Dear all,
Is it possible to include home subdirectories into the search that is triggered by Ctrl + f from the Desktop?
Hi @orschiro, As a big user of Ctrl+F I'm wondering why it isn't happening automatically. Is that TestDesktop a .desktop file by chance?
EDIT:
I ask because Caja does something I dislike. If you had a launcher with a real filename of ABC.desktop but an internal name of DEF then Caja will display DEF obscuring the real filename. Search can get confused.
You can always see the real filename using ls in a terminal.
EDIT2:
Here is what I mean. I only use list view but that shouldn't change anything.
The Stuff folder on my desktop is visible. Searching my home directory with Caja finds it and the properties of Stuff shows its location.
Also Ctrl+F finds any file within the Stuff directory.
1 Like
Thanks, @Bill_MI!
I am not sure if I understand correctly. TestDesktop is not a .desktop file but an actual folder on ~/Desktop.
Then it should be in the results, but it's not. A real mystery indeed. I just tried to recreate in a 17.04 VM.
Is it just the 1 folder? What exact version?
It affects any kind of file or folder on Desktop that I search for. They are just not found unless I specifically select the Desktop folder instead of my home folder.
What do you mean by âexact versionâ?
This may not be fully in line with the original question, but coming from macintoshes where a permanent, fully indexed, content-aware search is available at system level, I personally just couldnât accept âjust a filename-based searchâ.
I immediately installed Recoll, which now bests the mac, and will never get backâŚ
2 Likes
And you search now using the Recoll interface?
Yes, definitely. I still have to fine-tune Recoll (the default settings give a little too much info, but visibly they can be turned more concise), and I remember having seen the way to allocate a shortcut to Recoll, but this will come 
1 Like
Sorry, version of Ubuntu-Mate. I tested on 16.04 and 17.04.
I'm scratching my head what could possibly exclude ~/Desktop from a search in a home directory. The next logical question is does it find things in other standard directories like Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc. It should.
I am on 17.04.
Strangely it finds files in the other standard directories but Desktop.
Oh well, letâs not bother too much about it.
Probably something wrong with my system.
Problem solved.
Back in the Unity days, I used Nautilus to hide my Desktop folder in Home.
This seems to affect the search.
I set the Desktop folder to unhidden again.
2 Likes