spotlight slow after big sur update

Anyone experiencing slow Spotlight after Big Sur update? Solution?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 11, 2020 7:00 AM

Top-ranking reply

TK Dennis

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Jan 12, 2021 10:23 AM

I wanted to share a solution that worked for me after searching endlessly.

For me the issue was related to using Time Machine, so if you don't use Time Machine and back up to an external drive this won't help you per se. However, if you use an external drive in any fashion, you may want to try this to see if it helps.

I simply excluded my Time Machine external drive in Spotlight preferences. So I went to Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy and then clicked the + button in the bottom left. Then I added my external drive which I use for Time Machine backups. Almost instantly, my Spotlight lag was significantly reduced. It's just about like normal.

Just incase anyone is wondering, I am running a 2017 i5 Quad Core 27inch iMac with Fusion Drive.

I hope this helps someone out there!

View in context

Similar questions

17 replies

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Dec 15, 2020 11:58 AM in response to jwk47midd

Hey Jwk47midd,

Thanks for your post. It sounds as though Spotlight is performing slower than expected after a recent Big Sur update. We'll do our best to assist.

When you update the software, Spotlight will re-index the contents of your drive for quicker results. This should perform better after about 24-48 hours, depending on the content it needs to re-index.

If this doesn't clear up, you could always try to manually select it to re-index the drive. Here's how to accomplish this: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac Same thing applies after the reindex process, this could take up to 48 hours.

Should it persist, are you using any external drives?

Wishing you the best, take care!

BD83

Level 1

4 points

Feb 11, 2021 11:42 AM in response to TK Dennis

Worked great, thank you.

2013 Mac Pro

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

spotlight slow after big sur update