Spotlight search in macOS Tahoe doesn’t show contact names

Will Turner1 wrote:

Start a Spotlight search.

Enter a person's name from Contacts

Nothing is returned.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Searching via Spotlight for a Contact name doesn't return the contact card in MacOS Tahoe

How recently was this computer upgraded to Tahoe ?

The Commercially Released version was only released 10 days ago - Sept 15, 2025

How many times was this machine restarted since the upgrade ?

Has Spotlight finished indexing all the changes since the upgrade?

To check if Spotlight has finished indexing on your Mac, click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar; if indexing is ongoing, a progress bar will appear beneath the search field.

FYI

Having upgraded this machine on day one of release

Any entity or person currently appears in the Contacts application do appear

Tested on M4 Desktop with macOS 26 Tahoe

These are only 3 of about 125 persons, entities that do appear in my Contacts application

Will Turner1 wrote:

Spotlight search in macOS Tahoe doesn’t show contact names

Answers to the other questions, macbook pro M1, installed update on launch day, so it should be done indexing?

I am not seeing the issue.

verify your Settings:

yes the reindexing does not take that long. Shutting down and restarting —this can trigger a re-index so you would expect to see a relevant contact to present on search. >Shut Down... more than once to sort anomalies.

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

no resolve you can try simply reinstalling the macOS on top of your existing macOS to rule out an anomaly in the upgrade

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

To quote my colleague @ leroydouglas >. " I am not seeing the issue. " >> either 🦉

You may what to review some of the Limitations for Calendar, Reminder, Contacts, Bookmarks Maps

Limits for iCloud Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, and Maps

Especially the below listed in limitations in iCloud >>

• Maximum size of all contact cards:
  • Card text: 48 MB
  • Card photos: 200 MB
• Supported file types for a contact photo: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
• vCard import limits:
  • Total number of vCards: 50,000
  • Maximum size of a vCard: 256 KB (photo + text)
  • Maximum photo size for a vCard: 224 KB

Which seems to apply, your case

ncr100 wrote:

I also have this problem, and do NOT have a fix. :-(

Spotlight cannot find results in the Dictionary, however I can directly use the Dictionary App to find results successfully. macOS Tahoe 26.0.1

That one appears to be a bug, or if you prefer, a malfunction.

Bugs can be reported to Apple here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

I do see that sometimes. At the point where you took that screenshot, click on Dictionary. What happens?

From what I've seen, Spotlight searches are rather buggy so far in Tahoe. I suspect it's because the functionality of Spotlight was significantly expanded with the update. Hopefully, it improves with point updates. A nice, if ironic, example that sums it up for me is searching for the definition of a word:

Yes, still. If I spell "malfunction" correctly, I don't get a definition.

Fine, there is a Dictionary button...so I click it.

The way to get the right definition is to spell the word wrong.

Well, at least I found something Spotlight can correctly define:

neuroanatomist wrote:

Yes, still. If I spell "malfunction" correctly, I don't get a definition.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/d7091e5a-5e1a-46a7-be5c-1fa7b267468b

Fine, there is a Dictionary button...so I click it.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/ef99e971-0b9b-4321-8f1b-483315bc30bf

The way to get the right definition is to spell the word wrong.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/7a12dcb2-4a7a-4383-88fb-845e7ba7cebd

Well, at least I found something Spotlight can correctly define:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/09bd18ae-8f75-493b-8e7e-6e1a7287d9e6

Hum again and may I say with respect - truly so

Seems to be a localized issue and unique ?

Thanks, and odd for me then. When I see a dictionary definition in the list of results, double clicking on it opens the Dictionary app with the full definition shown. But the Dictionary button keeps me in the Spotlight interface and gives no results.

I suppose I'd care more if I used Spotlight more than a couple of times a month at most.

neuroanatomist wrote:

Thanks, and odd for me then. When I see a dictionary definition in the list of results, double clicking on it opens the Dictionary app with the full definition shown. But the Dictionary button keeps me in the Spotlight interface and gives no results.

I suppose I'd care more if I used Spotlight more than a couple of times a month at most.

I know this is not significant and to be expected as Tahoe is the initial release version 26.0

The Time Stamp coincides with opening Dictionary from Spotlight

Yup, more refinements will no doubt be coming

I also have this problem, and do NOT have a fix. :-(

Spotlight cannot find results in the Dictionary, however I can directly use the Dictionary App to find results successfully. macOS Tahoe 26.0.1

Video showing the problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_MQ7rSYqfQ

I am skeptical that "re-indexing" will correct the broken link to Dictionary since Spotlight can find Filesystem-results perfectly .. so I believe re-indexing will give me no joy.

Broken!

Still ?

Hum, let us hope the Tahoe point update will solve this

Though, here too, I do not see this