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Finder and Spotlight only search files opened today

A

alimacUK

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2007
6
0
I have a new MacBook Pro :), but ever since I set it up it has never searched properly:confused: . It only ever lists files that have been created or modified on the day of the search. I have tinkered with the search preferences and set these to list files from any date, but still no joy:mad: - any suggestions guys? I don't now if this is relevant, but I migrated the contents of my hard drive from my old PowerBook to the new MacBook. Cheers, Alison
 
So by changing the search options what do you mean. I go to spotlight preferences window and find nothing about that there. However, when I...

do a spotlight search

then select all at the top of the search window it opens up a separate window(that is draggable, etc.) with my search. ON the right side of that new window is the ability to select some details about your searchs including "group by" "when" "where", etc. Click under When and you shoudl be able to change when it searchs.

(hopefully the above is not what you meant by change search options!:D )

Good Luck!
 
Hi Johnny, Thanks for your reply. Been there and done that (before wasting anyone's time on the forum)...its still not searching and identifying all of my files...

Do I need to re index my files or something? How do I do that?

ATB, Alison
 
I don't know how to do that unfortunately...maybe search for an answer on that one.

It is weird that it is only ones with that days date show up. It is not like spotlight can be reinstalled either...have you searched Apple.com support forums for a possible answer?

You might try using another user profile account and see if it happens on that one too? If you don't have another account create one then create files for a few consecutive days and then see if you can spotlight an older file. Just gives you more info.

Have you repaired permissions and run something like Mac Janitor to just clean things up a bit. (Mac Janitor is a free program that will do the usual maintenance things that Mac OSX needs to have done but are usually scheduled during overnight hours and with most people putting their computers to sleep they don't get done. Not sure if it will help in this case, but a good idea none-the-less.
 
Good morning Johnny:D . Thanks again for the advice - I'll give it a try!
I guess you learn from these irritating problems in the long run, so I should view it as a way of teaching myself more about Macs.
ATB,
Alison
 
alimacUK said:
Good morning Johnny:D . Thanks again for the advice - I'll give it a try!
I guess you learn from these irritating problems in the long run, so I should view it as a way of teaching myself more about Macs.
ATB,
Alison
Click to expand...

Alison,

I can't believe that someone else out of the 104,000 macRumors members hasn't had this issue- hopefully someone will have an answer shortly. If your computer is new, give AppleCare a call as it would be under warranty and this is an issue dealing strictly with Apple software it sounds like.

(Welcome to the forum by the way! I will say this is rare that no one else has chimed in on this issue yet- I have had almost all of my issues solved on this message board within a day or two, at times within a half hour!)
Best!
 
I'm still no closer to a solution, and its getting very frustrating as i have thousands of files and very poor memory for where I've put things!
I'll give Apple a call, as the MacBook is new.
Thanks again for your advice.
Alison
 
alimacUK said:
I'm still no closer to a solution, and its getting very frustrating as i have thousands of files and very poor memory for where I've put things!
I'll give Apple a call, as the MacBook is new.
Thanks again for your advice.
Alison
Click to expand...

So I found this about reindexing spotlight-
LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY LINKY :)
if you have not tried this you might do so. I would start with a small folder full of a handfull of items that are older...then reindex and then search for something you know is there.
 
Have you tried searching using the find command in the finder menu under file? You might try that way and see if it works. Here is a link to another apple page click here

woops- sorry for the double post...wasn't thinking clearly this morning I guess...
 
Sorry if this is a really obvious question, but how do I reindex the contents of a folder? Cheers, Alison
 
alimacUK said:
Sorry if this is a really obvious question, but how do I reindex the contents of a folder? Cheers, Alison
Click to expand...

The link several posts above says to do this (maybe I should have made the link more obvious huh- sorry) :)

Want to re-index a folder—or even an entire volume—for Spotlight (part of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger)? Just do this:

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Click Spotlight.
Click the Privacy tab.
Drag a folder or even an entire volume (your hard drive) to the list.
Remove the item or volume you just added.
Spotlight will re-index the contents of the item you initially dragged to the list.

Note: You can only add folders or items to the Privacy tab that you have ownership permissions for. For more information about ownership and permissions, see this article and this one.

Good Luck!
 
That fixed it! :D I did as you suggested with the Spotlight and the privacy thing, and now it works. Thanks so much Johnny. Best wishes, Alison
 
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