Spotlight Search not working on Mac after Ventura Update

@Bruce: That's an exact description of my system's behavior – Spotlight search on the desktop will not find any files/file contents or e-mails whatsoever.

The following steps did not make a difference at all:

_ Turning off all search categories in System Preferences and turning them on again after restart.

_ Shift-start of Mail (as search doesn't work there either).

_ Reindexing Spotlight by terminal command.

_ Reinstall of MacOS (although not from a usb drive).

_ Force-quitting "corespotlightd" via Activity Monitor.

_ Adding a folder to the privacy settings and removing it afterwards.

I'm quite desperate what to do next ... Any suggestions?

Regards, André

Glad someone is experiencing exactly the same issue!

@bruce, were you able to solve the problem? I did every trick I can find on the internet but nothing works, nothing. Any search on the entire OS does not work, even the search in the system settings!?!!

Plus, I have nothing installed like CMM or any similar apps, nor I did anything different recently, I have no clue what could have happened.

I hope someone can help..

It worked... until it didn't. I started seeing Spotlight results after a minute or two, but after I restarted, Spotlight results were once again returning ZERO items -- even on names of folders and basic words. Hopefully, the new 16.2 update fixes this bug, even though it's not one of the ones mentioned on the Apple update page.

Exactly the same for me -- starts to reindex, and then -poof-!!

And hey, it's not like "search" is an obscure feature. How are we supposed to find anything without it?? Is there an "search" alternative to Spotlight for the MacOS??

Yes, your suspicion is correct. Everything was migrated from the iMac, on which it works well. I re-installed the OS and upgraded to 13.2. That fixed many problems, but not all. Ventura is incapable of minimizing and re-opening a window correctly. My wired track pad loses its connection to the Studio 5-10x per day. Simply unplugging and re-plugging it restores the connection instantly, but this is a pain.

If Spotlight searches were the only problem, it would certainly be worth the attempt, but truthfully, this computer has so many problems, many of which are intermittent, that it seems pointless. Even dependable apps like the iWork suite now have numerous problems, especially Pages, in which the arrow keys no longer work correctly at the ends of lines. Maybe the computer itself is a lemon, but I'm glad I kept my great old iMac.

From your previous post I had realized that the Spotlight window almost completely offscreen.

This click and hold trick is a nice solution that I was not aware of. Thanks for sharing!

An addendum is that search for topics or settings in system settings also does not work. Again type in touch or displays and nothing happens.

Thanks. Can you elaborate on CleanMyMac? Used for years and never had a noticeable problem.

Also, any ideas about the search problem?

Error

Thanks but that did not change anything

Perfect. So make sure to submit the feedback there. :)

At least, this (a problem-solving update) is what I now have to hope for. The new-user-scenario is nevertheless a good backup solution. Thanks for that.

Unfortunately, a clean install did NOT work for me. Even installed on a clean external drive. No joy.

Toad - That's one of the first things I tried. Trying to add anything to the Privacy panel results in an error message: