Spotlight not working, again

NJM55 wrote:

A week ago the Spotlight function stopped working. I couldn't open it either by clicking on the Spotlight icon at the top of the screen or with the space bar-S.

I had a long conversation with Apple support in which the expert walked me through a number of steps to try. When they failed to solve the problem, she helped me make an appointment with the Genius Bar at a nearby store. I went there the next day, and ironically Spotlight started to work again while the employee was looking at my MacBook screen. He ran some diagnostic tests anyway, and everything was fine.

However, earlier today I realized that Spotlight had stopped working again. Same problem: it won't even open, so it's not a matter of incorrect results. I can call support again and hope they have some new ideas.

Can anyone think of a reason why I'm getting this off and on problem? W̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶i̶n̶c̶i̶d̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶S̶p̶o̶t̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶u̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶c̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶?̶

Nothing else is wrong, everything seems to be functioning normally, no problems with other commands. Is there something about Spotlight that can be affected even if there don't seem to be any other issues? The OS is 13.3.1 (a).

Spotlight is Command Spacebar

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/Anti-Virus/VPN

all known to cause issues on the macOS

A SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies