Spotlight indexing is stuck

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Level 1

9 points

Spotlight indexing is stuck

I have a new imac 2020 (it came with catalina and I immediately upgraded to big sur).

Indexing has been stuck since I received the computer. It has been days.

I've tried adding/removing folders from privacy. I've tried disabling/enabling indexing via command line.

I only have "applications" enabled in what I want indexed. So no files or anything else. I've even tried removing that so nothing is checked. And still the "Indexing..." bar is stuck.

Opening Console, I find many messages that say:

501:com.apple.messages.spotlightIndexing:0F89C3:[

{name: DeviceActivityPolicy, policyWeight: 20.000, response: {Decision: Must Not Proceed, Score: 0.00, Rationale: [{deviceActivity == 1}]}}

], FinalDecision: Must Not Proceed}

It seems like dasd is preventing something from happening because the device is active. So I let it sit and that message goes away, but the "Indexing..." bar persists.

I'm out of ideas.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 20, 2021 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

fjkl324qfa Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2021 1:53 PM in response to fjkl324qfa

To all future searchers, I think I finally figured out the issue.

My computer has massive numbers of files thanks to node_modules and large git repos which are programming related things (but any large amount of files would cause the issue).

Even though I only have Applications checked in the "Search Results" tab of spotlight preferences, it will still index EVERYTHING. I mistakingly assumed since I only want those search results, spotlight would limit its indexing to only those items. Not true and it seems Search Results and Privacy are completely disconnected settings.

So to fix this issue, you must go to the privacy tab and manually add problematic directories.

If you're seeing cpu spikes in the mds_stores process and don't know why, this is probably why.

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Answer 2

Chris_C1

Community Specialist

Feb 22, 2021 1:54 PM in response to fjkl324qfa

Hi fjkl324qfa,

Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities. We understand Spotlight appears to not be functioning correctly on your new iMac.

Was your iMac set up as new, or did you migrate data from a previous Mac?

It sounds like you've taken a number of great steps already. We'll want to be sure to follow each of the steps linked below.

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac

If the issue persists, we'll then want to utilize safe mode.

"Starting up your Mac in safe mode can help you determine whether issues you’re experiencing are caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up."

Start up your Mac in safe mode

Cheers!

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,440 points

Feb 25, 2021 8:41 AM in response to fjkl324qfa

Sometimes it takes Spotlight a week or two to settle down and completely finish indexing. Please wait for about a week and then try again, if the problem persists please let us know.

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Answer 4

fjkl324qfa Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 25, 2021 8:21 AM in response to Chris_C1

Hey, thanks. Yes, it was set up as new with no migration.

Thanks for the link, but that was one of the ones I found and attempted with no joy. FWIW it is still behaving the same now as it was when I originally posted.

I'm familiar with safe mode but unsure what to do there once logged in for this particular issue. It doesn't seem to be disk related because all other software and work is behaving normally and I have it set to only index applications.

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Answer 5

fjkl324qfa Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 25, 2021 4:32 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Welllll... I'm about to enter week three. And I'd be inclined to agree with you if I was indexing an entire computer but I've disabled everything and I literally just have applications checked in what I want indexed. No files or anything else. That's all I ever use spotlight for and is how I launch applications, which is why it makes this problem so annoying.

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Answer 6

fjkl324qfa Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 6, 2021 10:01 AM in response to fjkl324qfa

It's still stuck but at least after the last macos update it forced something to index the remaining apps that I open using it.

So it's now just annoying, but no longer getting in my way.

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Spotlight indexing is stuck

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