CANNEDSEARCH Converter

Extract text from Apple predefined searches (CANNEDSEARCH)


Drop or upload your .CANNEDSEARCH file
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How to extract text from your CANNEDSEARCH file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your CANNEDSEARCH file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert CANNEDSEARCH to another file type

To convert CANNEDSEARCH searches to another format, you need Apple Finder or other Settings software.

Convert a file to CANNEDSEARCH

To convert other file formats to the "macOS Search Configuration" file type, you need software like Apple Finder or a similar tool.


About CANNEDSEARCH files

A .cannedsearch file is an Apple proprietary configuration file used by the macOS Finder to store predefined Spotlight search criteria. It opens natively within the Apple Finder and immediately executes the stored query. The primary disadvantage of this format is the confusion it causes: it does not contain any actual documents or media. It only stores the parameters, such as date ranges or keywords, used to query the macOS index. Users on Windows or Linux cannot execute these searches natively, and sharing this file will not transfer the underlying data. If you need to view the contents, the best conversion targets are TXT or XML. Converting to these text-based formats allows you to read the search parameters in plain text, though it will not magically retrieve the actual files the search looks for. This file format is difficult to open or convert on non-Apple systems because it relies on a closed, system-specific XML property list structure. Standard online converters fail to process it because they expect standard documents or media, not query logic.

Convert.Guru analyzes your CANNEDSEARCH file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.


FAQ

If you want to convert CANNEDSEARCH file to , you can use Apple Finder or similar software from the "Saved Search Criteria Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to CANNEDSEARCH, try Apple Finder or another comparable tool in the "Saved Search Criteria Storage" category.



The CANNEDSEARCH Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our CANNEDSEARCH converter.