Spotlight not finding files that definitely exist.

I have spent the day backing up and syncing.
I have an epson P4000 (PSD). I also have two external drives (yes, this may be overkill, but I never do it). The P4000 is backed up and synced to both drives.
When I do a search for all files with a .RAW extension in the three places, the P4000 and one drive find all the files (2798) but the other drive only shows 602 files.
I know the files are there. Why isn't spotlight finding them? How can I make it find them?
Thanks for any info.

The Spotlight index may not be up to date for that drive.
You can force Spotlight to re-index any drive (including the drive you boot from) by opening System Preferences / Spotlight / Privacy and dragging the icon for the drive into Privacy.
Then close System Preferences, and I believe you may need to log out and log back in again.
Then go back into System Preferences / Spotlight / Privacy and select the drive now in the Privacy list and click the "-" at the bottom of the list to remove it from the list. Whenever an item is removed from the Privacy list, Spotlight immediately sets out to index it.
You can tell if Spotlight is indexing by clicking on the Spotlight icon in the menu bar. If it is indexing it will state that along with an estimate of how long it has to go.
Also note that if any of your files have the System or Hidden attributes the normal Spotlight search results pulldown won't show them. But you can still find them using the other interface to Spotlight in the Finder.
Open a Finder window and type Command-f to bring up the search criteria lines. In the second line, click on the "kind" drop down and select "other" from the list. A panel will show up giving all the various possible search criteria. The two of interest for finding such files are System Files and File Invisibility. If you check the check box to the right of any lines in that panel those search items will be added to the "kind" drop down list so that you don't have to go back through "other" to select them in the future. The drop down just to the right of the "kind" drop down specifies the rule to apply to that search criteria. So if you select System Files in the first drop down, you also need to select "Include" in the second drop down to see those files in the search results.
--Bob

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Why is Spotlight not finding files in Applications Support

Why is Spotlight not finding files in Users/UserName/Library/Applications Support ?
What needs to be configured to do that?
Thanks.

CMD+F, click on Kind, select Other, and enable additional criteria. See http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html and http://homepage.mac.com/francines/articles/Leopard/leospot.html for starters.

Spotlight not finding files on my Hard Drive - permissions issue?

I found that Spotlight in Mountain Lion was often not finding files when searching for words within the file (searching file names seemed to be OK).
I found various threads suggesting that it may be a problem with File Permissions. I use Dropbox and was concerned it may have messed up permissions after a relinking a while ago.
I tried to reset permissions from within Dropbox (under Settings, as suggested by some), but no help.
Finally I found this EXCELLENT TIP to reset permissions from within the Repair Utility (in Mountain Lion), Not the Disk Utility, which I had not been aware of:https://discussions.apple.com/message/20421138#20421138
It took a little while and then Spotlight re-indexed all my files. SO FAR it seems to be working well.
THANK YOU!!

Might try this...
Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.
Then move these files to the Desktop for now...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
Reboot & test.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

Spotlight not finding files in folders that have been extracted from ZIPs

I've got a folder, say 'test', with some images in it. It is located in ~/Pictures.
I have just downloaded another folder as a ZIP file, which Safari put in /tmp and unzipped automatically. It contains some more images. Let's call it 'exif'. I have moved 'exif' into 'test'.
Now, when I do a Spotlight search of images in the folder 'test', Spotlight does not list the images in 'exif'!
(I do the search with CMD-F, 'test' folder only, Kind = Images.)
However, when I create a different folder in 'test' and move the images from 'exif' to the new one, then a Spotlight search for images in 'test' does list those, too.
Also, when I copy the originial unzipped folder 'exif' to 'test' (Alt + mouse drag), then the images in the new 'exif' folder show up in the Spotlight search.
So it seems a folder that has been extracted from a ZIP archive does not get indexed by Spotlight -- only if its contents have been copied first.
Is this a bug in Spotlight?
Am I missing something?
It's pretty bad, because I would always have to remember to copy unzipped folders to a new one, in order to make sure that Spotlight does find the stuff!
Regards,
Gabriel.

Yeah the new search leaves something to be desired (actually the old search wasn't so great either). You get better results using Google's advanced search and restricting the search domain to discussions.apple.com.
Here's what the search in Google looks like:
Anyway the old post is why doesn't spotlight search inside aperture library? it explains why spotlight
doesn't search the library and how to work around it.

Spotlight not finding files on Mountain Lion

My Spotlight and Finder searches don't find most files/folders/applications on ML 10.8. The files are there if I browse to them manually, and I'm hoping I can fix this without a clean install.
Some things I have tried:
I've dragged the entire HDD to the Spotlight Privacy tab and removed it (to re-index).
I've checked Spotlight Preferences and everything is checked under Search Results.
Any ideas? Thanks for any suggestions.

Agreed, definitely something screwed up :-)
Tried deleting the preferences file (from ~/Library/Preferences). Nothing I did after that recreated the file including going and changing the settings (e.g. adding a directory to exlude and saving via Spotlight preferences pane), which is a bit odd.
Regardless, after that, I redid the recreation steps (i.e. adding / removing mac HD via spotlight prefs, the 3 mdutil commands above etc) and still nothing. AFAICT, there is basically no indexing or no search going on in spotligh, I think this because when I try to search via spotlight, it does nothing (i.e. not even the usual spinning wheel) and immediately returns no results, so either it is not searching or is searching an empty/tiny index I think.
Unless you have other ideas, I am going to do some jiggling (e.g. restart), maybe wait for an OS update or two and if nothing else, try reverting to an earlier time machine backup (would much rather not do this last). Any other ideas appreciated.

Spotlight not finding files in time machine

I Have this problem where spolight is not finding the files present on my back-up drive using time machine. The files are there, I can find them manually but when searching for the using spotlight, 0 results show up. Does anyone have any exeprience with this?

The correct search method is to do a Smart Folder search and then enter Time Machine with that as the active window. Of course this searches separately in every backup. You can't, for instance (at least so far as I know), do a global search to tell you which backup a particular file is present in (wouldn't be all that clear what you were finding anyway since similarly named files or folders in different backups might have different contents).
Is this what you were doing?

Why is spotlight not finding files in a folder (I know the files are there)

I've been having trouble with spotlight. I've done all the possible means of resetting spotlight folders via pref pane and via command line. Either way I go about it spotlight is not working properly.
My test for this is to search in folder for a file I know is in there. But, spotlight in finder isn't finding the file. Why? What prevents SPotlight in FInder from seeing files that are there? None of my drives are in the privacy section of the spotlight preferences.
Leopard 10.5.6 Mac Pro

this is certainly not normal. it looks like spotlight indexing is choking on something. if this continues you should probably stop it. look in the console log. there may be a record of what it's choking on. you can try deleting the hidden spotlight folder at the top of the drive. this will restart indexing and delete all the current spotlight data. if it keeps doing this I don't really know what to suggest. you can try excluding various folders on the drive from spotlight to see if you can isolate where the problem is.

Spotlight Not finding files Re indexing does not work

As the title says really, but there is more.
If I am logged in as one of two users, I can't find the file in the spotlight search, not quite...but if I log in as a new user, the file appears within a few characters being typed in the Spotlight of the new User.
The File title is Su Birth Cert.jpg
If I am logged in as that user, I have to type the filename and include the (.) full stop at the end just before the 'jpg' I don't need to type as far as jpg, Just the Full stop (.)
It is a jpg file, stored in a "Documents' sub folder with other ID info.
Images are checked in Spotlight Preferences...but it is an Image..in a Documents Sub folder.
I thought that may have been an issue...so i moved some documents over to the "pictures" home folder. Spotlight continued to find the Document in the Pictures folder.
I Duplicated the Birth Cert image..Spotlight still could not find it
I opened the Image in Preview and exported it as a PDF Spotlight can now find it iinstantly
I have re index multiple times, Re booted, Safe Booted, Recovery booted (where the Menu bar would not work, where the Menu bar wold not work) RESET PRAM
Dragged User Folders HDD to Spotlight Privacy, then deleted it so to Force Re indexing
used the command from other threads tp reset user folder permissions.
Disk Utility does not give the option to Repair Permissions on the User Folders HDD.....yes the user Folders are 'moved' via the Sys prefer /Users/ Advanced options, to a separate HDD.
Any one have any ideas?
Spotlight does just not seem to want to find some files.

Spotlight won’t work

HT2531 Finder / Spotlight not finding files "containing ......."

I have a file named with a persons name and i have multiple files containing that same name, however when i search for that name i only get the file named with that name, not files containing that name. Very annoying, any suggestions, it used to work until I ran low on disc space, I since freed space but it still does not work

As baltwo eventually explained, you have to add the search criteria "System files" to your search, with the option "Include" selected, to find many items Spotlight otherwise excludes from search results. Alternately (& quite ridiculously), if your search is restricted to the parent folder containing the item, you don't need to add this.
For example, if you open /Library in the Finder, enter "Desktop Pictures" in the search box, you won't get it in the results with the default "This Mac" location, but if you click "Library" for the location, you will. (Yes, many users think this is bizarre, "what were they thinking?" behavior.)
What Spotlight considers "system files" is only slightly less bizarre, as you will probably discover once you start using it to broaden searches. For instance, Safari history items & Mail.app messages are not found unless you include system files, but many files like C Header Source files (in System/Library/Frameworks) are found without including system files in the search.
When it was introduced in Tiger, Spotlight was supposed to be a next-generation search engine, capable of accurately guessing what you were looking for (& filtering out what you weren't) with near-sentient intelligence. I think almost anyone who used that version will agree it did not achieve that lofty goal. Apple apparently agreed, or at least listened to the complaints enough to realize it needed rethinking. Unfortunately, what its designers came up with for the Leopard rethink feels like an early beta version, full of hastily implemented, quirky features that never got sorted out before it was released.
We can only hope that we won't have to wait for OS 10.6 for a more mature, less quirky version.

Spotlight not finding files

I just recently used ARD to send a Unix command to tar up some files on a bunch of lab computers and stick them into an administrative directory. I'm trying to use Spotlight to pull these files over to my computer, but I can't find them.
I have set the Spotlight Search window to look only in the directory where I saved the files. I can SSH into the computers and see the files with ls. I can see them in the Finder if I log into the GUI. But Spotlight refuses to acknowledge the files' existence.
What's wrong with Spotlight, and is there a way to fix it?

I'm sorry. The above question was not clear. Here it is simpler: I recently transferred a number of files and folders from my Imac duo to my powerbook G4 laptop using firewire and terminal. The folders I have transferred cannot be found by spotlight. I have tried re-indexing the documents folder (which contains most of the additions) as well as the entire laptop hard disk -- spotlight indicates it is indexing but still does not find the folders.

Spotlight not finding files plainly visible on the desktop

Spotlight won't find a PDF file that I can plainly see on my desktop. I have had this problem repeatedly recently. It doesn't matter whether I set search to look on the desktop or "all files". It just doesn't find them. This is fairly frustrating. Any ideas? I am using 10.9, and just got a new laptop a month ago. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello there, Manderson100.
The following Knowledge Base article provides the steps for re-indexing Spotlight:
Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Spotlight not finding files or folders

I recently installed 'SimplifyMedia' and am trying to figure out how to uninstall the program. I e-mailed customer support and they told me to 'Spotlight' the term 'SimplifyMedia' and erase anything that shows up.
I then did a 'Spotlight' search for 'SimplifyMedia' and only the application showed up. Upon manually searching for files I found these additional things.
1.) A 'SimplifyMedia' folder inside my user/library/application support/simplifymedia
2.) A 'SimplifyMedia' file inside user/library/preferences
File = com.simplifymedia.Manager.plist
How come these didn't show up during the 'Spot Light' search? On my 'Spot Light' preferences I have every box checked so it should do a search of the entire harddrive, right? How do I get 'Spotlight' to show every file and folder on my hardrive with the words 'SimplifyMedia'?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Dan

Spotlight does not search the Library folders by default. It can be configured to do so.
1. Press COMMAND-F to initiate a Spotlight search.
2. Select Other from the drop down menu displaying Kind.
3. Scroll down the list to System Files. Check the box to the right of that entry.
Now when you perform a Spotlight search you will be able to select System Files from the same drop down menu.
Alternatively, download the freeware Easy Find - VersionTracker or MacUpdate - and use it when you need to search for items not included by default in Spotlight.

Spotlight not finding files it should be, including file types it shouldn't

I have several folders and documents with the word "Kiosk" in the name as a full word (not as part of another word or preceded by an underscore.) When I search my hard drive for "Kiosk" spotlight shows no results. These documents are in my documents folders. Why are they not appearing in seach results? Now I'm worried, what else doesn't Spotlight find? I used to see this problem years ago in OS X 10.3 but thought they had fixed it long ago.
Meanwhile, I don't want Safari history or emails to clutter up my search results when searching by context. I have these two things unchecked in my Spotlight system preferences, but they still appear in search results.
I'm baffled by this errors suddenly appearing after using Snow Leopard for this long. Is there a way to make Spotlight work correctly?

Mike K wrote:
I still can't get rid of the emails and safari history items in my search results.
Don't waste your time. I filed a bug report for this;
I've set Spotlight's Search Results to not show webpages. However, webpages are depicted.
Engineering responded with:
After reviewing your submission engineering has determined that the behavior you reported is as expected/designed.
The spotlight preferences set in the prefpane only apply to the spotlight menu in the menubar, not in the finder.
Thus, your only option is to use the crappy Spotlight menu, which you can't tailor for searches. If you think this is ill-designed, as I do, File a bug report with Apple.

Spotlight not finding file

Hi chaps, I lost a file (don't we all) I new it was called "I need web" and that it was a .pdf - spotlight didn't spot it ... it's in my user account/documents so pretty simple, so simple I found it manually ... any thoughts please ? enjoy the rest of the weekend ... Roger

I never use Spotlight - try this: open a Finder window by pressing Command + F. In the resulting window, change the dropdown "Kind" to "System Files" and "aren't included" to "are included" and type in your search word/phrase. Hopefully, that'll find your file.

Spotlight not finding files in Aperture

I am building Aperture libraries from photos I had on a PC. I've been able to successfully import the photos. For various reasons, I have additional files on several memory sticks. Rather than just drag them into Aperture I wanted to see if I had already gotten the photo into Aperture.
I've encountered a problem is that Spotlight searches don't "see" the photos I've already placed into Aperture.
I thought Spotlight was supposed to see all files on the iMac.
Can someone shed some light on this dilemma?
Thank you.
dcwarner
wilmington, de
(If this duplicates a relatively new posting, I'm sorry, but I also haven't figured out how the new discussion group format allows refined searches of archives.)

Yeah the new search leaves something to be desired (actually the old search wasn't so great either). You get better results using Google's advanced search and restricting the search domain to discussions.apple.com.
Here's what the search in Google looks like:
Anyway the old post is why doesn't spotlight search inside aperture library? it explains why spotlight
doesn't search the library and how to work around it.

Spotlight not finding files that definitely exist.

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