Spotlight search stopped working after macOS Sequoia update

Recently updated to Sequoia from Sonoma. I used to be able to type a phrase or sentence in Spotlight, and a list of my documents from Pages with that phrase would instantly show up. Now if I do the same thing, I get maybe one document result if I'm lucky. Already talked to three different Mac Support reps who ran some checks but concluded that the latest version of Spotlight isn't working like it used to. Does anyone know of any workarounds or third party apps I could use to search my documents for partial or complete sentences? I'm not tech savvy. Much obliged!


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Spotlight search work arounds?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jun 17, 2025 9:57 PM

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6 replies

Jun 18, 2025 2:22 PM in response to kidlit100

kidlit100 wrote:

Yes, it was Apple Support. We tried reindexing, and also ran First Aid. Couldn't reinstall Sequoia because there wasn't enough storage space. Really frustrating, because I used that Spotlight feature a lot!

If you I couldn’t reinstall for lack of storage, Spotlight might not be able to index the drive. You should start by removing g stuff you no longer need to another drive. Don’t forget to back that up.

Jun 18, 2025 3:29 AM in response to kidlit100

kidlit100 wrote:

Recently updated to Sequoia from Sonoma. I used to be able to type a phrase or sentence in Spotlight, and a list of my documents from Pages with that phrase would instantly show up. Now if I do the same thing, I get maybe one document result if I'm lucky. Already talked to three different Mac Support reps who ran some checks but concluded that the latest version of Spotlight isn't working like it used to.

Did any of the support reps suggest reindexing Spotlight?

Are you sure you were talking to Apple Support? My Spotlight still works as it used to.

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Spotlight search stopped working after macOS Sequoia update

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