macOS Sonoma spotlight search does not find applications

For me it was not sufficient to run:

sudo mdutil -E /
sudo mdutil -i on /

I had to also run:

sudo mdutil -i on /System/Volumes/Data
sudo mdutil -E /System/Volumes/Data

I tried everything. Performing these four commands work.

Thanks @plasticchicken

sudo mdutil -E /

sudo mdutil -i on /

sudo mdutil -i on /System/Volumes/Data

sudo mdutil -E /System/Volumes/Data

Dude, thanks so so much.

This worked -- I spent 3 hrs trying to find a solution. Thanks!!!

This started for me, when I was copying data to 3 drives overnight and in the morning mistakenly didn't eject them properly by turning off my iMac -- and getting error messages.

Didn't lose any data, but after that I couldn't use spotlight to find any applications in the Applications/Utilities folder like Disk Utility or even Terminal.

To clarify, just follow James S instructions and type each of these lines into Terminal one by one :

sudo mdutil -E /

sudo mdutil -i on /

sudo mdutil -i on /System/Volumes/Data

sudo mdutil -E /System/Volumes/Data

I had the same issue; the indexing simply didn't launch until I enabled it on / and also on /System/Volumes/Data.

Thanks for the suggestion, I've been without spotlight for a few weeks now. It's crazy to realise how much I rely on it to launch applications and open documents.

I have seen it happen on many macOS versions. Sometimes it takes a day or two to start working again.

Usually reindexing helps, so maybe something is hanging up your reindexing.

Anything else it cannot find?

And, make sure Applications is checked in the Siri Settings.

I've never really figured out why it doesn't work, then starts working again.

You can try a nuke and pave of the .Spotlight-V100 folder.

You can make it visible with cmd-shift-. in Finder, but I'm not sure you can delete it from there. You might have to use Terminal--I can't remember. Then enable indexing on the drive. The Terminal erase command will kick it in:

sudo mdutil -E /

or you can use the on/off command.

sudo mdutil -i on /

I encountered the same issue and found a solution. Simply run sudo find / -name "*.spotlight" in the terminal. You'll be prompted for your password. After entering it, the command will access certain applications. Once everything is done, restart your Mac. It should be working perfectly after that. Boom!

Works fine for me in Sonoma on two different macs. One thing, most apps are capitalized. Make sure to type the first letter as capped.

You're welcome.

I hope this works for you. I use that to launch apps all the time.

Thanks. I'll keep that in the back of my brain. If it seems to pop up more, I'll add it to the User Tip.

that's totally irrelevant.