When I do a Spotlight search directly from the context menu (right mouse click)in Safari 16.1 / Ventura, I get an error message saying "The “Spotlight” service could not be used because the “Spotlight.service” application could not be opened.
".
This function worked fine previously. I rebuild my Spotlight index, but this doesn't help. It seems to be a rare error, as there is mention on it this forum.
iMac
Hi Rene_2008,
Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help today.
Rebuilding Spotlight was a great step to try. Let's try isolating the issue further and see if it occurs inside safe mode. Safe mode will prevent any third-party apps interfering with Spotlight and also clear cache. You can read more about it here: How to use safe mode on your Mac.
"How to use safe mode
Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
Apple silicon
Intel processor
If it doesn't happen in safe mode, but does occur when you start up normally, try testing Spotlight in a new user account. This will let you know if the issue is system-wide or isolated to your user account. Here's how to make a new user account in System Preferences > Users & Groups: Change Users & Groups settings on Mac.
Let us know what happens.
Have a fantastic day!
Hi Rene_2008,
Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help today.
Rebuilding Spotlight was a great step to try. Let's try isolating the issue further and see if it occurs inside safe mode. Safe mode will prevent any third-party apps interfering with Spotlight and also clear cache. You can read more about it here: How to use safe mode on your Mac.
"How to use safe mode
Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
Apple silicon
Intel processor
If it doesn't happen in safe mode, but does occur when you start up normally, try testing Spotlight in a new user account. This will let you know if the issue is system-wide or isolated to your user account. Here's how to make a new user account in System Preferences > Users & Groups: Change Users & Groups settings on Mac.
Let us know what happens.
Have a fantastic day!
Many thanks for the follow-up. I restarted is Safe Boot: same issue. I logged in a with a different account and noticed the same problem! Here is the error screen:
The 'broken' application is in fact one of the Services items which can be found under Services>Searching>Spotlight.
I asked the user to log onto his own MacBook Air 2022 (Ventura) and perform a Spotlight search from Safari using the context item Services>Spotlight. This gave exactly the same error!!
So, this seems to be in bug in Ventura. What can I do to get this resolved?
The technical staff informed me during a support call that this was indeed a known bug in Ventura. We'll have to wait for a future update to get this resolved.
Hello Rene_2008,
We appreciate the troubleshooting that you have completed to this point. The next steps to resolution will be to contact Apple Support here: Apple Support
Take care.
I have same problem
I think you can reproduce this error on your computer.
Spotlight service from Safari not working
