.wav (audio) files not showing in spotlight results

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Level 1

43 points

.wav (audio) files not showing in spotlight results

I have a macbook pro (2015) running Sierra*. Until recently searching for .wav files in spotlight worked fine but now it doesn't show any of this sort of file, even if I search by the name of the wav file only. Basically it seems to be excluding all .wav files from results.

Have checked preferences & settings & all seems to be ok there. Anyone got any ideas ?

thanks.

*nb. I can't update the OS currently as some of my audio software hasn't been updated to work with newer OS etc.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Mar 27, 2021 3:14 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,266 points

Mar 27, 2021 7:18 AM in response to jshire

Does using either of the following Spotlight queries find .wav files?

name:.wav
kind:waveform

I have never altered my Spotlight settings to specifically index .wav files, and yet, I can download a sample .wav audio and in the time it takes me to formulate the Spotlight query, the file is found.

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Answer 2

jshire Author

Level 1

43 points

Mar 27, 2021 7:27 AM in response to VikingOSX

thanks for the reply. That didn't work either but have discovered something. I have an older hard drive that normal spotlight search does seem to work on ok for wav files. The only difference between that drive & the ones where it doesn't seem to work is that those are formatted to 'journaled (encrypted)'. It seems odd that once a drive is connected & the password entered spotlight then filters out wav files whilst showing all other types of file.

ta

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,266 points

Mar 27, 2021 10:12 AM in response to jshire

I do not use encrypted drives. Neither boot nor Time Machine. The drive on which the preceding Spotlight commands worked was an APFS formatted volume with macOS 11.2.3.

I just copied a .wav file onto my 2011 Mac mini running High Sierra 10.13.6, and within 15 seconds, I was able to use the preceding Spotlight commands to locate that .wav file. This was on an HFS+ journaled, case-insensitive formatted file system.

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.wav (audio) files not showing in spotlight results

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