Can't search event in iCal Leopard

I just tried the "export deleteimport" fix, but it didn't work for me.
I still can't search any event in iCal.
Help ! what can we do ?

I tried it as well. Nothing.

Last night out of frustration I deleted every pref file with the name spotlight in it to maybe clear iCal as well. As you might think my action destroyed spotlight and removed it from my machine. I reinstalled 10.4 as an upgrade again, got spotlight back and wow it is working better and faster than before. But still no iCal search.

As spotlight is still reindexing on my machine I'll advise if I get any new results.

I meant reinstalled 10.5

Sorry

Still getting the same result.

OK here's a guess.

My events are in my users>user>Library>Calendars>(Cal #)>Events folder.

Apple prevents spotlight from searching / listing my library folder in Leopard.

We can no longer search with the finder as an option in Leopard.

If iCal is using spotlight to search events we are S.O.O.L until Apple decides to let spotlight show us those folders.

or perhaps there is there a way to search an alias to the calendars folder.

Am I crazy?

Message was edited by: Itsaulgud

I assume you have tried the obvious - trash the preferences file? It fixed several issues I was having. Be sure and backup the Calendar first using the FIle Backup iCal Menu item.

Thanks Stan,

That solution didn't work for me.

Do you have full iCal search capability on your machines running 10.5 ?

Yes I do. I installed two ways. On my MacBook, I did a reformat/clean install. I have had no issues of any sort on that install (except of course for things that changes in Leopard like the way info works in iCal). On my MacBook Pro I did an upgrade install. I have had issues. Some related to 3rd party apps and some related to pref files. But so far I have been able to work through all without too much hassle or a reinstall. I have read the blogs about all the Leopard problems, but my experience is far less negative.

Well that is good to know that many people have it working.

I just lost most of my archived E-mail trying to fix this.

I did archive and install this time instead of upgrade which was working fine except for iCal.

My computer seemed to freeze before it completed. Impatiently, I rebooted and was left with half my personal files in previous system and half in the new system. I ran installer again and forgot to move my mail folder among a few other items in library and application support. It was overwritten.

I am now piecing back together 4 years of a near flawlessly operating personal environment on my computer.

Two funny things here. I have never used Spotlight and removed it from my system after a disappointing first tryout. I never used iCal until a few weeks ago. when I heard NightHawk was too far away.

I really wanted to incorporate Macintosh syncing capabilities as Now Up To Date was showing it's age.

Before my upgrade I was impressed with the result I was seeing trying out other PIM software synced to iCal.

I was encouraged by what I read about iCal and Addressbook improvements to upgrade to Leopard.

I have now mutilated my oh so comfortable and productive computer work environment trying to solve this stupid iCal search problem.

If anyone figures it out let us that still haven't know.

I'm erasing and starting over while waiting for 10.5.1

Message was edited by: Itsaulgud

Well, I don't believe it but I fixed this problem completely.

My solution is not for the faint of heart. For the second time I stripped 10.5 of every file containing "spotlight" or iCal and rebooted. No problem except no spotlight or iCal.

I then searched again for any file with "spotlight" or iCal in the name.

I found 1 invisible file stuck in my trash ".Spotlight-V100" and tried to delete it. No..it wasn't going. I succeeded in moving it to my desktop and left it there.

I then reinstalled 10.5 as an upgrade install, rebooted and watched spotlight take off indexing my drive. In less than 10 minutes I had full iCal searching.

I imported my individual saved calendars from a previous solution and there they were with full search capability. The dates on my calendars originally imported from Now Up To Date can now be edited with search and synced with all my other programs. That was what I wanted to do when all my trouble started 2 weeks ago.




What have I learned ?

With a huge system change like this it's better to erase and reinstall then add all 3rd party's one at a time. I don't think I would have had any problem other than incompatibility if I would have done so.

On the other hand I've learned a **** of a lot and gained some respect for what Apple has done with 10.5 to improve "under the hood" operation of my computer.

After I realized I had a spotlight problem rather than an iCal problem I found this link <http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html> which explains why I had so much trouble. I think some of us with no solution to iCal searching problems may have corrupted .Spotlight-V100 indexes as opposed to iCal index or calendar problems.

My G5 is totally free of this problem now and I am being productive again.

Good luck to all with their problems and thank you to all who took the time to offer solutions.

Message was edited by: Itsaulgud

how does one delete the ical preferences?

I have just upgraded to 10.5.1 and iCal does still not search.

Thanks, but this does not help here. I tried reindexing my entire machine using terminal, but no avail. All my apps and everything works fine, except iCal seaching.

BillRey,

Remember I reindexed as you did several times. It was not until I manually found and removed the invisible, corrupted .Spotlight-V100 index that I returned to normal searching.

My symptoms were exactly the same as yours. Spotlight still reindexed my drive and searched but no iCal searching. All other applications were working as expected.

I have had no problems with iCal at all since I did this move with 10.5 and / or 10.5.1 I am syncing with other applications and have instant search function

Did you erase and install or did you upgrade?

If you do not feel comfortable picking apart your system files, I would erase and reinstall. That would clear any bad unseen index for good.

Just a quick note to say I was experiencing the same search issues on a MB Pro with an erase and install. I brought my iCal data back in through a back up file. This resulted in no searches on any event that was in the the original data file.

My solution was simple. I exported each of my calendars in ical format. Deleted the calendars from within ical. Imported each calendar back. Search is now functional.

For me this seemed like a bug in the reading older iCal data. You may wish to try this before the more drastic solutions offered above.

jm

Good advice Joseph,

But remember I tried it when Kai suggested it and got no result. I did reimport my separate calendars from that solution after I deleted the corrupt spotlight file and got everything working.

Were you using spotlight in 10.4 ? Just wondering.

I have the same problem.

After the input from the search-keyword the empty search-window is open.
No events are displayed.

Question: Is that a problem from the Leopard-system or is that a local problem of my system???

I need help.