FoxTrot Personal Search for Mac

FoxTrot Personal Search provides the best results for file retrieval that I have found on the Mac; especially in cases where I have many files of the same subject matter and keywords. It is what Spotlight should have been. I use Spotlight for finding files that I had recently saved or where I have only a couple of a similar items in my digital filing system. I use FoxTrot for harder to locate files. Results are arrangeable by likelihood rank, category location, file type, author, date and date range. Searched keywords are highlighted in the previewed searched text. Google Desktop was great, but no longer is available on the Mac. Until FoxTrot I found paper filing in folders in a filing cabinet was more reliable than file retrieval on the Mac. So far FoxTrot is my favorite as I do not have to create a duplicate filing system or make entries into a tedious database..

JUST DO NOT BUY THIS - The Personal version has one purpose only. That is to give a consumer the impression that the Personal Product is a stand alone product and fully functional. It is technically deceptive advertising to provide what appear to be functional processes that have no function other than to throw a Push Promotion for another product. This is even more deceptive than ‘in-app’ purchases. This contravenes Consumer law in this country under ACL 2010. Macupdate should verify my claim and if I am found to be correct then it should ban this app from the MacUpdate site. Here is the latest from CTM: Sir, thank you for your message. I understand your frustration to see that quite a few features are available in Pro. unfortunately, we have to do things this way, because Foxtrot Personal does not cover its costs and hence is subsidized by the Professional version. It is important to us to have an entry level product because not everyone can afford Pro, but we do need the upgrade revenue to justify having an entry level product. There are two things that can be done. One is that you get used to ignoring the features which are not inherently part of FoxTrot personal. Exceptionally, I can offer a second alternative to you, which is to to offer you a discount on a copy of Pro, which, as you will have understood by now, does bring you much more functionality, instead of the 30% you are entitled to as a personal user. Jean-Michel / CTM qa

Being very careful what I say incase I offend any loyal Fox Trot users. This is strictly about v5. Just about everything I said about earlier versions has been fixed - Good Show! BUT why the hell do all the exhortations to buy an upgraded version - to Pro - keep coming up at almost every button click, particularly on the Result List view under what you expect to see as thumbnails? It looks like all other versions are just marketing gimmick you pay for to be bombarded with Uprade to V 5 PRO. Damn irritating. Looks like I have to stop using it again - after dropping another $30 for the upgrade to the Personal version (v5). Extortion. My advice - try the others BEFORE you buy this version. I am now leaving the thing forever. Disgusted.

Pretty much abandoned this app. You need to keep on contacting CTM after you do any work on your computer - such as a directory rebuild in DisWarrior. Fox Trot zaps the license and it tells you that your app is unlicensed. Can't be bothered - but hell, I feel ripped off. Too expensive - far too expensive for an app that behaves like a beta app. Look at the other options - just as good and they seem to work.

FWIW: I used Foxtrot back in the day (pre-X and a bit post-X) and it worked well. But then something happened and it quit working as well and there was an upgrade policy that I thought was a bit, shall I say, odd. Haven't used FT in quite some time. I've tried it again and can say that, IMO, both HoudahSpot and Leap outperform FT, both in terms of speed of searches and in number of results found. So, for my money, HoudahSpot and Leap. Your results may be different.