Spotlight doesn't work properly...

[zach]

hopefully...

i pray for you that you don't have problems as bad as the OP, cause that would really suck.

 

[WildCowboy]

Okay...stupid question time. Where should Bluetooth Setup Assistant be located?

 

[zach]

applications --> utilities --> Bluetooth Setup Assistant

 

[dubbz]

applications --> utilities --> Bluetooth Setup Assistant

If so, no wonder Spotlight can't find it.... It's not there!

 

[mkrishnan]

think about it. the applications name is SETUP assistant. for spotlight to also know that set up means the same thing would require yet another list of definitions to search. taking more time. taking more disk space. and imagine, there are millions of different things like this.

Your general point is completely valid, but in this particular case, the word "setup" matches set* and *up. Definitions would be required if you expected "configuration" to match "setup," but this is purely a wildcard matching strategy. The problem here seems to be that Spotlight does not do end-matching -- that is, it is the "up" and not the "set" that is the problem. If I type in "Bluetooth set assistant," I get a hit, but if I type in "Bluetooth up assistant," I do not. Granted that using end matching in all instances would increase the number of matches, but I think you could still do a lot better algorithmically without using any kind of dictionary.

I tried this with other examples and it seems to be consistent. Searching for "Moha" will find files with my first name in it, but searching for "ohan" will not.

 

[WildCowboy]

If so, no wonder Spotlight can't find it.... It's not there!

That was my thought...I figured it should be in Utilities, but it's not there on my PB. So I thought I'd ask where it should be...interesting.

By the way, I have the exact same setup as zach (aside from RAM)...don't know where my app went...

 

[mad jew]

I tried this with other examples and it seems to be consistent. Searching for "Moha" will find files with my first name in it, but searching for "ohan" will not.

Yeah I've been playing around with it too and come to the same conclusion. It's really strange, and somewhat of a shortfall.

Oh yeah, and I'm reindexing now too.

 

[dubbz]

Alright, finished Indexing my HD

Still won't find Bluetooth Setup Manager because, well, it's not there. Which is strange because I used it last month.

I still can't search in System Preferences.

Edit: Repaired permissions. Still doesn't work.

 

[WildCowboy]

If I go to "Set up Bluetooth device" from the menu bar icon, the Bluetooth Setup Assistant opens. But it doesn't seem to exist anywhere as a standalone app.

 

[mad jew]

Did the same stuff as dubbz (who has an eerily familiar 'tar ) and am still not getting anywhere. This is bizarre.

I can't believe I had so much faith in Spotlight. Meh, it still works for the majority of things and I only ever really want to find documents so 'tis all cool.

 

[QCassidy352]

This is really strange. How come this is working for some of us and not others?

I have 2 macs, one running 10.4.2, one with 10.4.3. I've searched for both "Bluetooth Setup Assistant" and "Bluetooth Set Up Assistant." I've reindexed on both computers, using both OnyX and the apple recommended method. On the mac running 10.4.3, I've done a complete wipe and reinstall of the OS.

Still, neither mac will find Bluetooth Setup Assistant, and more distressingly, certain old word docs that I really do use regularly.

I feel like spotlight is useless now because I'll never know what it's not finding. I clean-installed Tiger and it didn't help... what more can I possibly do???

 

[Frisco]

Spotlight has always worked like a dream for me. No issues here

 

[yenko]

If I go to "Set up Bluetooth device" from the menu bar icon, the Bluetooth Setup Assistant opens. But it doesn't seem to exist anywhere as a standalone app.

It's been swallowed up by the Preference Pane.

 

[Anawrahta]

How does one search for system files??? this is really bugging me

 

[mad jew]

What exactly are you after Anawrahta?

 

[iMeowbot]

If so, no wonder Spotlight can't find it.... It's not there!

At some point they moved it to /System/Library/CoreServices .

 

[rickvanr]

How does one search for system files??? this is really bugging me

Go into your system folder and press "Apple + F" Oh, and make sure to select "Folder xxxx"

 

[mad jew]

Go into your system folder and press "Apple + F" Oh, and make sure to select "Folder xxxx"

I've always thought that was the same as Spotlight though. I'm usually wrong.

 

[Anawrahta]

What exactly are you after Anawrahta?

Oh I was trying to find the HP Scanjet manager thingy that was eating all my resources. Thanks for the tips...I've found it now and put it out to pasture!

 

[JDOG_]

Works for me too. Very odd that you're getting that problem though.

Definitely looking forward to an upgrade to spotlight in 10.5 with more comprehensive indexing. For the time-being though, I'm quite happy with spotlight.

 

[Eric5h5]

I wouldn't have thought Spotlight would work that way though. I would've thought it wouldn't care if you type setup or set up. Obviously it does though, how bizarre.

Well, I don't consider it bizarre that Spotlight can't read your mind. "setup" and "set up" are two different things entirely; there's no way for it to tell that you want them to be the same for some reason. Computers are very literal.

--Eric

 

[mad jew]

Well, I don't consider it bizarre that Spotlight can't read your mind. "setup" and "set up" are two different things entirely...

Yeah, but I would have thought it searched on a letter-by-letter basis.

 

[mkrishnan]

Well, I don't consider it bizarre that Spotlight can't read your mind. "setup" and "set up" are two different things entirely; there's no way for it to tell that you want them to be the same for some reason. Computers are very literal.

Yeah, even without resorting to Bayesian kinds of search techniques, there are plenty of "literal" search techniques using wildcard matching that could robustly handle situations like this, without creating a large number of spurious results...as several of us said on the first page of this thread.