I am trying to re-index Spotlight because I can not find e-mails in Outlook. I followed the instructions given by Apple Support but it doesn't work. They say to exclude and then include the disk I want to scan to kickstart the scan but nothing happens. Any suggestions would be great appreciated.
iMac Pro
It has been a long time since Spotlight had the pulsating dot to indicate that indexing is taking place, quite a few OS's ago.
to see if Spotlight is indexing you need to click on its icon in the menubar and enter some text, perhaps the name of a known folder or similar.
CleanMyMac is the source of many ill Macs, do as MacJack advises, Your Mac does not need any third party apps that claim to clean. optimise or promise you the world, they are often responsible for removing vital system files, refer to the developers guidelines on how to fully uninstall software like this, deleting the app is not enough. And it is also recommended to uninstall any anti-virus apps you may have, they are completely unnecessary on a Mac, there are no viruses that affect the Mac, again refer to the developers uninstall instructions. The Mac looks after itself pretty well, if you want to keep on top of adware/ malware then download the free version of Malwarebytes, and do a manual scan once a week or once a month.
Uninstall CleanMyMac as per the developer's instructions, it's as bad as malware.
This did it. Thanks!
As added info, it was CleanMyMac that wiped the Spotlight index which wouldn't be the end of the world except apparently Outlook needs the Spotlight index to find e-mails within Outlook. And this all started because Time Machine won't back up. It's been a great day! Thank you all for your help!!!
Dragging it in and then out of Privacy should begin the re-indexing. But you need to allow time for the re-indexing to complete. There will be a dot in the Spotlight magnifying glass while it re-indexes and the dot will disappear when re-indexing I complete. Also if you search Spotlight and it is still re-indexing you'll see a status bar.
No Anti-Virus software or so-called “cleaning” apps are needed or recommended for Mac OS. They can conflict with Mac's own built-in security. At best they will slow your Mac by using unnecessary resources and at worst will bork your entire system. Your Mac has all the built-in protection you need.
Good to know, the dot was difficult to see. 👍
Really? I suspected it was a bit of a placebo but I didn't think it was harmful. Can you recommend anything else?
:) I had Malwarebytes but I uninstalled it because I thought it was causing problems with Time Machine. This is like whack a mole. Thank you so much for your time!
Malwarebytes shouldn't interfere with TM. If you try it again and it does, don't hesitate to contact Malwarebytes Support. They are very responsive.
re-indexing Spotlight
