Finder, Spotlight

I am using a PowerMac G4, OS 10.4.11, 400 MHz Processor, 1 GB SDRAM.

I used to be able to find just about anything on my computer using the Spotlight, or the Finder, up to a few weeks ago. About a week ago I was looking for a document I had stashed away by looking for a name of a person. Spotlight found nothing. Finder found nothing, although I knew that the document existed. I knew about where the document was, but thought that I could bring it up faster with the Finder or Spotlight, to no avail.

I collect articles in a document, and stack them according to date, until the document reaches a limit, then I make a new document and add that to the folder. This particular document, entitled GlobalFinancialMarkets, is around ten years old. I did some experimenting and I can bring up the document using names in articles up to around the date January 2008, but after that, the Finder, and Spotlight, will not bring up this document. Finder and Spotlight does find the document using a word in the title. The document is a Microsoft Word document in Office2001, and I use the Classic Environment to enable the Office2001 documents. It works quite well most of the time while using the Tiger OS. I have other older applications that don't work well in the new OS, so I can still restart the computer using the older OS 9.2.2 and the older applications still work well this way.

I have kept up with the latest upgrades to Safari, and the OS in Tiger, and the iTunes, and have not gone beyond that. One of the upgrades has caused this problem. Is there a remedy? I like using the Safari, and the Tiger OS.

portent said:

It sounds as if the document has not been indexed for a few months. Try forcing Spotlight to re-index the disk. See:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html#Anchor-Rebuilding-49575

Click to expand...

Well, I tried the foregoing and Spotlight is still not indexed beyond the beginning of the year. Why does the Finder and Spotlight not index?

indago said:

Well, I tried the foregoing and Spotlight is still not indexed beyond the beginning of the year. Why does the Finder and Spotlight not index?

Click to expand...

I'll have to update what I wrote about "the beginning of the year" to 18 April. I just found a document with a name that had that date on it, although I know that name is in another document that is on the computer that is just a few days old and Spotlight doesn't have it listed. Is Spotlight continually updating only it takes weeks to do it?

I did some experimenting with Spotlight and Finder and found what I believe to be a problem. I compile documents of news articles in chronological order, one after another, on a particular subject; one I had mentioned was entitled FinancialMarkets/Global. Articles relating to this title are compiled in this particular document. I use Microsoft Word, in Office 2001. When the documents reach around 95K characters, I begin a new document. If a document reaches 100K, it doesn't register in the info frame at the bottom of the window, so I keep them under this figure. I label them FinancialMarkets/GlobalA, and FinancialMarkets/GlobalB, and etc.

The FinancialMarkets/Global document is at present around 32.8K. I have been following the French trader Kerviel and his exploits with his enormous losses in the marketplace that stunned the French banking industry. I had compiled these articles in the FinancialMarkets/Global document. I attempted to find this document with Spotlight to add another article to it and Spotlight didn't find it. I put in the name kerviel. I tried the methods of forced indexing and nothing worked. I put in Spotlight some earlier names of individuals from this document and it worked OK. Finally, today, I put in the name kerviel early in the document, like around 20 characters. Spotlight found the document. I moved the name further into the document and it still worked OK. I kept moving the name further into the document until Spotlight didn't find it anymore. The first article with the name Kerviel was at 9.1K characters. The last place that Spotlight worked was around 8.1K characters in this document.

I tried this experiment in another document with another name with the same results. Spotlight will index a document up to around 8.2K and no further. This is unacceptable with the structure that I have compiled. What can be done to correct this glaring deficiency?