searching icloud drive finds nothing!

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Level 1

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searching icloud drive finds nothing!

Finder search doesn't find any results at all on my iCloud drive. Even typing a simple file type such as .tiff, let alone part of a file name, finds nothing. Can anyone help?

Posted on Apr 19, 2023 08:38 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

muguy

Level 10

89,984 points

Apr 20, 2023 06:59 PM in response to lakmalone

You may benefit from reindexing spotlight: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

Provided that you have not optimized files in iCloud, everything is on your Mac and will be reindexed.

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Answer 2

lakmalone Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 20, 2023 08:46 AM in response to Chilton Webb

Thanks for answering Chilton. Couple things:

I'm not using spotlight, I'm using the search function in the finder. Does that change anything? (Spotlight doesn't work either)
Could you name a couple of the apps that solve this problem?

Thanks much!

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Answer 3

Apr 20, 2023 07:02 AM in response to lakmalone

I can't help you with this specifically but I can tell you why it happens. The Spotlight system creates a database of file and content locations, and it stores this on the local system. When you run out of space, or if you have a lot of high capacity volumes attached, it frankly just kinda stops working.

It's a PITA but Apple won't change it despite this being a 10+ year old issue.

The good news is there are some apps on the App Store that bypass spotlight and therefore do a MUCH better job of searching for files.

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searching icloud drive finds nothing!

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