Search Functionality Broken Across Multiple Apple Apps Since Sonoma – Still Not Fixed in Sequoia

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Level 1

14 points

Search Functionality Broken Across Multiple Apple Apps Since Sonoma – Still Not Fixed in Sequoia

Hi Apple Community,

I’ve been experiencing a persistent issue with the search functionality across multiple Apple applications—Spotlight, Finder, Mail, Notes, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote—ever since I updated Sonoma. I recently upgraded to Sequoia, hoping this critical problem would be resolved, but the issue persists.

It’s incredibly frustrating that such an essential feature doesn’t work, especially given how vital search functionality is to any system. Whether I’m trying to locate a file in Finder, search emails, or find specific notes or documents, nothing seems to work, making it a huge bottleneck in my productivity.

I have tried so many recommendations but nothing worked. I even called Apple support and no solution. Does anyone have a fix or workaround for this issue? And more importantly, why hasn’t Apple addressed this by now?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Sep 18, 2024 5:08 AM

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Answer 1

digital146 Author

Level 1

14 points

Oct 18, 2024 2:15 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for your reply. If you search for this problem, you will find plenty of people asking and looking for a solution. I agree with you; every environment is different, and some users have unique situations, like if it is a personal Mac or company Mac controlled by your IT, which is my case. I am Admin in the machine but some changes like Mac OS updates need the IT admin password.

The good news is that my search is finally working on all Mac OS apps, and the solution happens by accident. I was having an "Authentication is disabled" error, and I found the post (How to fix the "Authentication is disable… - Apple Community), which took me to another post by corra_india with the solution by pkleiber (https://community.jamf.com/t5/jamf-pro/softwareupdate-is-trying-to-authenticate-user-authentication-is/m-p/245357). This fixed the "Authentication is disabled" issue and I noticed it fixed the search issue as well.

#Check if your account has securetoken enabled, (it probably does)
# Disable it then reenable it.
sysadminctl -secureTokenStatus <username>
sysadminctl -secureTokenOff <username> -password - -adminUser <adminusername> -adminPassword -
sysadminctl -secureTokenOn <username> -password - -adminUser <adminusername> -adminPassword -
diskutil apfs UpdatePreboot /

I hope this helps to other users with the same issue. Thanks again.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,038 points

Sep 18, 2024 5:13 AM in response to digital146

And more importantly, why hasn’t Apple addressed this by now?

That’s the only one I can answer. It’s not a widespread problem.

If you have tried “everything,”

It’s entirely possible you have some third-party software installed that is breaking the index or the indexing mechanism.

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