Very slow Spotlight search

[Maxis]

VERY Slow Spotlight search on Sequoia 15.2 (24C101). Any ideas what to do?
(WebThumbnailExtension has been quiet for a while now.)

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro18,2
Model Number: Z14X0000MKS/A
Chip: Apple M1 Max
Total Number of Cores: 10 (8 performance and 2 efficiency)
Memory: 64 GB
System Firmware Version: 11881.61.3
OS Loader Version: 11881.61.3

Free space: 284,26 Gb / 2,000 Gb

 

[JuicyGoomba]

It's the same for me on 15.1.

Honestly, MacOS is trash. There's nothing you can do but hope they'll fix it. I doubt they will. The stutter when switching Spaces has been there since the advent of the "retina" Mac, and software quality has largely gotten worse with each release.

It's honestly embarrassing how much MacOS has regressed over the years while Windows 11 and Linux distros have improved tenfold.

This isn't even about preferences anymore. MacOS and iOS are massively behind the curve when it comes to modern OS developments. Apple have starved their software teams to persue a fancy VR headset nobody wanted, and a load of gimmicky AI tools that no one asked for.

As someone has already posted on here, try putting 2x Safari windows side by side using the new windows tiling feature. Go on. Just see how broken it is.

I'm so happy that work paid for the £2600 MacBook Pro 16" M3 Pro (amazing naming conventions Apple), because I'd have been absolutely miserable spending that kind of money on this Fischer Price OS.

I used to LOVE spotlight, but even on iOS it regularly craps itself. On MacOS in Sonoma it was reliable 99% of the time, and would always find my note/document from the first few letters or words. In Sequioa it takes multiple seconds to finally suggest... a dictionary lookup. Despite typing the exact note title, having recently opened that note, and instead it's 10 suggestions below a dictionary suggestion and Safari search suggestions.

But it's okay because you can tell ChatGPT to make you a cookie recipe using only dust and eggs.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't have that issue at all…but then again I'm only searching my internal SSD and two high speed SSDs connected via Thunderbolt (40gbps). I've excluded my slower, USB-connected SATA SSDs from Spotlight.

 

[Maxis]

It's the same for me on 15.1.

Honestly, MacOS is trash. There's nothing you can do but hope they'll fix it. I doubt they will. The stutter when switching Spaces has been there since the advent of the "retina" Mac, and software quality has largely gotten worse with each release.

It's honestly embarrassing how much MacOS has regressed over the years while Windows 11 and Linux distros have improved tenfold.

This isn't even about preferences anymore. MacOS and iOS are massively behind the curve when it comes to modern OS developments. Apple have starved their software teams to persue a fancy VR headset nobody wanted, and a load of gimmicky AI tools that no one asked for.

As someone has already posted on here, try putting 2x Safari windows side by side using the new windows tiling feature. Go on. Just see how broken it is.

I'm so happy that work paid for the £2600 MacBook Pro 16" M3 Pro (amazing naming conventions Apple), because I'd have been absolutely miserable spending that kind of money on this Fischer Price OS.

I used to LOVE spotlight, but even on iOS it regularly craps itself. On MacOS in Sonoma it was reliable 99% of the time, and would always find my note/document from the first few letters or words. In Sequioa it takes multiple seconds to finally suggest... a dictionary lookup. Despite typing the exact note title, having recently opened that note, and instead it's 10 suggestions below a dictionary suggestion and Safari search suggestions.

But it's okay because you can tell ChatGPT to make you a cookie recipe using only dust and eggs.

Nomen est omen.
In Finnish language pronunciation of Sequoia sounds like a word ["sekooja" (spoken language)] meaning 'a person that behaves/became crazy' or 'became mixed up'.

I think the same way you do, JuicyGoomba. The search was brilliant in previous OS versions, but it has gotten worse and worse. At the moment, I basically can’t find anything when I try. I have a massive pile of documents on my Mac, so this is a really important feature for me. The sad thing is that I’ve kind of gotten used to it.

 

[Maxis]

Reporting how I got Spotlight to work in a normal speed:

1. Scanned with fsck_apfs for volumes, containers (all was OK)
2. I updated fuse 4.8.2. -> 4.8.3
3. Removed from spotlight search results (movies, fonts, websites, hints, contacts) -> putting these back on, didn't slow search down again.
4. Allowed reporting Apple the Spotlight searches.

 

[pphil]

For me it takes about 20 (TWENTY!) seconds before any results show up!
This started about 2 weeks ago.
Sequoia 15.3. The current update did not fix it.

OSX is indeed getting more crappy all the time, sigh.

PS. I have reported this to Apple, I hope more people do so.

Edit: In Safe Mode, Spotlight works normally – hmmmm...

 

[cleanton]

Reset Spotlignt search.