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Spotlight and Finder search not working

M

macmaster24

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2011
33
0
Philly, PA
I just upgraded my MBP from SL to Lion and everything is working fine exept that every time I search something in spotlight, it loads and only shows the dictionary entry, and when i hit the show in finder button, finder doesn't even display anything. I tried re-indexing, but i don't think it worked, because there was no progress bar or anything. i think the protocols of lion are different. i no my way around a mac soo if anyone has any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated :D

I<3:apple:
 
M

MacLover2

macrumors newbie
May 22, 2009
4
0
Weird Spotlight stuff

I on a Mac Pro and having the same issues
Spotlight doesn't accurately tell you if it is indexing or not
Definitely doesn't have the coverage of email etc
Search for a term yesterday and some emails cam up the searched for the same term today and nothing there!!!

What is happening to Spotlight ????
 
D

drunifex

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2008
50
23
MacLover2 said:
I on a Mac Pro and having the same issues
Spotlight doesn't accurately tell you if it is indexing or not
Definitely doesn't have the coverage of email etc
Search for a term yesterday and some emails cam up the searched for the same term today and nothing there!!!

What is happening to Spotlight ????
Click to expand...

Ditto


Search brings up the dictionary only
 
R

rharder

macrumors newbie
Jun 21, 2002
4
0
Similar: MacBook Pro, Lion, Dictionary and Web searches only:

ibXE0u.png


-Rob
 
A

arkoh

macrumors member
May 24, 2009
42
15
Copenhagen
Ohhh boy... I'm happy to see that I am not the only one with this issue! That makes it plausible that I might find a solution... ;-)

Anyone having found a solution by now!?? Please!??? :eek:
 
K

kevin2i

macrumors member
Apr 25, 2011
53
0
arkoh said:
Ohhh boy... I'm happy to see that I am not the only one with this issue! That makes it plausible that I might find a solution... ;-)

Anyone having found a solution by now!?? Please!??? :eek:
Click to expand...

Have you checked spotlight preferences and privacy settings?

My spotlight works fine (still using the GM) - but I don't like the 'improvement' either.
 
S

spudwaffle

macrumors newbie
Oct 20, 2010
19
0
Make sure everything is checked (from Spotlight in System Preferences)
8d4Za.png

and make sure nothing big (e.g. your whole hard disk) is added here
r2iXu.png


If that all checks out, force spotlight to reindex.
Add your whole hard drive to the above privacy list.
Then quit System Preferences, relaunch it, and remove everything from the same list.

Spotlight should start indexing. This may take a very long time.
 
A

arkoh

macrumors member
May 24, 2009
42
15
Copenhagen
spudwaffle said:
Make sure everything is checked (from Spotlight in System Preferences)
Image
and make sure nothing big (e.g. your whole hard disk) is added here
Image

If that all checks out, force spotlight to reindex.
Add your whole hard drive to the above privacy list.
Then quit System Preferences, relaunch it, and remove everything from the same list.

Spotlight should start indexing. This may take a very long time.
Click to expand...


Everything is on... tried it all, several times... nothing helps!!?? I cannot add the c-drive to the "privacy list", it just says something like "Error... subject couldn't be added or removed due to an unknown error"! Really helpful information!!!

I've had the indexing starting over... nothing helps! I'm almost at the point, where I'll have to reinstall Lion on a clean hard drive!

Anyone having dealt with this issue that has actually solved it!?
 
V

Vicros

macrumors newbie
Nov 19, 2009
20
0
I've been working on getting this resolved for over a week. So far I've done a clean install, re-indexed at least a dozen times, and every other suggestion given on various forums. Nothing has worked. Well I take that back, the clean install did work. It worked until I restarted my machine. After a restart, the problem re-surfaced.

I took my machine to the Genius Bar and the Genius was stuck. He tooled around for about an hour and all he could say was "I'm stumped".

I'm now working with Apple Support via phone. They sent me a file to run some sort of log on my system which I did and returned. My rep told me that he has forwarded it along to an engineer. Right now I'm in a holding pattern.
 
A

arkoh

macrumors member
May 24, 2009
42
15
Copenhagen
Vicros said:
I've been working on getting this resolved for over a week. So far I've done a clean install, re-indexed at least a dozen times, and every other suggestion given on various forums. Nothing has worked. Well I take that back, the clean install did work. It worked until I restarted my machine. After a restart, the problem re-surfaced.

I took my machine to the Genius Bar and the Genius was stuck. He tooled around for about an hour and all he could say was "I'm stumped".

I'm now working with Apple Support via phone. They sent me a file to run some sort of log on my system which I did and returned. My rep told me that he has forwarded it along to an engineer. Right now I'm in a holding pattern.
Click to expand...


@Vicros

Please, keep me informed of how things go! I have given up here... and unfortunately, in Denmark we've got no Genius bar to take the thing to! ;-)

Well... I could do the big reinstall, but got to many programs and stuff installed, for this to be a simple task! :-/

Would be greatly appreciated!
 
A

arkoh

macrumors member
May 24, 2009
42
15
Copenhagen
Hmmmm... things just keeps getting more and more strange here...!!??

By coincident, I found out that all of a sudden I now have a working spotlight!? BUT... it is only because my indexing is working hard to try to index the hard drive AGAIN!!! So when it is working to index... spotlight is working! When it is done indexing... spotlight is "out of order" again!!!???

What in heavens name is going on!??? :mad:
 
V

Vicros

macrumors newbie
Nov 19, 2009
20
0
10.7.1 did not fix my issue wit Spotlight or Finder search. I've sent a follow-up email to my support contact, we'll see what he says.

If I can't get this resolved soon, I very well may return my Mini Server and try my luck with a different unit.
 
M

mhrob

macrumors newbie
May 17, 2004
21
3
Certain characters seem to not register...

Certain characters also seem to not register... For example, I am searching for a folder that begins with a "$" sign... Spotlight gives no items found, but I see two folders beginning with a "$" in my Documents folder. Plain as day, there are two folder named with that sign ($$$ In, $$$ Out). Bills and invoices. I have a copy of these folders on a shared computer, same thing.

If I search my shared PPC computer from within itself, the Leopard spotlight finds over 10,000 items containing the "$" sign.

A very serious problem, if you ask me. What other characters are not kosher, I wonder...
 
M

MacMySongs

macrumors newbie
Mar 3, 2008
5
0
Same weird Spotlight problem!

This is INSANE! I worked w/ AppleCare and they had me reindex Spotlight, change the Privacy settings, etc. Same as everyone else.

It worked for about a day. Now? If I click "Show all in finder" it comes up blank. Nothing.

This is how I used to feel when I was in the Windows world.

Come on, Apple, fix this!
 
C

CraigH

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2011
1
0
"show all" doesn't work

It worked for about a day. Now? If I click "Show all in finder" it comes up blank. Nothing.


I have the same problem except it appears to be searching - at least the little activity wheel is turning.
 
J

jbrehm

macrumors newbie
Nov 7, 2011
1
0
Spotlight working, finder isn't

I'm having the same problem since upgrading to Lion. I have a mac pro. Spotlight seems to be finding files correctly, but when I "Show all in finder" I get an empty finder window. Searching in finder does nothing. This actually seemed to start after I was trying to create a smart folder. The smart folder was working correctly for about 10 minutes, then finder searches stopped working all together.
 
P

Paulinderwick

macrumors newbie
Nov 8, 2011
9
0
Spotlight problems

Recently bought a new MacBookPro - originally SL but then upgraded to Lion. However apart from the idiocy of restarting unwanted programs spotlight will now only return Office documents! Has Gates found a way to take over Apple on some sort of compulsory basis? I have hundreds and hundreds of Keynote presentations which I need to search using Spotlight but it will only return search results in Word or Powerpoint documents. Am I, or is my MacBook Pro, going mad??
 
S

spitboy2000

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2007
51
0
My spotlight and finder search couldn't find an elephant in a closet

I get blank results for everything

someone please help
 
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