Search in Finder is totally broken, it will only search "This Mac" but not the current folder

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brsm1990 Author

Level 2

250 points

Search in Finder is totally broken, it will only search "This Mac" but not the current folder

At some point my search broke on macOS 13.x. I was hoping upgrading to macOS 14.x would fix it but it didn't.

Whenever I search it defaults to "This Mac" (I wish it would default to current folder and sub-folders but that's a different issue). If I search This Mac I get the results I would expect but if I try to search only the current folder I get no results.

For example, let's say I have a folder open called "Docs" and there is a file in docs called resume.pdf. If I type resume into search and select "name" Name Contains "resume" it will find everything that contains Resume on my mac but if I select Search "Docs" it finds nothing. This is the same after rebooting, any folder, any file name, it doesn't matter.

How can I fix this?

Posted on Dec 8, 2023 5:21 AM

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Answer 1

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brsm1990 Author

Level 2

250 points

Dec 8, 2023 5:30 AM in response to brsm1990

Apparently this bug has been around for many years. This solution fixed it for me also.

Not able to search in Folder in Finder - Apple Community

I have managed to fix this. (For reference, I have tried re-indexing Spotlight using command line, and does not work).

Open System Preferences and go to Spotlight's Privacy tab.
Add the entire hard disk INTO the Privacy list.
Maybe wait 30s.
Remove the hard disk FROM the Privacy list.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,106 points

Dec 8, 2023 8:45 AM in response to brsm1990

If you initially change Finder : Settings : Advanced to this:

and start your search from that folder location, then it will be the first selection on the results, and not This Mac. Of course, I never use that form of Finder search. I open a Finder window and use the search field in that window, if not using the menu extras Spotlight 🔍 tool.

If you want to find a unique file in a given folder:

(kind:folder AND name:test) OR Fog-2-x-y-ocn.png

will find that file in ~/Desktop/Test folder.

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Search in Finder is totally broken, it will only search "This Mac" but not the current folder

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