Spotlight won't find files in user folder

i have spoken to apple tech support on this and they continue to try to find a solution but.....
i have files that spotlight doesn't find. they are in my user folder. in fact, it won't find the folder (s) one is on my desktop, one in documents. (these are just the ones i've tested). when i take the folder and just put it on the hard drive (root level), spotlight finds it. also, apparently, it can be found when i put it in the user folder of another user. i would like to avoid reinstalling the system. any thoughts??

Start with http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/Leopard/leospot.html and my mod to Finder's Find at http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6725932 for what you can change so you can find stuff.

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As a test, I created a file just before TM began an hourly backup. After the backup was completed, I deleted the file.
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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

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The old Apple FindFile used to do it all. Quickly, simply, and reliably. Then someone started taking the funny pills.
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Message was edited by: Tom in London

Spotlight won't find bookmarks. already checked other posts

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Ok somehow this morning all was good. Thanks anyways for the help. If someone in the future is looking for a solution and comes across this, listen up...
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Spotlight frequently fails to find files or folders that I have created on my user. Some files and folders will show up, but perversely never the ones I want. For example, I wanted to locate a folder I have entitled "Business Card", so I entered "Business" into spotlight. I got a couple of "business" hits on my documents, and a whole slew of system ones and mail messages, but I had to shuffle manually through my files until I found it. And this kind of thing is happening all the time, to the point where I have virtually written off Spotlight.
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eMac 1.25GHz (Tiger) & G5 Xserve (Tiger) Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Hi Ben
In the case when your script creates a new folder, you're changing the variable targetFolder from a path (as string) to a Finder item. Excel needs the path.
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tell app "Excel" to do things to targetFolder
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As far as I can see you don't need to use the variable targetFolder for anything other than the string, so all you should need to do is:
tell application "Finder" to make new folder at desktop with properties {name:outputfolder}
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H

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Thanks!

You can force a Spotlight index, just let it run and your migration should be just fine. Instructions are in:
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Spotlight fails to find files with search items

I just did a Spotlight search on
Japanese English は
Spotlight found more than 3500 items, but the two sample Word files I looked at didn't have は in them.
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Spotlight is notorious for its weaknesses and erratic behavior. You might try reindexing your Spotlight. Open up Spotlight in Sys Prefs, go to Privacy and drag the HD Folder there. Leave it a minute then remove it by clicking on the minus at the bottom. This will force Spotlight to reindex the drive, which may take some time.
I mostly use EasyFind (free) instead of Spotlight.
http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/

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Any insight into why spotlight is proving useless here will be greatly appreciated. I'm loosing faith in OS X and I'm really sad about it.
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Dimitris, my own suggestion is very simple: forget Spotlight. Disable it using Spotless, which is available here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/33800
Then download either, or both Easyfind http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/8707 and Find File http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10906315
I haven't used Spotlight for over a year now, and have even found a way to remove that pesky magnifying glass from my menubar.
I can find anything I want, any time I want, very fast and simply and above all - reliably.
<Edited by Moderator>

Spotlight does not find files with "_" (underscores), but only for certain file types

Hey Folks,
this is strange, maybe someone has an idea.
I already searched the internet for a while, nothing found so far.
I have a file "calc_mean.m" on my desktop.
When I type "calc" in spotlight, it shows the file.
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When I enter "calc mean.m" in spotlight, it finds it (using space instead of the underscore).
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.pdf
.doc
.txt
.xls
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.mp3
.m
.k
.a
.ka
(and other random endings I tried).
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All of those have meaning in various database search syntax (not sure if it matters).
_ usually means any character.
% usually means any run of characters.
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Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

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I've had some luck with excluding a drive and then removing the exclusion. This triggers spotlight to reindex a drive, maybe a memory card too?

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Hello
I am new to this forum so please be patience with me. I would like to use keywords in the spotlight comment area to find files on our shared network. However, I am having problems with this. I can find files by name, but not by contents or spotlight comments on our shared network. Can anyone help me with this problem.
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Message was edited by: Heather316

To Apple Discussions!
Check out the Article: Using Spotlight to search for items
+"To organize your files so you can find them more easily, use the Spotlight Comments field in the Get Info dialog. For example, you could mark all the files for the same project with the project name, tag all your urgent files with the word "urgent," or enter a description that will help you find the file later.+
+If you want to limit your search to specific locations and attributes, open Finder and choose File > Find."+
There may be other info you can use from the Article.

Spotlight won't find files in user folder

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