Finder is not working

Question

swatch1973 Author

Level 1

8 points

Finder is not working

Finder isn't working on my 2019 iMac. When I do a search for jpeg and photoshop files that

I know are in a particular external harddrive, Finder cannot find them. As a test, I opened

up a folder, noted what files were in there, and then did a search on the folder. Finder did not find the file in that folder, but it did find files with the same name on This Mac. However, when I opened one of the files it found, it was a completely different file with a completely different file name.

I am running Big Sur and I updated to the latest version a month or two ago. I'm not sure if the problem started then or not.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Peter

iMac 21.5″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Aug 29, 2021 12:57 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,056 points

Aug 29, 2021 1:03 PM in response to swatch1973

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.

First, when you search, are you searching "This Mac"?

Does it search properly in Safe Mode?

Have you reindexed Spotlight?

Have you run First Aid?

Cheers,

Jack

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Answer 2

swatch1973 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 30, 2021 3:47 PM in response to Jack-19

Following your suggestions, I did the search in Safe mode but the problem continued. I then tried to reindex in Spotlight but it doesn't look like it worked. The last step of the process says: "Quit System Preferences. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed." How can I tell if it is still actively reindexing? I tried to reindex a fairly large external hard drive, but I don't see any sign that it is still working on it.

Thanks,

Peter

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