Is it safe to shut down Mac while Spotlight is still indexing?

[jarrmaha]

Had some issues with Finder and Spotlight not finding files. Used the instructions to rebuild Spotlight index in Mac. Put entire Macintosh HD there. Checked and now it seems to find all the files again, but mdworker files are still active in Activity Monitor.

It has been almost 7 hours and I can't keep Mac going anymore.


My question is - could there be any damage or security risk if Spotlight is interrupted indexing everything? For example, would some important system files not find their data to function properly?

Does Mac's OS itself use Spotlight index for its own work or is it purely for user?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Certain functions in macOS including some of the built-in apps lose search functionality without the Spotlight database.

Under normal circumstances, the database rebuilding will resume where it left off after a shutdown and restart.

 

[jarrmaha]

Certain functions in macOS including some of the built-in apps lose search functionality without the Spotlight database.

Under normal circumstances, the database rebuilding will resume where it left off after a shutdown and restart.

Glad to hear it continues by itself.
Any idea what kind of built-in apps or would this cause any damage or risks in case rebuilding fails?