spotlight finding but not opening files

Described into more technical detail here: I cannot open files(especially PDF files)… - Apple Community

It looks like a NFC / NFD Unicode UTF-8-MAC issue affecting files that were downloaded from third party apps and/or Windows environments with non-ascii character in names.

This is mentioned below, but has nothing to do with the app. This happened after installing Ventura. As done for years, using cmd - spacebar to search for a file and for most file you click and open the file. For me its the excel files that do not open. But you can, in the search window chose "search in Finder" and find the same file there and there it will open when clicking it.

From the search window there is no difference clicking or just using the keyboard

I was just having this problem after migrating from an Intel iMac to an Apple Silicon Mac Studio. IDK if that's why I had the issue, but just giving context. I was able to fix the problem by reinstalling MacOS Sonoma. (not erase and install, just reinstall from the recovery console).

Clicking or pressing enter ought to work. Alternatively you could press Command-R to show the file in Finder and open it from there (but of course this should not be necessary if you just want to open the file).

Does the app open, but not with the file opened?

Are the files stored in the cloud and not downloaded from the cloud to local storage? I have seen some third-party apps are unable to open the files unless they are downloaded, first.

JoanaTavares Said:

“spotlight finding but not opening files: Same problem here.”

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Try Rebuilding the Spotlight index, as mentioned above participant FreddyL. Report back the results.

Same for me, specifically started when I moved to Ventura. I've tried everything, including multiple rebuilds of Index.

It manifests as Spotlight not showing (or intermittently showing) in the search results list the icon for the file type association (Excel, Preview, etc). Most of the time there is no file type icon. If you option-click the entry in the list it (mostly but not always) makes the file icon the Finder icon, and correctly opens the Finder window where the file is.

If you click on the entry, Spotlight disappears but nothing happens. File does not open.

This happens for both files that are synched to OneDrive and those that are purely open.

It appears that Spotlight is not correctly reading file associations -- if I search for something and get a hit on an Outlook email, it generally (but not always) tries to open Apple Mail, which I do not use at all.

It's definitely a bug. It's definitely real. And it's definitely not a Dropbox/OneDrive issue as it affects all files.

FreddyL wrote:

Please notice OP already says that. Thnanls anyway- Just hoping this issue is seen by apple and does something about it. All other comments have not read the OP or are pointless.

Thanks anyway

Apple does not monitor this user forum for technical issues.

Use the feedback page to report a problem if you want to let Apple know (FWIW, I do not have seen this happen, and I am still not convinced that it's a bug, rather than some issue specific to your setup).

https://www.apple.com/feedback

• None of this makes sense. Excel files I work with daily, all was perfectly fine with previous OS

I have never seen office be able to open an iCloud stored file. It may be that I’m running Office 2019 but it seems like when the OS says, hey hold on let me get that for you, office just bails and doesn’t do anything.

Paul of Apple’s programs can open them just fine, including the office documents.

I also have no problem opening any locally stored files from spotlight. The way the spotlight interface works seems to have changed in Ventura, but the only issues I see are ones with cloud-based files and third-party software.

FreddyL Said:

"Please notice OP already says that. Thnanls anyway- Just hoping this issue is seen by apple and does something about it. All other comments have not read the OP or are pointless. Thanks anyway"

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Compare the Practice Mentioned:

The OP is talking about clicking --I'm talking about pressing keys on your keyboard(nothing of a click).

I have the same problem, mainly with microsoft office files (like excel). Funny enough, the icon next to the filename is a finder icon, but the text behind it says 'Microsoft Excel Workbook'. Selecting such a file to open will neither open the finder, excel, nor the file within excel.

Tried to reset the spotlight index, but it didn't help.

MacOS: 13.2.1 (22D68)

p.s. it did work before upgrading to Ventura

As somewhere I read: "Apple, please no more MacOS versions until you get fixed a bunch of bugs, you keep introducing new ones".

Finding the path and opening the file was working before 13.X.

To find a path, just pressed command key

To open a file, just hit enter.

This is what happens when just a few people define the features of a system that's used by millions. They don't really care and don't really know what those millions really need.

FreddyL suggestion is the one I also found useful but hated this forced behavior.

*** update: hidden behavior that could be helpful: cmd-enter will show the file in Finder. Still, we want back the "show only the path" in Spotlight results panel.

It "ought to work" but doesn't, which is why the OP and many others came here. For several years I've used Spotlight search almost exclusively to find and open apps, files and folders. [On Monterey, Spotlight is so broken that I resorted to Alfred.] On my M1 MBP Spotlight has always been reliable through three major macOS releases -- until today. Now no files will open in the expected app, whether the app is open or not. In fact, I can't make any app, file or folder open in any way from the Spotlight results.

Rebuilding Spotlight Index did nothing useful. But, Luis Sequeira1 Command-R suggestion and Command-Enter are very helpful workarounds. Still no workaround should be necessary....

The files were created on my Mac, using standard characters in filenames. The issue is with mishandling of file associations, not the filename itself.

OMG. These discussions are going nowhere. People denying the OP problem, and becoming pointedly detailed about verbose instead of understanding. BTW, you cannot actually "click" on a spotlight results, so pressing enter, indeed, dos not work.

It seems often people make it a sport to answer for the sake of answering... . As most companies' customer service do. An ill of the time, IMO. CS is increasingly fake, yet hiperactive, omnichanell, and all that BS. Sorry the disgression....

Thanks anyway, and I appreciate the time you dedicate to posting answers, honestly.