Spotlight ALWAYS Indexing

Everytime I want to use Spotlight, it is in the middle of indexing and says there are anywhere from 3 to 13 hours to go! It indexes not only my hard drive but an external firewire drive, which I don't particularly need it to index. I looked in preferences for a way to at least prevent the indexing of the external drive but couldn't find many preferences at all except the order in which you want the results to appear and the ability to delete certain items from the findings. As it is, Spotlight is useless to me. Any suggestions?

So far, it appears as though your solution worked well enough for me not to invest money in the shareware suggestion though admittedly not much time has passed. Since I really don't need to find anything on the external drive--or at leat rarely--since it is just a backup, this may be the better option. All I did was list the external drive under the Privacy tab and nothing else. It looks as though that alone took care of the problem. Thanks so much.

Similar Messages

Spotlight always indexes mac on startup

I've read several reports on Spotlight rebuilding indexes on startup. I found this issue on both my macs (with TIme Machine either on or off).
Here's what I've done trying to solve the problem:
1) I removed all of the spotlight indexes from all the disks and forced a re-index;
2) Removed all the *.mdimporter files from /Library/Spotlight
3) Erased all the system and application's caches with Onyx.
Are there any other solutions?

I don't mean to presume that all your guys' issues are related to this, but I am having this problem as well, and am quite sure it's due to a faulty logic board, and/or the inability of the machine to properly access RAM and other key components. My MBP 2.16, 1 GB constantly makes helicopter sounds that are emitted from the right speaker area. Apple replaced the first logic board in this machine while it was under warranty, and apparently put another defective one in. Overall, Apple hasn't been to helpful since.

Mac Pro always indexing

Is there a reason why my Mac Pro (running Lion 10.7.4) is always indexing the Macintosh HD? Even when it's completed indexing, the next day it'll be indexing it all over again. Has something corrupted that I need to flush out? I use Onyx, Drive Genius once a month or so as I use Logic heavily in the studio so am defragging etc.
Ben

Interestingly it's doing it again just after I Superduper'd my mobile FW audio drive back to my internal audio drive. Doing a search of mdworker - the majority of the lines are to do with my projects drive, not the Mac HD which it's currently Spotlight indexing. I've pasted two Full Report threads below. I'm not an expert at all about thisso before I go in and give you a load more, which of the information below can be discarded?
========
mdworker(1822) deny file-write-owner /Users/******/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.sto redata-wal (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 4303412)
Process:         mdworker [1822]
Path:            /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework /Versions/A/Support/mdworker
Load Address:    0x102de7000
Identifier:      mdworker
Version:         ??? (???)
Code Type:       x86_64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [166]
Date/Time:       2012-10-08 12:07:56.878 +0100
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.8.2 (12C54)
Report Version: 8
Thread 0:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib                  0x00007fff8cde296a fchown + 10
1   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff8954d9a8 pagerOpenWal + 424
2   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff894a0782 sqlite3PagerSharedLock + 1634
3   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff8949fd92 sqlite3BtreeBeginTrans + 1730
4   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff894954ac sqlite3InitOne + 300
5   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff894952e6 sqlite3Init + 102
6   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff89493f9b sqlite3Pragma + 17883
7   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff8948469f yy_reduce + 58591
8   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff89476134 sqlite3Parser + 260
9   libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff894740f2 sqlite3RunParser + 418
10 libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff89473814 sqlite3Prepare + 1316
11 libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff89473233 sqlite3LockAndPrepare + 291
12 libsqlite3.dylib                        0x00007fff894ed73f sqlite3_prepare_v2 + 31
13 CoreData                                0x00007fff84035e70 -[NSSQLiteConnection prepareSQLStatement:] + 416
14 CoreData                                0x00007fff840afc3e -[NSSQLiteConnection performIntegrityCheck] + 206
15 CoreData                                0x00007fff840fd3b0 -[NSSQLiteConnection _configurePragmaOptions:] + 432
16 CoreData                                0x00007fff84034258 -[NSSQLiteConnection connect] + 2216
17 CoreData                                0x00007fff8403315b -[NSSQLCore _loadAndSetMetadata] + 155
18 CoreData                                0x00007fff84032f3f -[NSSQLCore loadMetadata:] + 63
19 CoreData                                0x00007fff8402aa0b -[NSPersistentStoreCoordinator addPersistentStoreWithType:configuration:URL:options:error:] + 1179
20 Notes                                   0x000000010328c7ff __50+[NFPersistenceManager persistentStoreCoordinator]_block_invoke_0 + 1916
21 libdispatch.dylib                       0x00007fff859b90b6 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
22 libdispatch.dylib                       0x00007fff859b9041 dispatch_once_f + 50
23 Notes                                   0x000000010328bf35 +[NFPersistenceManager persistentStoreCoordinator] + 203
24 Notes                                   0x0000000103261a80 ImportNotesMetadata + 159
25 mdworker                                0x0000000102dede4e
26 mdworker                                0x0000000102dec863
27 mdworker                                0x0000000102ded647
28 mdworker                                0x0000000102df1404
29 libsystem_c.dylib                       0x00007fff81b03742 _pthread_start + 327
30 libsystem_c.dylib                       0x00007fff81af0181 thread_start + 13
Binary Images:
       0x102de7000 -        0x102e40ff7 mdworker (707.3) <105316D8-F5DF-3079-96EF-0EF0986EB053> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework /Versions/A/Support/mdworker
       0x103260000 -        0x103261fff com.apple.Notes.mdimporter (1.1 - 99) <FBEB902F-2B6D-3E28-833C-2B0A76B7593A> /System/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter/Contents/MacOS/Notes
       0x103266000 -        0x1032a7ff7 com.apple.Notes.framework (1.1 - 99) <1AE41D51-4594-374F-BA37-DA377AC20495> /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Notes.framework/Versions/A/Notes
    0x7fff81aef000 -     0x7fff81bbbfe7 libsystem_c.dylib (825.25) <8CBCF9B9-EBB7-365E-A3FF-2F3850763C6B> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_c.dylib
    0x7fff84021000 -     0x7fff84256ff7 com.apple.CoreData (106.1 - 407.7) <24E0A6B4-9ECA-3D12-B26A-72B9DCF09768> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreData.framework/Versions/A/CoreData
    0x7fff859b7000 -     0x7fff859ccff7 libdispatch.dylib (228.23) <D26996BF-FC57-39EB-8829-F63585561E09> /usr/lib/system/libdispatch.dylib
    0x7fff89469000 -     0x7fff89566fff libsqlite3.dylib (138.1) <ADE9CB98-D77D-300C-A32A-556B7440769F> /usr/lib/libsqlite3.dylib
    0x7fff8cdd0000 -     0x7fff8cdebff7 libsystem_kernel.dylib (2050.18.24) <C0535565-35D1-31A7-A744-63D9F10F12A4> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib
=====
***and a second (from a non-OS-X HD)****
mdworker(2011) deny file-write-data /Volumes/Projects/*******/*******/*******.logic/LgDoc/documentData (import fstype:hfs fsflag:4809000 flags:250000005E diag:0 uti:com.apple.logic.project plugin:/Logic Pro.app/Contents/Library/Spotlight/LogicPro.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 467334)
Process:         mdworker [2011]
Path:            /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework /Versions/A/Support/mdworker
Load Address:    0x10556c000
Identifier:      mdworker
Version:         ??? (???)
Code Type:       x86_64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [166]
Date/Time:       2012-10-08 13:36:42.825 +0100
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.8.2 (12C54)
Report Version: 8
Thread 0:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib                  0x00007fff8cde1fee __open + 10
1   CarbonCore                              0x00007fff8550c400 FSMount::_openfork(char const*, unsigned char, unsigned int, unsigned short, _filesec*, int*, int*, FSOpenForkInfo*) + 738
2   CarbonCore                              0x00007fff8550b9e3 FSMount::openforkcoreDefault(unsigned int, unsigned int, char const*, char const*, unsigned int, unsigned char, unsigned char, FSOpenForkInfo*, unsigned short, _filesec*, unsigned int, int*, unsigned int*) + 915
3   CarbonCore                              0x00007fff8550b460 FSMount::openfork(unsigned int, unsigned int, char const*, char const*, unsigned int, unsigned char, unsigned char, FSOpenForkInfo*, unsigned short, _filesec*, unsigned int, int*, unsigned int*) + 688
4   CarbonCore                              0x00007fff85509fa3 PBOpenForkSync + 494
5   CarbonCore                              0x00007fff85509da0 FSOpenFork + 42
6   MAFiles                                 0x0000000106fe40b0 CFileIO::Open(CFileRef const&, unsigned int) + 416
7   MAFiles                                 0x0000000106fe415c CFileIO::OpenReadWrite(CFileRef const&, unsigned int) + 12
8   LogicPro                                0x0000000105974e5d DiskSong::DiskSong(CFileRef const&) + 221
9   LogicPro                                0x000000010597154d GetMetadataForFile + 285
10 mdworker                                0x0000000105572e4e
11 mdworker                                0x0000000105571863
12 mdworker                                0x0000000105572647
13 mdworker                                0x0000000105576404
14 libsystem_c.dylib                       0x00007fff81b03742 _pthread_start + 327
15 libsystem_c.dylib                       0x00007fff81af0181 thread_start + 13
Binary Images:
       0x10556c000 -        0x1055c5ff7 mdworker (707.3) <105316D8-F5DF-3079-96EF-0EF0986EB053> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework /Versions/A/Support/mdworker
       0x105970000 -        0x10597bff7 com.apple.MDImporter.LogicPro (9.1.7 - 1700.57) <3F8AC181-108F-A96C-83B8-6D25AB5F2C44> /Applications/Logic Pro.app/Contents/Library/Spotlight/LogicPro.mdimporter/Contents/MacOS/LogicPro
       0x106fd2000 -        0x10708dfe7 com.apple.music.apps.MAFiles (9.1.7 - 144.77) <79A435CF-6C06-4C2E-1190-DC1EA172CF68> /Applications/Logic Pro.app/Contents/Frameworks/MAFiles.framework/Versions/A/MAFiles
    0x7fff81aef000 -     0x7fff81bbbfe7 libsystem_c.dylib (825.25) <8CBCF9B9-EBB7-365E-A3FF-2F3850763C6B> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_c.dylib
    0x7fff854e9000 -     0x7fff85800ff7 com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore (1037.3 - 1037.3) <DF7CABCA-F2CB-345B-8EFF-F0F4E937B7FF> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CarbonC ore.framework/Versions/A/CarbonCore
    0x7fff8cdd0000 -     0x7fff8cdebff7 libsystem_kernel.dylib (2050.18.24) <C0535565-35D1-31A7-A744-63D9F10F12A4> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib
Or have I just gone and copied the wrong information?
Thanks again,
Ben

Always indexing

I upgraded my Lion to 10.7.2, now everytime I boot up or reboot my macbook pro, it always indexing, how can i stop it?

Try here > http://www.mactricksandtips.com/2009/07/turning-off-spotlight.html

How I solved my Spotlight+ Mail indexing problem

OK, so I thought I would post my solution to a stubborn indexing problem, for people who may have the same issue (and it does seem many people do).
Problem: Spotlight index was unreliable. In particular, Spotlight was terrible at indexing mail. It could not find the messages by content that it would find by searching the "from" field, nor could it find those reliably. Unusable.
What DID NOT work:
-- adding and removing any folder whatsoever in the Privacy preferences of Spotlight. The index would rebuild, but with the same problems.
-- doing this via terminal (e.g, using sudo mdutil -E /Volumes/MyHardDisk)
-- using Onyx
-- using Spotless
-- simply reinstalling the system
-- manually modifying the plist files inside the .spotlight folder to add and remove the folders that would not get indexed.
What DID work:
-- first, I reinstalled the system. That's not such a big deal. Upgrade up to 10.4.6
-- then, I authorized the root user (that's probably not necessary) (this, you do by using Netinfo manager)
-- Then, I deactivated the index (via terminal:
sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/MyHardDisk
-- now the tricky part. This concerns Mail, in particular.
I have a very complex mail folder (tens of thousands of messages). I noticed that inside each mail folder, I had two things that were not supposed to be there
1. a copy of each folder.mbox which was empty, but with the same name without the extension .mbox. This is probably something that was created while importing mail from Panther to Tiger, for what I can tell.
2. Most importantly, a file named ".index.ready". This also, apparently, was an old legacy coming from Panther. I suspect this was the main problem for the lack of indexing in Mail.
Ok, so... I deleted these folders and files. If you have a complex structure of subfolders, you can delete the files with an Unix command by first cd to your mail folder, and then use
find . -name \.index.r* -ok rm {} \;
which will ask you confirmation before deleting each file.
It was faster to remove the empty subfolders by hand, as they all had different names.
-- Ok, at this point, I erased entirely the .Spotlight-V100 directory which stays at the root of your computer. You can do it with a rmdir command from the terminal or, as I did, you can login as root (remember, we activated root), use a utility that allows you to see hidden files (e.g., Tinkertool), and move it manually to the trash folder.
Then I emptied the trash. For superstition, I restarted, and let the index be built again (that took about 5 hours in my computer, for an HD with about 60 gb occupied on it).
Now everything seems to work perfectly fine. I don't know whether this procedure can be shortened, but I do know that nothing else worked for me. I thought I would post it here as I spent sooo much time to solve this problem, and furthermore, I found that none of the suggested solutions would work.
OK, your responsibility to do it, if you want to do it. Hope nobody needs to!
Best to you all,
l.
Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lucabo! Using ideas from your post, I also (at least for now) solved my Mail indexing problem. One day (not even after an upgrade) Mail just quit finding messages by content, even when I had open a message with that content!
What I did:
-- In System Preferences, told Spotlight to index only Mail (I just use grep from a Terminal window for everything else!)
-- Ensured Mail app wasn't running
-- Backed up my Library/Mail folder to an external disk
-- Turned off indexing via Terminal (after sudo sh), with
mdutil -i off /Volumes/MyHardDisk
-- Deleted old files in my mailboxes (inside the whatever.mbox folders):
.index.ready
mbox
tableofcontents
content_index
It was clear that mbox, tableofcontents, and content_index were left over from a previous version of mail - they hadn't been accessed since I upgraded.
Note that I didn't delete the whatever.mbox folders (just the plain mbox file inside)!
-- Deleted (in Terminal) the .Spotlight-V100 in the root directory
-- Restarted my Mac. The indexing started itself. Since I had it set up to index only Mail, it took about 3-ish hours to finish (I have 100s of 1000s of emails in thousands of folders).
After the indexing finished, all the test searches that I tried worked. From now on I will always be suspicious if search doesn't find anything!
Also, I just checked - using the Spotlight field on the menu bar now works better too. When the Mail search problem showed up, I tried using the Spotlight field and the Spotlight window, but they would just flash up a few items, remove the list, over and over, sometimes with the beachball, then finally settle to an empty list. Now the Spotlight field seems to work.
I infer that the Spotlight index gets corrupted, and that the Spotlight code doesn't notice that it's reading junk from the index...
BTW, about the same time that search quit working, some emails in my Inboxes got highlighted with a dark brown background color. Have no idea why. They aren't marked as Junk (the junk messages have the text in the usual lighter brown). But, when I select a message with the dark brown highlight, mark it as junk, then mark it as not junk, the dark brown highlight goes away. On some occasions, just quitting Mail and restarting makes the dark brown highlights go away - but not always. Sigh... at least it's not a show stopper, even if it is ugly!
Thanks again, Lucabo, for your post!
Mac OS X (10.4.6)

System Prefs search results in Spotlight always appear in Japanese ... ?

Recently I've noticed that for some reason, searching for System Prefs using Spotlight always returns the results in Japanese, whereas all of the other search results in Spotlight are in English.
Does anyone have any idea how this could happen, or how to reverse it? I've tried removing all languages except for English from the International System Prefs, but they still show up in Japanese.
Any help much appreciated.

Try re-indexing Spotlight.
Spotlight – Re-index

Spotlight not indexing after hard drive replaced

Hi all
Just wondering if anyone knows how to encourage Spotlight to re-index? Just had my hard drive replaced as part of the recall, and now Spotlight wont index anything.
I've tried previous suggestions (adding and removing hard drive to privacy list, commands through terminal etc), but it's still not working. All the software is up to date (10.7.5).
Any ideas? It's incredibly annoying, and making working on this computer virtually impossible at the moment.
Cheers

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Step 1
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Enter "mdworker" (without the quotes) in the Filter text field. Post the most recent 50 or so messages that appear in the Console window — the text, please, not a screenshot.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.
Step 2
Do the same with the search string "mds".

Force Spotlight to Index a FW HDD

Hello!
Well, I recently aquired (as in 2 days ago) a Seagate 400GB FireWire/USB drive. I have it connected via FW.
Well, after formatting it to Mac Extended format, I partitioned it for a 60G section (intended for a secondary boot volume) and a 320 GB volume.
Yesterday, I coppied all 6 gig of data from our old G4's hard drive. Tonight, I want to look for a couple of files - but spotlight hasn't indexed anything - so not even find will find the files.
How do you force spotlight to index a hard drive?
-Dan

To force a volume to index just drag it into the privacy window for a moment and then drag it out.
-mj
[email protected]

Spotlight still indexing after upgrading to 10.6.7

I upgraded my 3-1/2 year old black MacBook to OS X 10.6.7 the other day, and after I rebooted, Spotlight began indexing my drive and has been stuck at "Estimating index time" ever since.
Is this a known issue, or am I the only one?
I'm not sure why it started indexing again, but how can I get it to stop?

Hi,
Try to stop NAT, than start Setup Gateway Assistant again, may be help.
Note: you should be sure your firewall is in correct setup. My NAT some time stop and can not start again because of my firewall "open" much ports than nessesary.

How can I stop Spotlight from indexing external drives?

I work in an environment where we plugin several different costumer harddrives all day long as part of our working process. Often only to extract one file from a given drive. Therefore its annoying that Spotlight automatically starts indexing these drives, because it slows down everthing, but also because our windows costumers suddenly see these weird mac files on their drives, that are invisible to the macuser. The Privacy setting is not of much use, as its impossible to add oru costumers drives to the list - we simply don't know the drive until we see it.
How can spotlight stop indexing?

The Privacy option is okay for private users, but at work we receive alot of harddrives from costumers and we simply cannot spend the extra time waiting for a drive to be indexed every time it is connected. That drive may never be connected again as it belongs to a costumer, and it is impossible for us to add drives to the Privacy pane, because we do not know they exist before we see them infront of us. The ption to disable all external drives from being indexed would be great. Or that the indexing can be stopped in the spotlight menu, or that the indexing will not start until 10 minutes after the drive has been mounted - and only if the drive is inactive.

Stop Spotlight from indexing new drives

I know how to block a drive in Spotlight's privacy settings.
What I'm looking for is a way to stop Spotlight from indexing a drive every time I plug one in. I'm often connecting external drives for work & spotlight immediatley starts to index & I go in and add it to the blocked list in Spotlight> Privacy.
Is there a way to just have Spotlight NOT try to index a new drive?

Sorry, I missed that part.
Try this, add this file to the external drive.
touch /Volumes/name of the external drive/.metadata_never_index
This will add a file called .metadata_never_index to the root of that drive.
You can also disable spotlight
sudo mdutil -a -i off
To re-enable Spotlight:
sudo mdutil -a -i on

How to stop Spotlight from indexing backup drives

Is there any way to stop Spotlight from indexing backup drives?
Thanks

Yes, in Spotlight preferences there is an option to do this. I'm not on my Mac now, so I forget exactly where in Spotlight preferences it is. I believe there is a second tab that you have to click on, then click the "+" sign to add items to Exclude. Just add your backup drive.

IPhoto/Spotlight not indexing SOLUTION

For those iPhoto 6 users whoose comments and keywords not being indexed by Spotlight, here is the solution to your problem!
If you are getting * Parsing file: '~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/AlbumData.xml'
ERROR: syntax error (<key>PhotoCount</key>) when you try to manually index your iPhoto library with mdimport, this will solve your problem!
You can only have single-line comments on your photos:
- Create a smart album: "Comments... contains... [option][return]"
Note: press option+return with your keyboard... the box will appear blank
- The smart album should become populated with photos where you entered a comment containing a character return
- Click the ( i ) in the bottom left-hand corner to draw up the info for each file, and manually remove the character break until your smart alum is empty OR go to Photos -> Batch Change and enter a new comment. Make sure that "append" is UNCHECKED -- This will overwrite all of the comments.
Now, you must also make sure you only have single-line comments on your rolls:
- From the iPhoto Library, go to View -> Sort Photos -> By Film Roll
- Hold the Apple (command) key, and click the drop down triangle once or twice (until all are collapsed)
- Manually examine each roll and make sure that the comments (if any) are all on one line.
Note: If the comments are all on one line, the whole line will be visible in the collapsed view under the Film Roll name
Quit iPhoto
Open Terminal (in the Utilities folder)
- Type mdimport -f ~/Pictures and hit return
- After some time, a message should come up saying:
* Parsing file: '~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/AlbumData.xml'
As long as there is not an error message underneath, this is good!
- When the command has finished running and you're at a blank prompt again, quit Terminal
Open iPhoto
- Click iPhoto in the menu bar, and go to Preferences
- Click the Keywords tab
- Click the "+" and create a new keyword called Spotlight
- Close out of iPhoto preferences
- From the iPhoto Library, select all of the photos (Edit -> Select All)
- Get info on the files (Photos -> Get Info)
- Select the Keywords tab
- CHECK the box that says [Spotlight] *THIS MIGHT TAKE A WHILE
- UNCHECK the box that says [Spotlight] * THIS MIGHT TAKE A WHILE
Note: This forces all of the pictures to be updated in the database
- Quit iPhoto
Search for your comments and keywords with Spotlight

Can I ask, does this need to be done every time you add photos to iPhoto, or is this a one-off trick to get Spotlight to look at iPhoto keywords in the first place?
My first experience with iPhoto is iPhoto6 so I don't have any baggage that I am bringing from earlier copies of iPhoto. I've imported in 1500 photos and am working my way through tagging them with keywords and am hoping that spotlight will index them. Is this bug related to keywords applied in older versions of iPhoto, or does the issue manifest itself even on a brand new library? Are Apple looking to patch iPhoto / Spotlight to resolve this?
Thanks.
Graham

IPhoto/Spotlight not indexing SOLUTION *edit

For those iPhoto 6 users whoose comments and keywords not being indexed by Spotlight, here is the solution to your problem!
If you are getting * Parsing file: '~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/AlbumData.xml'
ERROR: syntax error (<key>PhotoCount</key>) when you try to manually index your iPhoto library with mdimport, this will solve your problem!
You can only have single-line comments on your photos:
- Create a smart album: "Comments... contains... [option][return]"
Note: press option+return with your keyboard... the box will appear blank
- The smart album should become populated with photos where you entered a comment containing a character return
- Click the ( i ) in the bottom left-hand corner to draw up the info for each file, and manually remove the character break until your smart alum is empty OR go to Photos -> Batch Change and enter a new comment. Make sure that "append" is UNCHECKED -- This will overwrite all of the comments.
Now, you must also make sure you only have single-line comments on your rolls:
- From the iPhoto Library, go to View -> Sort Photos -> By Film Roll
- Hold the Apple (command) key, and click the drop down triangle once or twice (until all are collapsed)
- Manually examine each roll and make sure that the comments (if any) are all on one line.
Note: If the comments are all on one line, the whole line will be visible in the collapsed view under the Film Roll name
Quit iPhoto
Open Terminal (in the Utilities folder)
- Type mdimport -f ~/Pictures and hit return
- After some time, a message should come up saying:
* Parsing file: '~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/AlbumData.xml'
As long as there is not an error message underneath, this is good!
- When the command has finished running and you're at a blank prompt again, quit Terminal
Open iPhoto
- Click iPhoto in the menu bar, and go to Preferences
- Click the Keywords tab
- Click the "+" and create a new keyword called Spotlight
- Close out of iPhoto preferences
- From the iPhoto Library, select all of the photos (Edit -> Select All)
- Get info on the files (Photos -> Get Info)
- Select the Keywords tab
- CHECK the box that says [Spotlight] *THIS MIGHT TAKE A WHILE
- UNCHECK the box that says [Spotlight] * THIS MIGHT TAKE A WHILE
Note: This forces all of the pictures to be updated in the database
- Quit iPhoto
Search for your comments and keywords with Spotlight

Can I ask, does this need to be done every time you add photos to iPhoto, or is this a one-off trick to get Spotlight to look at iPhoto keywords in the first place?
My first experience with iPhoto is iPhoto6 so I don't have any baggage that I am bringing from earlier copies of iPhoto. I've imported in 1500 photos and am working my way through tagging them with keywords and am hoping that spotlight will index them. Is this bug related to keywords applied in older versions of iPhoto, or does the issue manifest itself even on a brand new library? Are Apple looking to patch iPhoto / Spotlight to resolve this?
Thanks.
Graham

Spotlight is indexing but what? And why does it want access to the web?

I can see Spotlight is indexing, it spends several hours a day doing this, every day.
Where can i find more details like previous OS X versions? Which drive, how much time left etc.
Console was no help, any suggestions welcome.
Also, with "Spotlight Suggestions" and "Bing Web Searches" disabled in the Spotlight Search Results references, why is the process "Spotlight Web Content" still trying to access the web several times a day? I am not using Spotlight when this happens nor am i trying to preview any files that have web content in them. Most commonly it tries to connect to static.amazon.com on the http port.

In System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results, if you have "Bookmarks and History" checked, then the "Spotlight Web Content" background process will crawl any web page that you recently visited to index its keywords. Uncheck that to turn it off.

Spotlight ALWAYS Indexing

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