Spotlight Files section not working in macOS 26

I launch Spotlight and go to the "files" selection (command+space+2). Spotlight immediately gives me a short list of suggestions that appear to be file names it thinks I might be interested in.


In the search area, I type the name of one of the files that it is displaying for me. That file happens to be on my desktop. Spotlight returns "No results found."


It doesn't matter what non-Application file I search for, the result is always "No results found." Interestingly, enough, if I type the name of a macOS application, for example "Notes" it displays the Notes.app.


Spotlight seems to be able to find application packages but not my files even though it lists some of my files as suggestions.

Mac Studio, macOS 26.0

Posted on Sep 22, 2025 4:11 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 20, 2025 1:09 AM

As per another users idea on the same subject in a different thread, it started to show up instantly.


I checked my own start-up items on the settings. (System settings>general>startup items and extentions) There was one calculator app on the "open at login" list and a bunch of old items down below on the "allow in the background". I erased removed the item on the login and made some cleaning on the background list. Restarted. Bammm! All files started to show instantly. No new indexing etc. Because it was already there and something was blocking it. Thanks for the suggestion!


(since I removed all at once, I am not sure which was the guilty app)

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 20, 2025 1:09 AM in response to Jackalizm

As per another users idea on the same subject in a different thread, it started to show up instantly.


I checked my own start-up items on the settings. (System settings>general>startup items and extentions) There was one calculator app on the "open at login" list and a bunch of old items down below on the "allow in the background". I erased removed the item on the login and made some cleaning on the background list. Restarted. Bammm! All files started to show instantly. No new indexing etc. Because it was already there and something was blocking it. Thanks for the suggestion!


(since I removed all at once, I am not sure which was the guilty app)

Oct 1, 2025 7:38 AM in response to VJC

Still no results with the files. It just shows the apps but no file is listed.

I have tried all below but no luck:

-Log in to safe mode and go back to normal login

-Add Machintosh HD to spotlight settings and remove it later to start re-indexing

-Type the console codes to turn off spotlight, re-index, turn on

-Kill all spotlight apps in the activity monitor.


All above methods above did not work for me.

2021 M1 MBP, Tahoe 26.0.1.

It just stopped working after updating to Thaoe 26. The mini fix to 26.0.1 did not solve either.

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Spotlight Files section not working in macOS 26

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