Finding an answer should be as fast as finding a file

Quick start: from install to your first search

Five steps, about three minutes. If you remember only one thing, make it ⌥Space.

1. Install from the Mac App StoreOpen the Locseek App Store page and click Get. That is the only official download channel. Requires macOS 12 or later; Intel and Apple Silicon are both native.
2. Launch and choose what to indexThe first-run flow asks you to grant folders: the free tier offers any combination of Desktop / Documents / Downloads (starting with just one is fine — the other two can be added later), and Pro can take the whole startup disk, any folder, external drives or a NAS. Wherever you point it is what it searches.
3. Tick "Launch at Login" if you like (optional)That checkbox is off by default and only registers if you turn it on yourself. We recommend it: without the app running, the global hotkey does nothing, and file changes accumulate while the process is gone, so the next launch may need to scan a little more. Leaving it off is perfectly fine too.
4. Press ⌥Space and type a nameResults appear as you type — you can search while the initial scan is still running.
5. Space to preview, Return to openConfirm with Quick Look first, then open — or ⌘Return to reveal in Finder.

Permissions and authorization

macOS strictly limits which files an app may reach: what you can search depends on what you granted. This is also where the single most common complaint — "the permission dialog keeps reappearing" — gets solved.

Why do I have to pick folders?

An app installed from the Mac App Store can only reach locations you explicitly grant through the system file picker — grant once and the system remembers, so you are not asked again. That mechanism is precisely what protects you: outside that scope the app cannot touch a single byte at the OS level. Granted locations can be added or removed any time under Locseek's Settings → Locations, and revoked in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders.

"Locseek wants to access data from other apps" keeps coming back? Try these four in order

On macOS 14+, the system shows this confirmation when an app reaches a protected location or files created by another app. It is system behaviour, not Locseek asking for extra privileges. If you already clicked Allow and it still returns:

1. Toggle App Management off and onSystem Settings → Privacy & Security → App Management. Turn Locseek's switch off, then on, then restart Locseek.
2. Restart your MacThis refreshes the system permission cache and resolves most repeat prompts.
3. Delete and reinstall LocseekReinstall from the App Store and grant your locations again (the index rebuilds automatically).
4. Grant Full Disk AccessSystem Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. Enable Locseek and restart the app; the prompt stops.

Full Disk Access: when it matters

Locseek does not request any Full Disk Access entitlement and its design does not depend on one — the free tier's scope is just Desktop / Documents / Downloads, and the app never even raises the subject of FDA for free users.

It matters in exactly two Pro situations: indexing parts of the startup disk that macOS additionally protects, and allowing the "Cloud file names" and "App private data" default exclusions. Path to grant it: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. Without it, everything else works normally.

To be explicit: FDA only widens which names it can see. The product commitments do not change by a word — no file contents read, no network, no uploads.

Revoking access and erasing data

• Remove one location: Locseek Settings → Locations, then remove it. That only changes the index scope; nothing on disk is touched.
• Revoke system permissions: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders / Full Disk Access.
• Drop just the index: Settings → About → "Delete Index…". The app quits and rebuilds on next launch.
• Erase everything: Settings → About → "Reset All Local Data…". It deletes everything Locseek wrote on this Mac — settings and preferences, search and open history, the index, learned ranking data, saved folder access, the login-item registration, caches, window state and crash reports — then quits immediately. Your files are never touched.
• The two things the app cannot delete itself: drag Locseek to the Trash, then use Finder's "Go to Folder" with ~/Library/Containers/ and delete the Locseek entry (all App Store version data lives inside the sandbox container). System privacy grants have to be revoked by you in System Settings.

Search syntax

Beyond keywords, operators narrow everything in one line. Press Tab to complete an operator (ex → ext:); operators are coloured and shown as visual chips. Forgot the syntax? Clear the search field — "Efficient usage" in the empty state is the same cheat sheet, collapsible.

• Keywords are case-insensitive; multiple keywords are AND: invoice 2026
• Ranking: exact > prefix > word-start > contains, with recent modification breaking ties. Stable and predictable.

Recipes

Keyboard shortcuts

From summon to Finder without touching the mouse. The summon hotkey defaults to ⌥Space and can be rebound to any combination containing ⌘ ⌥ ⌃ ⇧.

A file won't show up? Check these four

This is the most common question, and it is almost never a bug. Walk the list in order — usually the first or second item is the answer.

① Is it inside a location you granted?

Locseek only indexes locations you explicitly granted through the system picker. For the free tier that is whichever of Desktop / Documents / Downloads you selected; for Pro, whatever you added. A file outside that scope is not "unfindable", it was simply never collected.
Open Settings → Locations and look at the list and each row's status dot: green is readable, grey means offline or the authorization lapsed (click "Re-authorize").

② Does it fall into a default exclusion?

To keep everyday results clean, Locseek excludes four categories by default. Changing these switches requires Pro; the free tier can read the explanations but not change them (its scope is only those three everyday folders anyway).

To allow one: Settings → Exclusions, then untick the category. Unticking only changes what the query shows — no rescan, no index rewrite, so results grow immediately. Even once allowed, the cloud categories still index file names only and never read or download content.

③ Has the first scan finished?

Check the status bar: "Building index · N searchable" means it is still scanning and results keep growing; plain "N items" means it has settled. Building the first full-disk index takes time depending on your drive and file count — but your everyday folders are searchable while it runs, so there is no need to wait around.

④ Is the query too narrow?

• Multiple keywords means all of them must match. Try dropping one.
• under: is an exact folder boundary and requires an absolute path; written as ~/… the condition is discarded.
• A query with only exclusions (just !draft, say) returns nothing — it still needs a term to look for.
• hidden: / package: mean "only this kind", not "also this kind" — hidden items and bundle contents are already in scope by default, so you usually do not need them at all.

Still nothing?

Once you have ruled out all four, consider Settings → Index → Maintenance → "Rebuild Index…". Search stays available during a rebuild (the old index keeps serving), and the status bar returns to a normal count when it finishes. You only need this when results clearly disagree with the disk and waiting for the automatic update did not fix it.

Other problems

For "a file won't show up", see the previous section. These are the remaining symptoms.

A file I just created or renamed isn't searchable

• Normally a change becomes searchable in about 1 second (internal benchmarking puts the p95 at roughly 1.0 s over a 120-minute churn sample). Give it a moment and try again.
• Check whether Settings → Index → Maintenance → "Pause automatic updates" is on. While paused, the existing index and search still work, but creates, renames and deletes are not reflected.
• Confirm the file is inside a granted location and not in a default exclusion.
• Still nothing: Settings → Index → Maintenance → "Rebuild Index…".

The permission dialog keeps reappearing

See the four-step fix under Permissions: toggle App Management → restart → reinstall → Full Disk Access.

Files in cloud drives (iCloud / OneDrive / Dropbox / Google Drive)

• Not searchable by default — that is design, not a fault. "Cloud file names" is one of the four default exclusions; see the previous section for how to allow it (Pro + Full Disk Access).
• Once allowed, cloud-only placeholder files record only name and path and never trigger a download — you can find them, and the system downloads only when you open one. No bandwidth, no disk.
• Adding "iCloud Drive" straight from Finder works too: the system picker hands back a compatibility subdirectory, and Locseek maps it onto the complete iCloud name space rather than scanning only a few dozen items.

One search suddenly got slow

• A whole-disk regex is a heavy query and seconds are expected; narrow it with a keyword, ext: or under:.
• If ordinary searches stay slow, check whether the index indicator is busy — scanning or consolidation briefly slows things and recovers when done.

Other frequent situations

• Bulk actions cut off at 10 items: that is the free-tier boundary, not a fault. Work in batches or upgrade to Pro.
• The result count sits at the limit: the status bar explains that matches exceeded the limit and only the most relevant N were kept. Clicking a column header sorts within that batch rather than re-drawing from all matches — narrowing the keyword is more effective. The free limit is 1,000; Pro can raise it to 30,000 in Settings.
• ⌥Space does nothing: make sure the app is running (look for the menu-bar icon); if the hotkey clashes with another app, pick a different combination under Settings → Shortcuts. Clicking the menu-bar icon also shows the window.
• Full rebuild: Settings → About → "Delete Index…". The app quits and rebuilds on the next launch. You never need to delete any directory by hand.
• Want to send feedback without exposing file names: Settings → About → "Copy Diagnostics". It contains only the version, index counts and the most recent rebuild reason — no paths, no file names.

Purchases and subscriptions

Every transaction goes through the Mac App Store and is handled by Apple — Locseek never touches your payment details.

• Two ways to Pro, identical features: $9.99/year auto-renewing, or $24.99 once (US reference prices; your region's App Store price applies).
• 14-day free trial: granted automatically to eligible new subscribers of the annual plan; cancel before it ends and you are not charged. Eligibility is determined by the App Store and shown in the in-app purchase screen before you buy — treat that as authoritative.
• Restore purchases (new Mac / reinstall): sign in with the same Apple Account → download Locseek from the App Store → tap "Restore Purchases" on the in-app purchase screen.
• Cancel a subscription: App Store → avatar → Account Settings → Subscriptions → cancel. Pro remains available for the current period.
• Refunds: go to reportaproblem.apple.com and follow Apple's standard policy.
• Switching from annual to lifetime: cancel the subscription first (it stays usable to the end of the period), then buy Lifetime in the app.
• Invoices / receipts: provided by Apple — see your purchase confirmation email or reportaproblem.apple.com.
• What happens if I go back to free: when the subscription lapses you return to the free tier. Your index, settings and granted locations are all kept; the result limit returns to 1,000 and advanced queries and exclusion settings become unavailable. Folder grants you already made are not revoked.

For the complete tier comparison see the pricing page.

Frequently asked

The most common questions, each answered in about three sentences.