Spotlight not finding metadata of iPhoto '08

I used to be able to type a word in spotlight to find a photo which had that word in the Description of the photo (i.e. metadata). Or I could use the Title of a photo. But recently spotlight has changed and doesn't locate Titles or other metadata. It can find the photo files if I know the filename (eg P1053728.jpg) but that's not particularly useful.
Things I've changed recently: I've updated with every system update very promptly (within a day or so of release); I've also started using Filevault. I can't think of any other significant changes.
I've tried rebuilding the Spotlight index, but no change.
Any ideas?

There is a way to do a one time (or multiple over a 20 day period) writing of keywords, comments and titles to the original files. Follow the first 9 steps of Tutorial #1 and that will get you those items written to the actual original files.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

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Spotlight not finding metadata keywords

I can get spotlight to find my images with keywords on the MacHD, but not on the external drive. I formatted it with the Disk Utility as MS-DOS so I can also use it with XP. It will bring up the photos filenames. Any idea why it's noting finding the keywords? Thanks

There is a way to do a one time (or multiple over a 20 day period) writing of keywords, comments and titles to the original files. Follow the first 9 steps of Tutorial #1 and that will get you those items written to the actual original files.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

I have reinstalled snow leopard 10.6.8 and want to restore my i photos from time machine. can not find iphoto libary in time machine, can"t not find home-pict. iphoto lib. in time machine

i have reinstalled snow leopard 10.6.8, and want to restore my i photos from time machine. Can not find i-photo libary in time machine, can't not find > home-pict. iphoto lib. in time machine. Please help.

On my HD it does not say ,restore, in yourname -pict. Iphoto lib.,
On the time machine, it , yourname etc, oes not show up at all.
Only right side of TM, your name etc. does not show.

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.

YIKES! "Searching" & Spotlight not finding

OK, I'm scared. I copy the name of a file. I do a Cmd + F and paste the name of the file into the "Search for" field. Nothing. I have only one criteria, "Kind" "Any" I ask to search the directory it's in. No response. I remove and add the directory to the parameters continually. No response.
Spotlight not finding it either.
I try others. Same thing. Spotlight preferences are factory default and include "Music."
I have two files with the string I am looking for, one in a directory on my hard drive, not locked, I read and write to it daily. The other file is on a CD.
I ask to search both places. Spotlight finds the string on the CD but not on my hard drive. I started trying other files in other directories and I'm getting the same thing in the Finder Search. Spotlight not as bad, but still has problems.
This string is "stoddard." The file on the drive is actually located in two different directories and is labeled "1.01_stoddard.mp3" The one that it does find on the CD is "AUGUST 6 STODDARD.mp3"
Help me. This is scaring me. I've got tons of people I am converting to Mac. This is not going to go over well.
I've been looking and I just can't find any options or parameters I should be checking that would affect this. This is pretty simple stuff.
I tried looking for envelope.rtf which is in a completely different directory and Search did not find it though Spotlight did.
-Wm

My results are disturbing. My eMac G4 doesn't seem to have a problem with finding files. My G5 definitely does. And it has a few other funny glitches, like a couple of my Mail filters are wonky. I've set up hundreds of them and there are three that are just plain stuck and send the mail to unexpected places or don't filter at all.
Since the Spotlight glitch is intermittent, I don't think we can set up any benchmarks between us. Because Spotlight might not find envelope.rtf on my system, doesn't mean it won't find the filename on yours.
What you need to do is search for various files on your system and see if Spotlight finds them.
I doubt this is a string recognition problem, it's likely a search program error at the processor level. Probably something to do with the logic that makes the search appear speedy. Likely there's something in that programming that "falls out" when G5 is processing.
Apple is ****-bent on getting the G6 out there pronto. These anomalies may be why.
-Wm
Your results are strange.
If I try using your "1.01_stoddard.mp3" filename I
find the file with the Spotlight menu, the Spotlight
window and a smart folder.
If I delete the file, then search for it again
"1.01_stoddard.mp3" it is, of course not found, then
I create a new file and rename it to
"1.01_stoddard.mp3" Spotlight finds it immediately.
Do you want to try to debug this here in the
discussion?
multi
Mac OS X (10.4.3)
www.DiscoverYourMac.com
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.

Spotlight do not find pictures in iphoto 11

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Well, perhaps Spotlight doesn't understand the iPhoto database with the tags and stuff (which it did in older versions). But it does understand the file package. It's just a package of files and folders after all.
If I create a new iPhoto library and import a couple of pictures, then in the Finder show the new iPhoto library package content and search for "jpg" and click on "new iPhoto Library" it returns a lot of hits, since it's indeed full of jpg files. The problem is that if I do the exact same thing with the old iPhoto library package - it returns zero hits.
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FIXED!!!
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Noting that new bookmarks were recognised by Spotlight (kind:bookmark), I quite Safari, moved the bookmarks.plist file in ~Library\Safari to the Desktop, restarted Safari and imported bookmarks from the .plist file.
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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?

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Simon

Hello Simon,
Will it then be replaced automatically after some time?
Yep.
floba
PS: If that doesn't work either, then I have even one more suggestion . "Open the Spotlight preference pane. Click on the Privacy tab, and then drag your hard drive to the list of locations you don’t want Spotlight to search. Wait a few seconds; then select the drive and click on the minus-sign (–) button. By adding the drive to this list, you force Spotlight to erase the index; when you remove it from the list, Spotlight notes that the drive is again available for indexing and starts chugging away at that task." (This tip was suggested at [macworld.com|http://www.macworld.com/article/132755/2008/04/spotlight1.html].)
Message was edited by: floba

Spotlight not finding files

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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 in folders that have been extracted from ZIPs

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Is this a bug in Spotlight?
Am I missing something?
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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.

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Issue the command
<pre>
sudo mdutil -s /
</pre>
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<pre>
Status: Indexing Enabled
</pre>
Then it should be working.
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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.
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Spotlight not finding metadata of iPhoto '08

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