[MlMt] "Enable full Spotlight access?"

[John Cooper]

TJ Luoma wrote (at 06:49:15 -0700 on 22 April):

> I was setting up MailMate on a new Mac and saw this message which I
> have not seen (or at least noticed) before:
>
> https://i.luo.ma/MailMate-Full-Spotlight-Access.png
>
> I found this very confusing. What is "the Spotlight interface"? I
> usually only think of myself as using Spotlight in Finder, so I'm not
> sure what I would be missing if I chose "Only Index for Finder".

Here's how I understand it: the dialog is asking whether you want to be 
able to find MailMate messages when you use Spotlight or the Finder to 
search.

By default, MailMate messages are stored in a location that is not 
indexed by either Spotlight or the Finder, so performing a search in 
either of those apps won't find the messages.

Moving the (hidden) messages folder to your Home folder makes them 
visible to the search mechanisms in Mac OS.

My guess is that clicking "Only Index for Finder" lets you find messages 
when searching in the Finder (by using the search bar in a Finder 
window), but not when searching using Spotlight.

Using a custom location, you can find messages using either Spotlight or 
the Finder.

If you uncheck "Indexed for Finder/Spotlight" in the General tab of 
MailMate Preferences, you must search using MailMate for messages. This 
is the setting I use, since it would be a rare case where I wanted to 
find a message without actually using MailMate.

I also find the interface as written confusing. I'm still on my first 
cup of coffee, but my rewrite would go something like this:

Main preference in the General pane:

[ ] Let Spotlight and Finder access messages for search

Alert dialog:

**Allow Spotlight to index messages?**

By default, only the Finder can retrieve indexed mail messages. To 
search and find messages using Spotlight, mail messages must be stored 
elsewhere than the default location. We recommend that you use your home 
folder.

[Keep default location (no Spotlight access)]  [Use custom location]

> The prompt seemed to want to suggest that I choose "Use Custom
> Location" and select my $HOME, so I did, which created a
> 'com.freron.MailMate' folder in '$HOME'.
>
> Is this something I can change later? I'm still not sure which option
> would be better for me or why one is better than the other.

Hope this helps!

John Cooper
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.freron.com/pipermail/mailmate/attachments/20200422/3779ba80/attachment-0001.html>