Only remember the file name?
Search just names.
Spotlight handles broad search. Locseek gives you a dedicated list to find, filter and act on files by name.
What each one is good at
| Scenario | Locseek | Spotlight |
|---|---|---|
| You remember the name, or part of it, and want it now | ✓ Milliseconds | Supports name searches and category filters |
| Files on external drives, USB sticks and NAS | ✓ All in scope (Pro) | Coverage varies by volume and settings |
Hidden files and the inside of .app bundles | ✓ In scope by default | Usually not shown |
node_modules, .git, build artifacts | Excluded by default; Pro can allow | Usually not shown |
| Filtering by regex, size, date and path together | ✓ One line (Pro) | — |
| Finding files by their contents (full text) | Out of scope | ✓ |
| Mail, messages, web, dictionary, conversions | Out of scope | ✓ |
Locseek provides a dedicated file-name search experience. Its index stores names and metadata without reading file contents.
Because it is the shortest path
Small index, therefore fast
Nothing is parsed, so both index size and memory stay tiny — around 24 MB of physical memory just after launch, before an index is built, and no more than 150 MB of index at a million entries (internal benchmarking, terms here). It barely disturbs your Mac.
Clear search scope and sorting
Rank by name match or sort by column. Pro also uses local opening history to improve the order by default; that learning can be turned off or cleared.
Data stays put
No network, no telemetry. What you searched for, and what files you have, is known only to this Mac.
The pairing we suggest: keep using Spotlight for broad retrieval (⌘Space), and put Locseek on ⌥Space for going straight to a file by name. They do not interfere with each other.
Give Spotlight a name-search specialist
The free tier is free forever; requires macOS 12 or later.