Is there a way to limit OS X when searching for apps? My issue is that OS X is finding multiple versions of applications. When opening a file with the "Open with ..." option, I see multiple versions of an app.

This is being caused by having multiple OS X partitions mounts. I'm not sure which process searches for apps, but I used the lsregister -dump command to see that the database contains a version from each of my boot partitions.

Does anyone know what process does this?
Is there a way to limit this process to certain partitions?
Open the Spotlight pane in System Preferences.
Select the Privacy tab.
Drag the Applications folder from the partitions that you don't want indexed into the list area.


Shortly thereafter the duplicate results should disappear from the list, leaving applications from the one Applications folder you want.

You might need to force a refresh the LaunchServices database afterward too.

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user


Finally restart the Finder with the following command to rebuild any data cached within the Finder.

killall Finder