How to fix Finder folder search Issues on MacBook Pro post Ventura update

The problem for me is that even when I search the current folder, I get zero results every time, even if I can see the actual file in the folder before searching. The only way I can find anything is to search the whole computer and then sort/filter the list - not ideal!

You are not alone. There are a number of people, me included, who are experiencing this problem. A search on the whole mac works and a search on a specific folder produces no results - even if you are seeing the files right there, and they do appear in the search when you switch to On this Mac.

There was a reference to a thread with a purported solution but I can’t seem to find it.

I'm definitely not comfortable deleting/modifying a 'live' system file. This whole issue is another that Apple should be taking seriously, but in their inimitable fashion they just choose to ignore, leaving users floundering around in the dark. Wake up, Apple!

BPBear544 wrote:

I'm definitely not comfortable deleting/modifying a 'live' system file. This whole issue is another that Apple should be taking seriously, but in their inimitable fashion they just choose to ignore, leaving users floundering around in the dark. Wake up, Apple!

They may eventually do so. In the meantime, you can try to fix it yourself.

I've tried the fixes here and so far nothing has worked. My problem may be compounded by the fact that the files I want are all on external hard drives, not on the internal. Someone elsewhere suggested a solution to the question to add the Macintosh HD file to the Spotlight Exceptions in System Preferences, wait 30 seconds, and then remove it. I've done this and, as they promised, Spotlight now says that it is indexing my drive. But trying to do the same thing for the external drive is getting me nothing.

One issue I have is odd in that I was briefly using Microsoft OneDrive as a redundant backup for the external drive (I know—MS, what was I thinking?). That caused another whole slew of problems so I quit using that but the "OneDrive" folder still exists on the external drive because OneDrive or MacOS wouldn't allow some of the files to copy from that drive to a new drive (again, I blame MS! ugh...). What's odd is that sometimes—not every time—the Finder will find the old file I that I want in THAT drive but not its duplicate in my working drive folder.

Anyway, I don't store working client files on my Macintosh HD so while I'm glad it's indexing, I need Finder or Spotlight to search the external hard drives and find files when I can't. I know it's NOT working because I literally created a folder a few minutes ago and my search for that folder in the folder it resides turned up empty.

Never had this problem before and I'm shocked that such a basic feature has gotten so fouled up.

This setting was already in place, and still searches fail to examine the current folder - only searching the whole computer work. It's pretty disturbing that such a fundamental problem has been so wide-spread for so long and Apple does nothing.

BPBear544 wrote:

This setting was already in place, and still searches fail to examine the current folder - only searching the whole computer work. It's pretty disturbing that such a fundamental problem has been so wide-spread for so long and Apple does nothing.

Did you call Apple and tell them about it? Nobody here can do anything about it.

Brand new MacBook pro M3 pro max chip. Fresh install. Same problem. Did the same thing on my M1. Bought this new M3 max specifically to cure the index problem. Same problem with a brand new $3,600 computer. Very frustrating. Apple claims to care about the user experience, but obviously does not. This issue has been around for quite some time.

It seems that I am having the opposite problem, and I cannot find any others who have posted it. This one is the closest.

When I search within a folder, Finder will show me the matching files within the folder, but it also starts searching every other adjacent folder and provides matches in those folders as well. Yes, I have Finder settings set to only search the folder and even within the search window, it clearly shows it is set to only search the folder that I am in. Still, about 80% of the time it starts vomiting files from adjacent folders -- these are not subfolders of the current folder I am searching, but sibling folders.

What is going on?

Sadly I've tried this twice and it doesn't work. Also - the external drive keeps going invisible in finder "locations"?

I go to Disk Utility, open the drive, drag that over to "locations" so I can see it. A day or so later again and it disappears. Such a headache!

None of the other options worked for me but my external drive that I was using failed (managed to recover most of it but had to replace it); the replacement drive, for whatever reason, allows me to search it. So... all's well that ends well?

same thing happening here on a brand new install with 2023 Mac Pro. It wasn't immediate... at first was working fine for the first week or so, and suddenly I am getting this same bug. grrr..

This started working for me again, without doing anything ... now when I click the specific folder for searches, I get results. righted itself somehow!