Just uploaded Sequoia 15.3 onto iMac 3.2 GHz 6-core Intel Core i7; 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4.
Previously running Sonoma with Photo Search working properly.
Now, attempting any search on photo name fails completely.
Message is: "No Results. There were no results. Try a new search."
Not exactly delighted with this.
Is there some way to make it work properly with the new operating system?
Thanks.
iMac 21.5″, macOS 15.3
As a test launch Photos with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Import some photos and test to see if the same problem persists. You may have to wait a few minutes for Photos to scan the photos.
Does the probe persist? This tells us if the problem is limited to your current library or is more wide spread.
As a test launch Photos with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Import some photos and test to see if the same problem persists. You may have to wait a few minutes for Photos to scan the photos.
Does the probe persist? This tells us if the problem is limited to your current library or is more wide spread.
Try rebuilding the Spotlight index for your boot drive according to this Apple document: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support
Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?
Please download and run Etrecheck. The free version is sufficient.
Copy the report as shown in this animated screenshot
and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.
Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the cause of the problem.
I'm not sure what you mean by " search on photo name." Do you mean the file name. Or the title? or an included person's name?
In any case, searching for a filename or a title works fine for me in 15.3.
Waiting an hour is shows patience, but it may take a week or more for Photos to scan a Library. It will not be doing it while you are using the computer, so leave it running when you're not using it. Keep it on all night, for instance.
Still rebuild the Spotlight index. If that doesn't fix your search problem launch the library with the Option+Command keys held down and rebuild/repair the library.
If all else fails you can use a Smart Album like Richard suggested like this:
The Title is searchable with Spotlight. Is your Photos Library designated as the System Library?
If this is the System Library, then "Use as System Photos Library" will be grayed out.
Are you trying to search within your Photo library or with Spotlight?
Where is the library located?
If on an external drive how is the drive formatted and connected to your iMac?
Are you running a "managed" or "referenced" library?
Do you have iCloud Library enabled?
reluctantuser wrote: …Yes, I am trying to search within my Photo library with Spotlight.
Spotlight will take even longer to scan and update its own database.
Why not search with a Smart Album?
It is the TITLE then.
My suggestions are the same whether it's Filename or Title.
In the case of the Smart Album just change the Filename to Title. I find using a smart album is more accurate than Spotlight.
So, after leaving the computer on for almost 24 hours, there is still no change - Search in Photo still doesn't work.
I see a Reddit posting complaining about the same problem - in that case, the problem corrected itself after about 20 hours. Since I have a lot of photos, I imagine it will take much longer for my photo set to be "analyzed". Same as for this Reddit user, I can create Smart Albums - doesn't that suggest that indexing is not the problem?
That said, I did re-index using the provided instructions. No change.
I see that using Smart Albums does accomplish the searches I would want to do. Thank you.
On the other hand, it creates additional albums that I have no interest in keeping and they will soon be junking up my albums list. There doesn't seem to be any way to delete Smart Albums. I can only see them (or any other Albums now) by Photos>View>Collections>Albums (whereas previously, Albums were conveniently visible in a panel on the left-side of the Photos screen). It doesn't work to right-click on any Smart Album and they can't be grabbed and dragged to Trash.
So, two new inconveniences - can't see Albums in side panel in Photo, and can't delete the Smart Albums I create for quick searches.
Yes, thanks.
I agree that that's how it SHOULD work and how it USED to work prior to me installing Sequoia.
Once this problem, whatever it is (corrupted Photo library??) is corrected, I assume it will have that functionality again but it does not work now.
As per the advice yesterday from Old Toad, I have created a new, test library and imported a few photos. The
display and functionality look normal with this test case. So, I'm guess the current library is corrupted somehow, causing the problems I've described? I'm awaiting further advice, please, on how to proceed.
Yes, I am trying to search within my Photo library with Spotlight.
The library is on the hard drive, not external.
It is a managed drive, not a referenced drive, according to your explanation of both above.
iCloud Library is not enabled.
All of the previous is the same as before upgrading to Sequoia.
reluctantuser wrote: … I mean the series of words I apply to each photo as it's brought into Photo, replacing the name applied by the camera, to identify the subject of the photo.
You can't change the filename of a picture within Photos. Do you mean the Title? Or the caption? Or keywords.
Spectrum2.jpg is this picture's filename.
My photos are already in Albums which are named by location and date. Within those Albums, photos are labelled by Title = subject of the photo. I want to be able, again, to type in a Title (e.g. Erigeron aureus, a plant species name) and find all the photos entitled as such.
I have looked at the conditions by which one can create a Smart Album. I don't see that any of them would create groupings that are useful for what I want to do.
To clarify, I am using the Search function (the little magnifying glass) *within Photo*, not Spotlight.
Photo Search for photo names doesn't work with new Sequoia
