Spotlight Lag of 5–20 Seconds

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Level 1

28 points

Spotlight Lag of 5–20 Seconds

I'm experiencing a lag after typing search terms into Spotlight. It takes between 5 and 20 seconds to fetch any results.

I reindexed Spotlight, which seemed to temporarily reduce the lag to 2–3 seconds. However, that only lasted for a few minutes.

No external hard drives are connected to the MacBook Pro. All the solutions I've found via searching this forum suggest reindexing and disconnecting external hard drives. Since I've tried the first, and the second is irrelevant to my setup, what else can I try?

Thanks for your help!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Aug 30, 2021 5:46 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 31, 2021 11:51 AM in response to Tblay

Might want to try running a disk utility first aid scan. Show all volumes and run them from the lowest level APFS volume then APFS container then physical disk.

Consider excluding some folders or external or networked drives. Might just be a lot more data to sift through than you think. Also after a big update it may take some time to finish indexing.

There are also spotlight alternatives. Test out a trial of Alfred. Adds a lot of useful features especially clipboard history.

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Answer 2

Aug 30, 2021 10:12 PM in response to Tblay

Are you up-to-date with macOS 11.5.2 version and all patches? Your profile above says macOS 11.3 which is older.

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Answer 3

Tblay Author

Level 1

28 points

Aug 31, 2021 8:51 AM in response to James Brickley

Yes, up to date. I update religiously. Except that profile, apparently. :) Thanks for flagging that.

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Answer 4

Tblay Author

Level 1

28 points

Aug 31, 2021 11:03 AM in response to Tblay

Actually, I apologize. Was not running 11.5.2. I am now, and the issue seems much better, although there's still a 2–3-second lag. But way better than what it was.

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Spotlight Lag of 5–20 Seconds

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