Spotlight search not showing applications first since Monterey update

IMHO this is a experience breaking issue, if I wanted a bad app search I would go to Windows or Linux... The only reason I pay for an expensive Mac is the OS and if the OS doesn't save me time and effort it loses it's appeal...

This should be fixed, applications should always return first without user intervention like restarting or reindexing like it was on Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra and so on...

Ditto - and fwiw I have restarted and reindexed multiple times... Search is still broken for applications... so disappointing to see basic regressions like this...

Hi all,

have the same problem. I tried restarting, shutting down, reindexing and nothing has changed. Yesterday I found out, that Spotlight shows some apps, but only native Mac apps, like Find, Terminal, Calculator...

It's really annoying, I hope apple will soon resolve this problem!

See ya!

Macro apps are all well and good, but I think what most people want is an OS that isn’t broken… spotlight has worked as an application launcher since Tiger… can you only imagine the abuse MS would get if they broke the start menu, and just ignored the problem for months pretending everything was fine… it’s ludicrous

Hey jak.son48,

It appears that when trying to use Spotlight, what you're searching for doesn't appear near the top. To start, you could see if restarting your MacBook Air may help resolve this issue: Log out, sleep, wake, restart, or shut down your Mac  It may seem like a simple step, but it can sometimes resolve issues.

Another step you can take is to reindex Spotlight, which you can see how to do here: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support Let us know how those steps go or if you've already tried those.

Take care!

mmendescortes wrote:

IMHO this is a experience breaking issue, if I wanted a bad app search I would go to Windows or Linux... The only reason I pay for an expensive Mac is the OS and if the OS doesn't save me time and effort it loses it's appeal...

Spotlight isn't specifically an app launcher. Its primary purpose is to find content in files. It works great as an app launcher, and is really the only thing I use. I rarely find a collision between an app name and content. I generally use abbreviations for apps, like "du" for Disk Utility, "am" for Activity Monitor--even using am doesn't cause a collision. It also seems to learn which app is supposed to match which abbreviation. However, it always wants me to open Keynote if I type "key". "ka" works well for Keychain Access, but now that we have Passwords system prefs, "pas" works.

I have found times when Spotlight loses its mind. It won't return an app at all. Usually, that is right after it has to reindex for some reason. If it doesn't fix itself in a while, I reindex using sudo mdutil -E / in Terminal.

If you only want it to find Applications, disable all of the other categories in the Spotlight preferences.

If you want to streamline your workflow use a macro app like Keyboard Maestro . With it you can set keystrokes to open any app you'd like. For example I have Option+Command+t to open MacTracker, Option+Command+s to open Safari and Option+Command+a to open the Applications folder. There are a number of macro apps available at the App Store.

what most people want is an OS that isn’t broken… spotlight has worked as an application launcher since Tiger…

Mine still works. You'll have to investigate what you have installed that is broke Spotlight on your Mac.

can you only imagine the abuse MS would get if they broke the start menu, and just ignored the problem for months pretending everything was fine… it’s ludicrous

MS Windows is a complete disaster to use. Searching is almost non-existent. Takes about 10 minutes to log in. Documents take at least 30 seconds to open as they must be downloaded from the cloud, first. Even then, you can't edit them until you click on "enable document" or whatever the name of the button. Not sure why I would have opened the document if I didn't want it enabled. You can't even print a PDF without clicking on that stupid button.

When you expand whatever is equivalent to the sidebar, you attempt to click on a folder and it moves the folder before you can complete the click, opening some other folder. I have no idea how the rest of the world puts up with that horrible experience. I can't do anything about it since they won't let me have a Mac.

I don't think you understand the problem. Using Spotlight you should be able to search for keywords within a document and Spotlight will find all instances of your search. I will also do what your macro suggestion will do. Also, with Spotlight broken, search does not work in the Calendar application. I've tried ALL the suggestions I've found on the internet plus reinstalling Monterey. Nothing has fixed the problem. BTW. I can search on my other iMac using iCloud the same files but different OS, Mojave, and the search will find what it should and Calendar works too.

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

On macOS 12.0.1 on an M1 Pro, I can enter the partial name of an application that I have never used on this new Mac, and Spotlight returns that application name as the first result. It does that because it is a unique name that does not appear in any other Spotlight category, filename, or contents of any file. The lack of uniqueness would have otherwise returned many results.

If you want to ensure that your first return item is the application you seek, then use the following syntax to narrow the search results to just applications. Replace the quoted instance below with the application name, or leave the double-quotes if the application name has white space in its name:

kind:app "application name"



Apple has this covered in Narrow your search results on Mac.

If it is an application you frequently use, why not drag and drop it to your Dock, where a single click will launch it.

To be honest I'm beginning to consider it. Same exact problem, also tried everything mentioned above... Wondering now if a time-machine re-install will do or if I need a clean re-install. Let me know if you ever do a TM reinstall and it works.

Same issue, I noticed that once I open the application once it shows up, but before that nothing, very frustrating.

It's not broken for me on a 2017 iMac running Monterey.

Exact the same issue... Don't know what to do. Hope a quick update can fix it.