Spotlight doesn't show the files I'm sure exist.

Question

ojarumaru Author

Level 1

4 points

Spotlight doesn't show the files I'm sure exist.

Everything is in the title. Spotlight doesn't find anything except what's in my mail.

See picture. The file exists, spotlight is blank. See also my spotlight settings.

Don't reply I have to reindex, I did it a couple of times, it doesn't change anything.

I have also tried a few command lines I found on other sites. Same result.

In this example, it's a movie, but the file type doesn't matter. And by the way, my

hard disk is not in the exclude list, otherwise I wouldn't find any mail either. There

is nothing in the exclude list.

Sequoia 15.3.1, mac mini M1.

Thanks for any hint.

Mac mini, macOS 15.3

Posted on Mar 11, 2025 06:56 PM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,136 points

Mar 12, 2025 06:58 AM in response to ojarumaru

In the Finder Settings > Advanced, have this set:

Apple has an article on narrowing your Spotlight search results which involves keywords to refine the results.

kind:movie name:chance
kind:movie name:"nine men"
kind:movie +(mp4)
kind:movie +(mp4) created:>03/01/2025

Entering just (Chance.mp4) causes Spotlight to waste processing time searching through all of your search results selections for a match. Using the kind and name keyword combination narrows your search to just the Movies category. The searches are case-insensitive.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

88,840 points

Mar 12, 2025 06:53 PM in response to ojarumaru

ojarumaru wrote:

My problem is not narrowing the search results. What I would like spotlight to do is simply working

as it did a few months ago.

To get back to the original Default settings that worked a few months ago.

Go to Finder > Settings.. > Advanced > select "Search This Mac"

Remove everything from Privacy except for Time Machine and click Done

Then Reindex Spotlight, as per > Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

ojarumaru Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 12, 2025 05:56 PM in response to VikingOSX

Hello!

Thanks for your reply.

My problem is not narrowing the search results. What I would like spotlight to do is simply working

as it did a few months ago. Beside this, narrowing is fine, and I could also tell spotlight in which folder

it should search, and it would probably be faster. But if I already know where the file is, I don't need

spotlight.

The problem is not that it takes too much time, but that it DOESN'T find an existing file.

Spotlight used to search in the whole disk as shown above. And within a few seconds, I had some

results and I could choose to open results in the finder from which I could open a finder window

containing the file I'm looking for. I just need this functionality which used to work fast enough so that

I don't have to bother narrowing the search.

To summarize, I just want spotlight:

To work
To search on the whole disk.

I know from earlier experience that it doesn't take that much time.

Thanks for any hint.

PS: I forgot to mention that the unix command find / -name "Chance.mp4" works fine.

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Answer 4

Mar 13, 2025 09:45 AM in response to VikingOSX

My pet peeve about Spotlight is that for some strange reason it fails to search movie metadata from .m4v while it succeeds to do that from .mp4 and .mov:

exiftool -a -G1 -s -Keys:Description .
======== ./a.mp4
[Keys]          Description                     : qwerty
======== ./b.m4v
[Keys]          Description                     : qwerty
======== ./c.mov
[Keys]          Description                     : qwerty

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,136 points

Mar 13, 2025 09:14 AM in response to ojarumaru

Conversely, I do not have an issue finding what I want to find without dipping into the Terminal and using find or mdfind. I haven't reindexed my boot drive in months. For me, and this is on Monterey, Sonoma, or Sequoia, Spotlight just works. Spotlight searches are blocked during normal indexing periods.

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Answer 6

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,568 points

Mar 13, 2025 10:19 AM in response to ojarumaru

I think that the first app I ever downloaded to a Mac was the easyfind search app. Spotlight's OK when it works, but for the other 6 days of the week you need a finder app that doesn't rely on building and maintaining an index that nukes itself at the slightest provocation. easyfind is OK and the best thing about it is that when it lists results it shows the folder they're in. Other search apps are available and I'm not affiliated.

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Answer 7

Mar 12, 2025 05:53 PM in response to ojarumaru

Hello!

I have the same problem. Especially when I search with a text containing a "." .

I hope this issue will be resolved soon because is a nightmare.

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Spotlight doesn't show the files I'm sure exist.

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