Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Hi there --
I have a lot of files on an external drive. When I open the folder, I can see the files. However, if I do a finder search, only .html and .pdf files are displayed. The other files (mostly .epub and .mobi) aren't found via the search.
What gives? This problem just showed up.
a.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.13
runtoto Said:
"Files not showing up via finder search: thanks much. i tried it a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to work.[...]"
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You are Welcome. Try this...
Add the Hard Drive to your Spotlight Search:
Use these links...
It should then be searchable.
runtoto Said:
"Files not showing up via finder search: thanks much. i tried it a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to work.[...]"
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You are Welcome. Try this...
Add the Hard Drive to your Spotlight Search:
Use these links...
It should then be searchable.
runtoto Said:
"Files not showing up via finder search Hi there -- I have a lot of files on an external drive. When I open the folder, I can see the files. However, if I do a finder search, only .html and .pdf files are displayed. The other files (mostly .epub and .mobi) aren't found via the search. What gives? This problem just showed up."
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A Couple of Thoughts:
By your wording, it seems you have searched for these in the past, yet they are no longer showing up. Exclude the extensions, seeing if they are seen. I'm mot so sure that would make a difference, though.
Reset your SMC and your NVRAM:
Sometimes changes (i.e. Hardware) are made to the system and then settings (i.e. Spotlight Search) become corrupted, technically. So, reset both on your Mac. So, reset the SMC and reset the NVRAM or PRAM. It might take three tries. to fix this. So, be certain you have the time to do so.
Start With This:
runtoto Said:
"hi there. this helped a litle, but didn't solve the problem fully. still very slow... additional information: when i'm trying to delete a bunch of files, not every file gets deleted. it's all very strange to me..."
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Try This:
Reinstall the macOS, Backing Up First
1. First, Back up your Mac:
Create a Time Machine backup of your Mac, so that you can have something to restore your Mac from, should anything go wrong with the reinstall. Use an external hard drive that is at least 1.5 times the size of the internal hard drive.
2. Then, Reinstall the macOS:
Nothing would be deleted. It's just that items that have become corrupted or deleted, would be replaced or reinstalled back to where they should be. Go Here: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support
runtoto Said:
"This seem to work! Thanks so much. The search function, now, is incredibly slow. Any suggestions for how to get it back to normal?"
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You are welcome.
Try This:
Delete: com.apple.finder.plist
Note: After the reboot, this is recreated. So, no worries there.
thanks much.
i tried it a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to work.
some additional information...
yes, in the past i have been able to find the files.
this seems to only be impacting the files on my external drives - not on my internal drive.
on my external drives, i can see the files when i open the folders. however, when i do a search, they don't show up.
i believe my mac updated recently. i'm running macOS catalina 10.15.16.
any further thoughts would be appreciated.
a.
hi there.
this helped a litle, but didn't solve the problem fully. still very slow...
additional information: when i'm trying to delete a bunch of files, not every file gets deleted.
it's all very strange to me...
This seem to work! Thanks so much.
The search function, now, is incredibly slow. Any suggestions for how to get it back to normal?
Files not showing up via finder search
