Spotlight doesn't find all files.

Hi guys,
i just installed Snow leopard on my old iMac that was running tiger before. With tiger i never had troubles like this and the same files im looking for now were always found. However spotlight doesn't seem to find them now. They are located in HD/library/.... anything in there cant be found and i didnt enable privacy for it.
After i moved one application out of there and dragged it on the desktop it was instantly found. Doesn't seem like a big deal since i know where the app is and i have it in the dock anyways, the problem just is that i am looking for other files that im not sure anymore if they are on the computer and if spotlight just doesnt find them it would take me a lot of time searching for them manually.
My question is, besides if you have a solution to fix this, if its due to snow leopard. Does it not look in the library anymore?
Thanks in advance folks,
P.S. i already re-indexed.

Spotlight does not search system folders by default.  See,
Get Spotlight to search system files (and more)
Enter the search term in the Finder window's search field.
Click the [+] button in the search bar to add a search option.
In the first drop down menu choose Other.
Choose “System Files” from the list that pops up (and check the box to place in drop down menu to avoid this step later,) click on the OK button.
Now back in the Finder choose Include from the second drop down menu.

Similar Messages

  • Under Yosemite Spotlight doesn´t find my files

    Under Yosemite Spotlight doesn´t find my files on the computer and connected hard drives. What can I do?

    Try re-indexing Spotlight.
    Spotlight – Re-index
    See if you can find the file using this program
    EasyFind – Spotlight Replacement

  • Spotlight doesn't find html files

    I'm a web developer. I have thousands of ".html" files, such as "india.html"
    Spotlight won't find them.
    It does find "india.cfm" files so I'll assume the problem is the html extension.
    If I Show All in Finder it does them ... in a Find window section called "Developer" ... which doesn't appear in Spotlight, or is a choice in Spotlight Preferences.
    This used to work. I'm now using 10.9.5. I don't know at which update it stopped working ... I don't perform this often but when I do it's critical.
    I've repaired permissions and reindexed the drive (twice, by adding and removing the drive from Spotlight index preferences).
    Thanks.

    A test...
    Made a plain text file, saved to desktop, apple.html. Spotlight doesn't find it. Duplicated it. Change the name to apple.txt. Spotlight immediately finds it.
    Spotlight is having a problem with html.
    Checked the Spotlight RichText.mdimporter and it has:
    <array>
    <dict>
    <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
    <string>MDImporter</string>
    <key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
    <array>
    <string>public.rtf</string>
    <string>public.html</string>
    <string>public.xml</string>
    <string>public.plain-text</string>
    <string>com.apple.traditional-mac-plain-text</string>
    <string>com.apple.rtfd</string>
    <string>com.apple.webarchive</string>
    <string>org.oasis-open.opendocument.text</string>
    <string>org.openxmlformats.wordprocessingml.document</string>
    </array>
    </dict>
    </array>
    ... so that's in there...

  • Spotlight doesn't find a file it should

    When i do 'grep strahler *' in my ~/Mail directory, i find one file. However, when i search for "strahler" using spotlight, it doesn't turn it up (it finds lots of other files, but not that one).
    How could that be?
    [my trust in spotlight is in tatters -- i thought it finds everything]
    Best regards,
    Gabriel.

    < wonder what apple has to say about that ...
    spotlight seems to be one of their selling points for the mac, doesn't it?>
    Unfortunately, after a year of yelping and squealing and countless emails from users, directly to Apple, asking them to fix Spotlight, Apple so far has had nothing to say. I suggest you add an email of your own, to Apple Support, as apparently nobody (who matters) at Apple ever reads these forums.
    Spotlight, and Dashboard, were the two new "features" that, about a year ago, persuaded people that Tiger was better than Panther.
    It isn't.

  • Spotlight doesn't find invisible files in Yosemite

    Spotlight, under Yosemite 10.10.2, does not find invisible files, even when specifically requested to do it. The results window is empty.
    Besides that, the insible property has disappeared from the Finder information windows:

    Open System Preferences > Spotlight. Under the 'privacy' tab, drag your HD into the list from a Finder window. As soon as it's in the list, remove it.
    Spotlight will now begin to reindex your entire HD. You'll see a dot in the middle of the spotlight icon and clicking the icon will tell you that it's re-indexing.
    Regards,

  • Finder doesn't find all files

    Finder doesn't list all folders in a folder.
    The "ls" Terminal command does.
    For example, when looking for a group called "Gladys Knight & the Pips" in my itunes library it is not shown in the folder listing using Finder.
    Here is a snippet from Finder:
    However, when using terminal commands, it is found.
    Bobs-iMac:iTunes bobs$ pwd
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes
    Bobs-iMac:iTunes bobs$ ls -aR | grep "Gladys"
    Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips
    ./iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips:
    ./iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]:
    I'm running a clean install of OS X Yosemite, version 10.10.2

    Last login: Tue Apr 21 21:23:51 on ttys000
    Bobs-iMac:~ bobs$ cd music
    Bobs-iMac:music bobs$ ls
    iTunes
    Bobs-iMac:music bobs$ cd iTunes
    Bobs-iMac:iTunes bobs$ ls
    Album Artwork            iTunes Media
    iTunes Library Extras.itdb    iTunes Music Library.xml
    iTunes Library Genius.itdb    sentinel
    iTunes Library.itl
    Bobs-iMac:iTunes bobs$ mdfind Gladys
    /Volumes/Western Digital/Music/iTunes (under music)/iTunes Music Library.xml
    /Volumes/Western Digital/Music/Various Artists/Motown Legends, Vol. 3/06 I Heard It Through the Grapevine.mp3
    /Volumes/Western Digital/Music/Various Artists/Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits_ 1973/03 Midnight Train to Georgia.mp3
    /Volumes/Western Digital/Music/Unknown/Shop Around/03 Nitty Gritty.mp3
    /Volumes/Western Digital/Music/Unknown/READER'S DIGEST 20 YEARS OF SOLID GOLD GROUPS Disc 3/07 MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA.mp3
    /Volumes/Western Digital/Music/Ray Charles/Genius Loves Company/10 Heaven Help Us All.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/06 Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/07 I've Got to Use My Imagination.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/08 On and On.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/09 Letter Full of Tears.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/10 Every Beat of My Heart.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/05 Midnight Train to Georgia.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/03 Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/04 Friendship Train.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/02 If I Were Your Woman.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips/Greatest Hits [Curb_Capitol]/01 I Heard It Through the Grapevine.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Gladys Knight _ Gladys Knight & the Pips
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Various Artists/Motown Legends, Vol. 3/06 I Heard It Through the Grapevine.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Various Artists/Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits_ 1973/03 Midnight Train to Georgia.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Unknown/READER'S DIGEST 20 YEARS OF SOLID GOLD GROUPS Disc 3/16 BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Unknown/READER'S DIGEST 20 YEARS OF SOLID GOLD GROUPS Disc 3/07 MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Various/Shop Around/03 Nitty Gritty.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Ray Charles/Genius Loves Company/10 Heaven Help Us All.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Documents/Music/Various Artists/Motown Legends, Vol. 3/06 I Heard It Through the Grapevine.mp3
    /Users/bobs/Documents/Music/Various Artists/Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits- 1973/03 Midnight Train to Georgia.mp3
    Bobs-iMac:iTunes bobs$

  • Spotlight doesn't find files after Time Machine re-load

    So I just got a new macbook pro and transferred everything from my old laptop onto it using Time Machine, which worked amazingly ... only weird thing now is when i search in the Finder Search bar or in Spotlight, it doesn't find any files that were on my old computer. I can find them manually, for example, I can be looking at a file called "house-info.rtf" in my Documents folder, but if i search "house" or even "house-info" it comes up with 0 results.
    Any new file (I've made or downloaded on my new machine) comes up fine in the search, it's just files from my previous computer moved over via time machine...
    any ideas?

    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    Time Machine does not save Spotlight's index, so your drive has to be re-indexed. It may be that it just hasn't "caught up" yet. Give it some time.
    If you're pretty sure it just hasn't done it, you can usually get Spotlight to re-index by excluding your internal HD from Spotlight (System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy) for a few moments, then removing the exclusion. That should make it start over.

  • TM: Spotlight Won't Find Deleted File

    As a test, I created a file just before TM began an hourly backup. After the backup was completed, I deleted the file.
    When I open finder and search for the file using spotlight, of course it doesn't find it. When i call up the TM display and click the arrows, it still doesn't find it. In fact, spotlight won't find the file in TM at all. But because I know the exact time and date of the backup that has that file, I can navigate to the exact directory and find it. The file is there, and it only exists in that one backup.
    So TM is working, but this isn't exactly the most convenient if you've deleted a file a month ago, have no idea when it was backed up, and can't remember where it was located.
    I've tried it with the TM drive both in and out of the spotlight privacy pane--doesn't seem to make any difference. Known issue?

    Hmmm, it sounds like Spotlight's DB is corrupt or not functioning properly.
    Might give a try with Spotless...
    http://www.fixamac.net/software/spot/
    For finding files by name you might like one of these...
    EasyFind...
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11076
    Or Find Any File...
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30079/find-any-file

  • Preview Doesn't Find All Searched Text in PDFs

    I downloaded a PDF copy of my home insurance policy and I had it opened in Preview. The pages are displayed in the side bar. When I type in a search query such as "building" or "personal" or "dwelling" it doesn't find all occurrences if any yet I know there should be plenty of hits.
    I guess I can try Adobe Acrobat.
    Thanks for any advice.
    Kelvin

    I get 4 results when I search for ''<identifier>'' on that web page.
    Start Firefox in <u>[[Safe Mode|Safe Mode]]</u> to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
    *Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
    *Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
    *https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
    *https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

  • When i want to download the test version of CC, creative cloud doesn't find the file. Always search

    When i want to download the test version of CC, creative cloud doesn't find the file. Always searching, what do i do?

    Hi clemdef,
    Change your browser and try again. Please refer the kb: http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/troubleshoot-cc-installation-download.html for download issues.
    You may even try the direct download: http://prodesigntools.com/adobe-cc-direct-download-links.html .
    Kindly follow the very important instructions before download.
    Regards,
    Romit Sinha

  • Finder doesn't show all files

    When I add new photos to iPhoto, they do not appear as a file or item in Finder Documents list. I thought Finder was supposed to show all files and items that you create?

    santra, use EasyFind or Find File instead. BY default, Apple's own Finder/spotlight doesn't search everywhere and doesn't find everything (Mac fanboys will tell you this is a feature and is so intelligent that some people can't understand how smart it is; I prefer to think of it as a defect).
    Easyfind is here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/8707
    Find File is here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10906315
    I hope this helps you to find all your stuff.

  • Snow Leopard finder doesn't list all files on Windows 7 volumes

    From my Macbook Pro (10.6.8), I can connect to my Mac Pro, while it is running Windows 7 in Boot Camp, in order to access the Mac Pro's 6 volumes (1 Boot Camp, 5 Mac volumes). This is using SMB via Finder's 'Connect to server…' on an Airport network.
    However, Finder never displays all the files and folders on any of the Mac volumes it connects to through Windows 7. It seems to show approximately the first 18-9 files and folders, and then nothing. The same applies when I open a nested folder — it doesn't list all of its contents.
    Any ideas as to what's causing this and how I can fix it? I have searched all over but can't find any answers yet, so I'm hoping someone here has seen this before.

    Thanks for the reply, but I do have the Restore Windows box checked (see below). And the Resume features info (cnet link) only addresses how to turn the feature off, either selectively or globally. I'm simply looking for the functionality that I had with Snow Leopard and now seems to be absent. Maybe it's a bug in my Finder.

  • Spotlight doesn't find search results in .HTML file contents

    When I use Spotlight to search, it doesn't find any .HTML file contents. If I rename an .HTML file to use a .TXT extension, the contents are found. Is there a way to enable Spotlight to find contents in .HTML files?

    I remembered that used to be problem, so I just checked on my local version of my site, and Spotlight found the files on the basis of content without a problem. So I took a look at my installed mdimporters in /Library/Spotlight, to see what may have led to this happy turn of events. I thought perhaps the iWeb mdimporter might be doing it, but was unable to find a reference to HTML in its type declarations. I then took a look at in /System/Library/Spotlight and discovered that RichText.mdimporter has a declaration for public.html as a content type. You should have that mdimporter installed by default, but you might take a look to make sure it is there.
    If the mdimporter is there, but the html files aren't being indexed, it could be that whatever program you are using to create them isn't giving them the appropriate content type. I code by hand using TextEdit, which saves them with the following metadata entry:
    kMDItemContentType = "public.html"
    kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
    "public.html",
    "public.text",
    "public.data",
    "public.item",
    "public.content"
    They are then evidently indexed without problem by the RichText.mdimporter. You might try opening one of your html docs in TextEdit (as plain text), resave, and see if Spotlight then picks up the content of the file. Of course, the content means the words that people see when they look at the page in a browser. If the content you are talking about is stuff that is inside an html tag, you are out of luck. I know of NO way to get Spotlight to find that. EasyFind will though, but it is a brute force search and will take awhile, even when restricted to a particular folder.
    Francine
    Francine
    Schwieder

  • Spotlight doesn't find the contents of at least one file

    Goal - find a clever way to discover what Spotlight has (or hasn't indexed).
    I have an xls spreadsheet that has the names and emails addresses of people who attended a recent course of mine. In the past few weeks I need to search precisely which course someone attended. The person had a unique last name and so I just put the name into
    spotlight. Nothing found. A few minutes of digging manually confirmed the person had attended the course I expected.
    Related discoveries
    none of the contents of that file is indexed by Spotlight - tested by searching other names
    older xls files in the same folder are correctly indexed
    Searching on the filename finds the file so the file itself is found by spotlight
    Copy the column of names to a temp spreadsheet, save them and search - file find
    Rebuilding the index from scratch warmed my CPU but didn't change anything
    I've checked the simple spotlight preferences - xls spreadsheets aren't ignored
    Since I don't know why its getting missed I'm concerned that other files might not get indexed properly as well.

    I would suspect a corrupt file. It may be just damaged enough to stop Spotlight reading it properly.
    If you select the file in the Finder and hit the space bar does it open in Quick Look? If it doesn't then it is broken.
    Try opening it in Excel and copying and pasting everything into a new file.

  • Finder copy doesn't copy all files

    I have a dedicated disk for my Aperture masters, and to back this up while also defragging (according to a method described by Kevin J Doyle and Matthew Bergsma on the Aperture forum) I'm simply doing a Finder copy of the masters. I may have made a mistake when I relocated my masters a few months ago, because I put all 40,000 files in a single directory, at the "root" level of the drive.
    I've searched around to see if there is a limit to the number of items in a single directory, and saw guesses but nothing definitive.
    The problem is that when I try to copy the files, the Finder shows all 40,000 selected, but only copies 10,000 or so. I can't figure out why. If needed I can relocate the masters again into project folders, but I'm very curious why I'm seeing the partial copy.
    Rob

    I've got the same problem when copying multiple large files from the desktop to a network drive on Windows Home Server (using drag/drop). The files are about 1gb each, and if I copy more than one at a time, at least one will dissapear on the target machine. This is VERY repeatable.
    When I watch it closely, I can see temporary files for all files appear, and the number of items, and the total size reported in the copy status on the Mac are correct. In fact, it takes about the correct amount of time for the total size copied. However, when the copy is complete, some of the files on the target drive vanish. There is no error dialog, files just go poof. Dragging the missing files again works, as long as no more than one is copied at a time.
    A test with a few small files works fine. This only fails with large files. The total copied is less than 2gb, so this doesn't seem to be a FAT32 problem. There is ample space on the destination drive (over 1Tb free). The Mac is on a wireless 802.11N lan.
    - Bruce

Maybe you are looking for