Spotlight not finding things

Hi i had a 500GB external lacie hd and connected via firewire 800 and spotlight will not search file in that hd sometimes it does but other times it comes up with nothing. so i tested it by searching for a file i know is definitely on there and it still comes up with nothing.
Please Help Lots of missing files
Thank you

Elliot, I have the same problem with an external hard drive that is recognized by the system but every time (nearly) I search with spotlight the search is thrown from the external drive onto the system hd. It refuses to search the external drive.

Similar Messages

Spotlight not finding things in Dropbox folder, "reindexing" not working

I'm using 10.10.1 on a MacBook Air.
For the last several weeks (or more?), Spotlight has not returned results for documents in my Dropbox folder, which is where I keep my research notes. I tried following the "reindexing" directions, choosing the "privacy" tab in Spotlight preferences, adding Dropbox, and then deleting, but this made no difference. I can only locate specific notes now by opening and searching the individual files.
What should I do?

Back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
/.Spotlight-V100
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Open
from the contextual menu. A folder should open with a subfolder selected. Move the subfolder to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password. Restart the computer. If you try to search now from the magnifying-glass icon in the top right corner of the display, there should be an indication that indexing is in progress.
You can't see the folder in the Trash because it's invisible. The next time you empty the Trash, it should be deleted.

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.

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 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.

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 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 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?

Spotlight not finding a simple textedit file

Hi, I've looked at spotlight prefs and also gone into a Find window in finder and checked the basics are selected and yet spotlight still fails to find a simple textedit folder within Documents.
I'm baffled
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

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 text in Powerpoint files

When searching for text in .ppt files, Spotlight seems to find some, but not all text content.
I can't see anything different about the text it is not finding.
Anyone else had this problem?

I think the problem is only with Powerpoint 2008 (both ppt and pptx formats).
There is no obvious pattern: I just created a copy of a file, and Spotlight found a word in the copy but not the original (or previous copies). This word was in a heading text field, but words in the main text field on the same page are still not found.

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 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 items in Home

I have my home folder encrypted using Security in Sys Preferences. When I use Spotlight to find any item in my Home folder, it does not find. It finds only items that are not in Home folder. In that case I click on Show All option and click on Home in Where options (right bottom). Spotlight then finds the items. How to make this work always ? or is this a bug ? I am using MBP. Had no problem before moving from PB. I am wondering if this got something to do with Universal build ...

Issue the command
<pre>
sudo mdutil -s /
</pre>
and if you see a reply that looks like
<pre>
Status: Indexing Enabled
</pre>
Then it should be working.
You can turn on/off indexing of specific directories under / by editing, with root permission, the file
/.Spotlight/_rules.plist

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

Spotlight not finding things

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for