Finder not searching subfolders in Ventura

Question

Finder not searching subfolders in Ventura

I have a Mac Studio still running Ventura, mainly because Ineed to be able to see thumbnails of image files in Finder, but that's another story.

I just installed replacement external hard drives which have all my photos on them, in many subfolders.

The previous hard drives behaved perfectly, allowing me to search folders and their subfolders in Finder.

Now I find that each time I boot up the computer it seems to reset itself, and I can't search in folders and sub folders. It will only search the whole drive.

The only way I can get it to work is to go into Spotlight Privacy and add the drive so that it is NOT indexed, wait a while , then remove it.

But it's a pain to have to doo this every time I switch on.

I've tried all the solutions I can find, like terminal commands and setting the finder preferences.

I would be grateful for any clues or ideas.

Mac Studio, macOS 13.7

Posted on Oct 30, 2025 2:53 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 1, 2025 1:22 PM in response to Richard Nixon

I use a program called HoudahSpot (you can download a free version to try it out from and then click on the Products menu and then HoudahSpot and then on the "Download Now" link) that works very well and has been around for many years.

What exactly do you mean when you say that the new drives can't be searched? Did ownership or permissions get modfied perhaps? When you say only the entire drive can be searched, that would include any folders and subfolders, so that should include "everything" unless permissions exclude it.

If it doesn't reveal any personal information perhaps you could show us the output of the Terminal command that lists all folders for the top level of each of the problematic volumes? The output of a "ls -lane@" Terminal command should be sufficient from the very top level of each volume. If you want you can add the "R" as well to the "-lane@" argument, to list all subfolders as well, although this might be too much output depending on how many files and folders are on the disk - be very careful of posting this output as it might contain some personal information you would rather not have visible!!

What exactly makes you think that all the folders and subfolders are not being searched?

Do you have Apple support for this Mac Studio computer? If yes, give Apple a call and see if they can take a look at it and see what the problem/issue might be.

Good luck...

-bob

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,088 points

Oct 31, 2025 1:56 PM in response to Richard Nixon

What model year is the Mac Studio?

What make and model are the external drives?

What format are they?

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

What system were you running when you had problems with the thumbnails?

With Sonoma I can see thumbnails in all views.

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