Spotlight stopped responding after updating my MacBook Air M1 to Ventura 13.3.1,

Yup, that worked for me too!

Amazing, all that messing around with safe start etc etc - all a waste of time.

Simply unplugging the second monitor fixed it. Incredible!

And the brilliant tip about moving spotlight's search box over to the left of the screen worked too!

Now spotlight works if the second monitor is plugged in!!!

Many thanks!

check out my comment - it's a bug on the spotlight screen location with external screen.

disconnect, center the spotlight and reconnect the external screen

There is a solution:

Whilst the external display is disconnected, click on spotlight. Now drag the search box over to the left of the screen.

After that spotlight now works fine with both screens connected.

I had the exact same issue. After looking through several forums, I finally found the right combination.

1. Safe Reboot: Do the Safe Reboot. In that mode, I was able to see that it still works. I noticed as soon as my computer rebooted into regular mode, it worked, but then once all of the "Open At Login" apps started showing up, it stopped working again. I took two more steps, and not sure if one or both steps were necessary:
2. External Monitor: I disconnected my external monitor, as was recommended in previous forums.
3. "Open at Login" Apps: Since I noticed it didn't work after my apps started loading, I searched my "Open at Login" apps (System Settings > General > Login Items), and I had an external app called "Hidden Bar" which I barely use. I turned it off, because it has search capabilities, so it could've been interfering with Spotlight.

Steps 1 + 2 seemed necessary, but Step 3 could've been the issue too, so also review any "Open at Login" apps that could be interfering too.

Thanks ecostu, your solution helped understand the issue,

I've simply disconnected the external screen and the spotlight worked - that's when I noticed that the spotlight is not centered in the middle of the screen.

after dragging it to the center on my MacBook Air screen and re-connected the external screen it worked again.

to conclude - for me it seems that the external screen failed to show the spotlight within screen boundaries after dragging it sometime in the past.

I followed ecostu's recommendation.

1. disconnected two external monitors
2. disconnected external mic and camera for good measure
3. removed open at log in items
4. turned off all background access apps
5. rebooted
6. tested searching for roon.app (which failed before) and was met with success
7. shut down
8. reattached devices
9. restarted
10. retested (success)
11. added back Open at Login and re-enabled background apps
12. restarted
13. retested (success)

Thanks, ecostu.

Hey tal1969,

We'd be happy to help out. It sounds like your Mac's Spotlight is still indexing after the recent update you installed. It can take some time for that to complete and isn't unexpected necessarily. Since it's been a couple of days since you posted, are you still having this issue or has it since resolved itself?

This is outlined further in the following support resource: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

Keep us posted on how things are going. We want to ensure you get a solution.

Take care!

If restarting your Mac and stopping and initiating the indexing service via the activity monitor did not solve the issue, you can try the following steps:

1. Check if the spotlight feature is disabled:

Go to System Preferences > Spotlight and make sure that the "Spotlight Suggestions" and "Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Look Up" options are checked.

2. Rebuild the Spotlight index:

You can try rebuilding the Spotlight index by following these steps:

- Go to System Preferences > Spotlight

- Click on the "Privacy" tab

- Drag your hard drive from the Finder into the "Prevent Spotlight from searching these locations" list

- Wait a few moments and then remove your hard drive from the list by clicking on the "-" button

- Spotlight will then start rebuilding the index

3. Check for updates:

Make sure that your MacBook Air is up to date with the latest software updates. You can check for updates by going to System Preferences > Software Update.

4. Reset the NVRAM/PRAM:

You can try resetting the NVRAM/PRAM by following these steps:

- Shut down your MacBook Air

- Press the power button to turn on your MacBook Air and immediately press and hold the Option-Command-P-R keys

- Hold these keys down for about 20 seconds until you hear the startup sound twice

- Release the keys and let your MacBook Air start up normally

5. Create a new user account:

If the above steps don't work, you can try creating a new user account to see if the Spotlight feature works for the new user. If it works for the new user, you may need to reset your existing user account.

If none of these steps work, you may need to contact Apple Support for further assistance.

Just had or have the same issue... it's only slightly annoying as i do almost everthing via spotlight... 8h a day...

i only had to disconnect my external screen and... but as soon as i hooked it up again spotlight stopped working (seriously apple? I know its not a Studio Display and certainly not a Pro Display but still...)

I have exactly the same behaviour. When using external monitors on my MBP M3Pro, Spotlight does not show up. If I unplug them, it shows up on the MBP screen. Then if I plug them in again, it fails again. What gives, Apple?

Reconnection of External monitor work for me, thanks!

Unplugging the HDMI cord from my Macbook Pro for the external display solved the issue. I hope there is a solution for this issue soon as I use Spotlight and my external display a lot