luck! – Geppettvs D'Constanzo Aug 12 '13 at 20:33