MacOS 14.3 Spotlight and Finder search in folder NOT working

[nn88]

Anytime I use spotlight or finder to search for something I can find items globally, however when I search for items IN THAT WINDOW, nothing works.

Heres an example.

When I search this test file in Global spotlight search, it shows up:

Then I searched on Test.RTF on the desktop and it showed up in the Finder Search:

Then I searched Test.RTF on the actual desktop folder, it does not show up

Also when the search preference settings are switched between searching locally and in the folder, the same as the aforementioned occurs.

Does anyone else have this issue?

 

[Ben J.]

I haven't seen this. But I did have a problem with the Recent folder in the finder sidebar, and I got a simple tip from a fellow macroumorer (thanks), to add my main disks to "Prevent Spotlight search in these places" in system settings, and remove them again, which forces a index rebuild on those disks.

It worked for me, the recent folder filled up again. Might be worth a try. Took about an hour with about 2.5TB of data, but it's all done in the background, of course.

 

[nn88]

I haven't seen this. But I did have a problem with the Recent folder in the finder sidebar, and I got a simple tip from a fellow macroumorer (thanks), to add my main disks to "Prevent Spotlight search in these places" in system settings, and remove them again, which forces a index rebuild on those disks.

It worked for me, the recent folder filled up again. Might be worth a try. Took about an hour with about 2.5TB of data, but it's all done in the background, of course.

do you have to do that for every search or does it reset going forward?

 

[Ben J.]

do you have to do that for every search or does it reset going forward?

Certainly not. That would be insane.
No, this was a one-time fix. I don't know what caused the problem, but a spotlight index rebuild fixed it. I do not expect to have to do this again soon.

 

[SkweeBop]

I have had this problem for awhile. I'll give this index rebuild a try.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you want "searching" that DOES "work", use either (or both) of the following FREE utilties:

EasyFind:

DEVONtechnologies | Needful Things

A little collection of free utilities for the Mac to make your life easier.

www.devontechnologies.com

Find Any File:

Find Any File

apps.tempel.org

Try both of them.
You'll quickly see the difference, having a search app that DOES work.