REVIEW · SPOTLIGHT FRONT END
Verdict: Tembo holds up as the friendly way to search Spotlight's index: one search box, results grouped by type with the top 10 matches each, and filters that only show options that exist. It finds what Spotlight has indexed and no more, and when you need complex criteria its own makers point you to HoudahSpot.
31 October 2026 · By Ishtiaque Hossain · 4 minute read · reviews Tembo 3.2
Looking for a file you can describe but not name? Try Shlexball. The first 30 searches are free and need no account.
macOS 15 or later. Apple silicon. 16 GB memory. On a phone? Email yourself the link.
This review is based on Tembo's own pages, read on 14 October 2026. Every claim links to the page it came from. We are the makers of Shlexball, so we say plainly where Tembo does better.
| Price | Free trial; single-user, family and site licences; upgrade to version 3 costs 8 USD (single) or 12 USD (family) |
| Runs on | Tembo 3.2, macOS 12.3 or newer with Spotlight indexing on; Intel and Apple silicon; compatible with macOS 27 |
| What it searches | Anything Spotlight has indexed: documents, folders, PDFs, images, videos and more |
| Results | Grouped by file type, top 10 per group, drill down to far more |
| Made by | Houdah Software, also maker of HoudahSpot |
| Best for | People who want something clearer than Spotlight without learning query syntax |
Tembo is a friendly file search tool for the Mac that aims to get you to your files as quickly as possible. It finds documents, folders, PDF files, images, videos and more.
It uses the Spotlight index your Mac already keeps, so it needs no index of its own and can find any file Spotlight has indexed, including files in the Library folders.
A search starts with a single line of text. Tembo then groups the results by type of file and shows the top 10 matches in each group, which is often enough to spot the file you want.
The real power appears when you open a group. You can drill down to see up to 50 thousand results, and filters that suit that group help you narrow them.
The filters only offer choices that exist in your results. The File Type filter shows a Microsoft Word option only if the search found Word files, and you can Command-click several values to combine file types.
Each group has its own filters: resolution for images, codec for movies, artist for music, author for PDF documents, and subject, sender and recipient for messages.
Tembo 3 added searching by time frame, a quick options menu for adjusting a search, and better tagging with fast access to your favourite tags.
From the results you can rename, tag or trash files, share them by Mail or Messages, and open a File Info window with an easy-to-read summary of a file's properties.
You can adjust the font size and date format, switch to a grid of icons or previews, collapse groups you rarely use, and open Tembo from a menu bar button or a global keyboard shortcut.
There is a free trial. A single-user licence covers one named user on unlimited computers; family and site licences are available, plus a HoudahSpot and Tembo bundle. The buy page lists upgrade prices (8 USD single, 12 USD family) but not the new-licence price.
A Tembo 3 licence covers every 3.x version, licences bought on or after January 1, 2022 cover versions 2 and 3, and Houdah offers a 15-day money-back guarantee.
Buy the direct version if you can. The Mac App Store version is sandboxed, which limits some features, and it is still at 2.7.
Because Tembo relies on Spotlight, it excludes most system files and hidden files, and Apple Mail search is no longer available since macOS Sonoma.
Tembo suits people who find Spotlight's results messy but do not want to build queries. Grouped results and smart filters are easy to learn.
If you need boolean operators, search templates or detailed criteria, Houdah itself recommends HoudahSpot instead.
Tembo ranks what Spotlight finds for your words. Shlexball starts from a description of what you remember and finds files that are about it, searching names and the text inside files, including PDFs and Word documents.
Shlexball searches your folders directly, not only through the Spotlight index, and its language model runs on your Mac. The first 30 searches are free and need no account.
Shlexball ranks by what each file is about, not how the letters match: 30 free searches.
▶ DOWNLOAD SHLEXBALLA friendly file search app from Houdah Software. It searches the Spotlight index and groups results by file type, with filters for each group.
There is a free trial, and single-user, family and site licences. Upgrading from an earlier version costs 8 USD for a single user or 12 USD for a family; check the buy page for the new-licence price.
Mostly not. Tembo finds files indexed by Spotlight, which includes the Library folders but excludes most system files and hidden files.
Tembo is the simple one, with grouped results and filters. For boolean operators, search templates and detailed searches, Houdah points you to HoudahSpot.