Finder search in Mojave incorrect/doesn’t work.

Question

Level 1

8 points

Finder search in Mojave incorrect/doesn’t work.

The search and Smart folder function in Mojave either doesn’t work or returns incorrect results missing files that match.

see example in picture.

1) Smart Folder shows 2963 found in PSS200

2) Actual PSS200 folder shows 3985 all of which contain “S200”

Example 2:

1) Smart Folder shows nothing containing “S200” in Consolidated Master Images

2) consolidated Master Images window shows that there are indeed numerous images containing “S200”

Whats the problem?

Posted on Jan 24, 2019 11:07 AM

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Answer 1

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Jan 26, 2019 3:29 PM in response to JH604

Hello JH604,

I would recommend at this point contacting Apple Support directly. You can do so here: Official - Apple Support

Have a great day!

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Answer 2

JH604 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2019 5:14 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you, I have done that way as well, several times including turning SIP off first. Still the same.

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Answer 3

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Jan 25, 2019 1:21 PM in response to JH604

Hello JH60,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. I understand that Finder is not working correctly for you. I am happy to help.

It sounds like the Spotlight index needs to be rebuilt. Follow the steps in the article below.

How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers!

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Answer 4

JH604 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2019 2:52 PM in response to chris_g1

Thanks Chris but that's not the problem. I have deleted them all and rebuilt them five times. Have formatted drive, reinstalled OS it all stays the same. Some files are found right away and some like the ones displayed WILL NOT show up no matter what. Tested on another machine and its the same. Find any File app works perfectly though. You would think the finder would work better than an App.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,924 points

Jan 25, 2019 3:27 PM in response to JH604

Some people report success with the manual method. When I watched what was happening (as best I could), it appeared the GUI method did the same thing, but it’s worth a try. In Terminal, copy/paste this command:

sudo mdutil -E /

It will ask for an admin password, but not display anything when you type it in.

The command erases the index and forces a rebuild.

If that fails, there may be something jamming up the indexing. I don’t know how to coerce the Console to show what is jamming it up like was possible before they change console to make it unusable.

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Finder search in Mojave incorrect/doesn’t work.

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