Search broken after Sequoia upgrade

The add/remove fix above didn't work for me (at least not right away, and it was impossible to know if it worked). Tech support was great though (chat). The problem for me arose when trying to access an iCloud folder. But perhaps this might help for other folders.

To fix, he had me open Terminal:

• sudo mdutil -Eai off 
• sudo mdutil -Eai on 
• mdutil -as

That's all it took to fix it. It started rebuilding immediately.

I'm having the same issue, the search function is completely broken. I tried "rebuilding the spotlight index" from that link you provided but it didn't work. Is there another method to reindex search?

Spotlight is a typical Apple app in that when it works it's great but if it goes wrong it can be a pain. The steps you've taken are one way to fix it but as you're finding out it can take a long time. In the good old days Spotlight had a progress bar when it re-indexed and you used to be able to reindex from Terminal with a progress indicator but I don't know if 15 supports this - GIYF. I always have a backup search app on my Macs - Easyfind is what I've used for years. They're handy when spotlight goes titsup but they also find stuff that Spotlight doesn't find.

Performing one of the fixes suggested, seems to have worked (it took a few minutes). In system settings, spotlight, privacy I added a folder containing most of my files. I clicked done, did a quick finder search, then went back and removed the folder from the "privacy" list. Over the course of a few minutes, my files started re-appearing in the search. Next time a new MacOS comes out I will WAIT 5 or 6 months minimum before installing it!!

YES! Thank you so much, Gebsy! This worked perfectly to fix my Finder search function failure (after installing Sequoia 15.2 apparently made it stop working). Much appreciatioon to you and to the tech support person who sent you that Terminal gobble-di-gook! GO TEAM! :-)

This:

"To fix, he had me open Terminal:

• sudo mdutil -Eai off 
• sudo mdutil -Eai on 
• mdutil -as

That's all it took to fix it. It started rebuilding immediately."

Spoke to soon. It kind of worked. When I open the Finder and search it works. But when I open from another app (e.g. to upload a file), it doesn't.

I tried this but didn't fix the search in the System Preferences app. The index progress is in the spotlight search bar (CMD + Space).

This seemed to have fixed my utterly broken Sequoia Finder search. Thanks.

I had the same issue after Sequoia update. The privacy add/remove approach seems to have worked for me. Left macbook overnight on caffeinate after the remove. I saw mdworker running for a while. It seems it is finding some of the things that I noticed were not indexed. I dont know what i dont know if anything remains missing. It would really be helpful, if we had some status api, or something that shows how many things are indexed.

This worked!

But after running it, it was still off for some reason, so I re-ran the "on" script

• sudo mdutil -Eai on 

and everything was good!

Edit: This actually worked, just took few hours to see any difference.

This worked immediately. Thanks!