Spotlight not finding some files (not system nor private)

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Level 1

17 points

Spotlight not finding some files (not system nor private)

So after searching for this issue I believe this is something the Apple community is familiar with. When searching for a file on Spotlight there are some files (not system files nor private ones) not showing up. I haven't found a solution or explanation to this. Just wanted to know if there's something to be done, or at least a quick way for finding file by its complete or part of the name. I do this a lot since it's much faster than going folder by folder...

I appreciate your help.

MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 2, 2020 12:00 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

JowiBenz Author

Level 1

17 points

Apr 3, 2020 11:23 AM in response to Barney-15E

Yes definitely the Finder search by name is the best way to search by file/folder name, and with the keyboard command (option + command + space bar), I can access it right away.

Thanks for your help!

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,008 points

Apr 2, 2020 12:14 PM in response to JowiBenz

Spotlight, itself, doesn't search system folders or show hidden files.

If you search in the Finder, you can include System Files and File Visibility.

Once you enter a search term (and optionally select a search token to refine the search), you can add other criteria to the query.

Click the + button (or Option-click to add a group).

From the criteria popup menu select Other…

From the list, search for System Files, select it, and click OK. You can optionally check the box to keep it in the menu.

Repeat for File visibility.

With the Finder preferences set to search current folder, select a system folder (like Library) and start a search.

This will even work from the top level of the startup drive.

I wrote a User Tip for this a couple of years ago: Search Everywhere - Apple Community

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Answer 3

JowiBenz Author

Level 1

17 points

Apr 2, 2020 2:18 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for your help Barney,

I was actually referring to files that are not system files or private files, that I read they are excluded from the spotlight search.

You can see in the pictures attached how different ways of searching for a file returns different results. I used 3 files named the same but one with spaces, another one with dashes and another with underscores, so it will be even easier to understand...

I don't even understand the logic behind it. I any one see that, please let me know.

For now I will change and do the searches through the Finder, but it's a pain for me cuz I do this many many times a day, and obviously it's faster through the Spotlight search.

Thank you!

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Answer 4

Apr 2, 2020 12:45 PM in response to JowiBenz

Occasionally after an update (like to the recent 15.4 release), I find that Spotlight takes a few hours of uptime to start working, like it's re-indexing everything. Leave your MBP running with nothing else intense going on it, plugged in, for a while and hopefully that should help.

My bet is that if you do this and report back tomorrow or even later today, it'll be working. Please post an update!

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