The only way to see the reindex progress is to use Spotlight whole the reindex is occurring then you can see a progress bat like in this screenshot.
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How to Rebuild the Spotlight Index on Your Mac
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The only way to see the reindex progress is to use Spotlight whole the reindex is occurring then you can see a progress bat like in this screenshot.
Just gave this a try by adding my disk to the privacy list, but when I went to remove it I got this error:
Now I can't remove it at all, completely breaking Spotlight. Any ideas?
Update: Typing sudo mdutil -E / in Terminal enabled me to remove the disk from privacy, but it returns with this message:
mdutil disabling Spotlight: / -> kMDConfigSearchLevelOff Indexing and searching disabled.
I thought the command is supposed to reindex Spotlight, not disable it altogether?
Now I can't remove it at all, completely breaking Spotlight. Any ideas?
Update: Typing sudo mdutil -E / in Terminal enabled me to remove the disk from privacy, but it returns with this message:
mdutil disabling Spotlight: / -> kMDConfigSearchLevelOff Indexing and searching disabled.
I thought the command is supposed to reindex Spotlight, not disable it altogether?
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S1500M. I’ve had it for years and it’s a workhorse. The new ones are even faster, just as workhorsey, and they work wirelessly.
work. horsey. workhorsey.
They are great, but holy cow are they expensive! I guess you get what you pay for though.
I got this error as well (using Mojave), but didn't want to disable SIP. However, I stumbled across some additional flags for mdutil that removes the Spotlight folders. (Just enter "mdutil" to see the additional options that aren't listed in "man mdutil".)
The -X flag will remove the Spotlight index directory on the specified volume. I verified that the .Spotlight-V100 folder was removed after using this flag.
So these are the commands I ran to do a complete/full re-index:
- mdutil -i off /
- mdutil -X /
- mdutil -i on /
I know some have stated that using the -E flag is all you need to do, but that wasn't fixing an issue I was having. Spotlight kept showing an old version number for an app, which I suspect this corruption was causing update detection issues in the App Store for this particular app. The correct version number finally showed in Spotlight after running the three commands above.
trying to rebuild external HD to use find files with Catalina;
can't add/remove external HD to Spotlight Privacy window "external HD is a Time Machine backup disk"
but, can't stop the external HD from being the TM drive in TM pref's.
how do i rebuild external HD with Catalina???
can you help me???
can't add/remove external HD to Spotlight Privacy window "external HD is a Time Machine backup disk"
but, can't stop the external HD from being the TM drive in TM pref's.
how do i rebuild external HD with Catalina???
can you help me???
I couldn't get Spotlight to reindex my Outlook files (searches in the app were always empty). Finally ran this command:
Within seconds, results began to appear within my search window in Outlook, so my problem was solved.
**only took a week of hair pulling to figure out**
Code:
sudo mdutil -EsaX -i on /Within seconds, results began to appear within my search window in Outlook, so my problem was solved.
**only took a week of hair pulling to figure out**
This does not work for me....
As you can see, the folder named Dell is present on the external drive
but if I enter Dell into the search bar, nothing comes back.
So, I try to rebuild the Spotlight index as shown
but id does not do anything at all
even after removing the added folder from Privacy
the Spotlight does not start doing the indexing
This is the same on my older Macbook Pro laptop, which is making me think there is some kind of issue with the external drive itself. It used to work on the older laptop, but now it does not search there either.
Could something have gotten corrupted in the external drive, and if so is there a way I can repair it without having to reformat the drive, and lose all the files there??
Thanks in advance!!
So, I try to rebuild the Spotlight index as shown
This is the same on my older Macbook Pro laptop, which is making me think there is some kind of issue with the external drive itself. It used to work on the older laptop, but now it does not search there either.
Could something have gotten corrupted in the external drive, and if so is there a way I can repair it without having to reformat the drive, and lose all the files there??
Thanks in advance!!
It is ExFat format, but that is not the issue honestly....
It is all of those other folders that are listed in the Privacy tab, are from the external drive somehow. I removed them all, but it still will not search, not index anything.
Macintrash is such garbage, and on top of this, I cannot get back into chat support because they have limited options for support because of the Covid 19 thing!!
I believe that is your problem. It needs to be in a Mac format... either HFS+ or APFS.
I do not think so because it always worked in the past, and ExFat is the format that I was told to use by Apple Support, back when you were able to get in touch with them, in order to be able to switch between Macintosh, and Windows devices....
You are absolutely correct VT777. Searching for ANYTHING on Apple's support page is a lesson in futility. How can you possibly get 2 million hits on a search and NONE are related to what you are looking for. I have been an Apple/Mac guy since 1989 but I'm about to give up.
I tried this to resolve my Spotlight issue (Catalina) where I search for a Contact (I use the default Contact app and iCloud), and multiple results show up for 1 contact. For example, a doctor shows up 4 times, and my own contact shows up 7 times. And my contact list is clean, I have no duplicates in my contacts, and only iCloud contacts.
Ohhh the horror!!
I had this with Sierra and it was so annoying! I upgraded to Mojave and its no longer there. I thought they fixed it for good!
Maybe use a spotlight alternative like Alfred
Found my solution for duplicate contacts: deleted the user/library/app support/addressbook folder. Now I dont have duplicate results for contacts. And performed the "remove hard drive from spotlight search, add it again" into system preferences-privacy just to reindex whole drive. I love spotlight, one of best macOS features that I use constantly, one of the things that would suck to have to lose if doing to Windows, like column view in Finder.
Any update or correction to this? I have the dreaded Outlook search issue, and Microsoft's prescribed methods of "re-hooking" Spotlight to work are all failing. A support session just re-iterated that I perform the steps again. macOS Monteray, 12.1 Outlook 16.56.
sudo mdutil -EsaX -i on /
returns: Spotlight directory not found
Any suggestions?
I recently had some indexing issues in Monterey. The mdutil -E command didn't help. Adding the folder to Privacy and deleting it didn't help. Finally I just added the entire Macintosh HD to the Privacy - waited a few hours to make sure it stuck, rebooted, and removed it from the Privacy tab. Waited a few hours and everything worked again. YMMV.
The issue seems to be Monterey 12.1 specific (none of the above solutions are a fix). I've been discussing with MS and they are working on a fix (no ETA), this is the answer I received from them:
We have identified the issue with Search in Classic Outlook after upgrading to the macOS Monterey version 12.1 caused by the macOS update. A report is already filed with our engineering team who is working with Apple on high priority. We have users reporting this issue after the upgrade to macOS Monterey and we are collecting the required information to help Apple work on the same. You may refer the link below for information on the same.
We have identified the issue with Search in Classic Outlook after upgrading to the macOS Monterey version 12.1 caused by the macOS update. A report is already filed with our engineering team who is working with Apple on high priority. We have users reporting this issue after the upgrade to macOS Monterey and we are collecting the required information to help Apple work on the same. You may refer the link below for information on the same.
I have once again a problem with (Monterey's) Calendar, where search does not find anything other than today's events.
"sudo mdutil -E /" did not fix that.
What would?
"sudo mdutil -E /" did not fix that.
What would?
Looks like this would be a better solution:
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