Spotlight problems: where should mdimporters be?

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Level 3

530 points

Spotlight problems: where should mdimporters be?

I see that others are having problems now, too, after the 4.5 upgrade.

After installing, the Office 11.2.3 upgrade I was having a **** of a time getting my home computer to find Entourage messages through Spotlight. After trying many things, someone helped me by pointing out that the mdimporter plugins should be in the System/Library/Spotlight folder, not the Library/Spotlight folder, voila!

Now for other applications I noticed the same thing, including Apple apps. So, where should the mdimporter plugins ultimately be? Does this have anything to do with the recent 4.5 upgrade?

I love the cuss word filter here! 1984 is a bit like 1984, no?

Thanks in advance.

iMac G5 17 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

iMac G5 17 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Mar 15, 2006 6:23 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 16, 2006 1:08 AM in response to SPD

Generally speaking the /System/Library is reserved by Apple for Apple's own system level installed goodies. The /Library folder is what should be used by things installed by a user's programs. Thus my /Library/Spotlight folder sports the following program mdimporters:

AppleWorks.mdimporter
Keynote.mdimporter
Microsoft Office.mdimporter
Pages.mdimporter

While the /System/Library/Spotlight folder has these:

Application.mdimporter
Audio.mdimporter
Bookmarks.mdimporter
Chat.mdimporter
Font.mdimporter
iCal.mdimporter
Image.mdimporter
iPhoto.mdimporter
Mail.mdimporter
PDF.mdimporter
PS.mdimporter
QuartzComposer.mdimporter
QuickTime.mdimporter
RichText.mdimporter
SystemPrefs.mdimporter
vCard.mdimporter

So for program importers think /Library, for Apple's own deeper level ones think /System.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 2

SPD Author

Level 3

530 points

Mar 16, 2006 5:48 PM in response to Francine Schwieder

Thanks Francine. Strange how SL would only index Entourage metadata after the mdimporter was moved to the System/Library/Spotlight folder. Oh well, it works at least. Thanks for your help.

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Answer 3

maybach

Level 1

0 points

Mar 17, 2006 7:20 AM in response to SPD

Hi. I am having the same problem. I do not know much about tech stuff, but how do you move the mdi importer microsoftentourage from library/spotlight to system/library/spotlight.

Currently i have these in library/spotlight:
appleworks
keynote
pages
microsoft office
microsoft entourage

Guys, if you could help me out how to move it to the system/library/spotlight that would be great.

Thanks.

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Answer 4

Mar 17, 2006 9:56 AM in response to maybach

I'm mystified as to why it works in the one place, but not the other. But if you want to try moving it, open the two Spotlight folders in separate windows, then drag it from the one to the other. You'll be presented with a dialog box saying that it can't be moved because it doesn't belong to you, and at the bottom are two buttons, one says "Authenticate." Click the authenticate button and you will be presented with a new dialog window where you type your password. You must be running in an administrator account to do this. If you did a default install and only have the one account you will be an administrator.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 5

SPD Author

Level 3

530 points

Mar 18, 2006 10:34 AM in response to Francine Schwieder

Even stranger, why it works on some machines as is, whereas others require the move. 2/3 machines did not require the move; but through a lot of experimentation and help from the mac.office.entourage newsgroup, I finally got Entourage indexing after moving the importers to the System/Library/Spotlight folder on my iMac at home. That got me thinking about other applications having the same issue, thus the original post on this thread. (I had to force index some other application files as well, namely, Mellel---a wonderful word processor, by the way).

Thanks.

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Answer 6

Mar 18, 2006 11:04 AM in response to SPD

Theoretically Spotlight should just consult the mdimporters in either location. But even Apple seems to violate its own rule about what goes where--thus I noticed several purely application specific mdimporters in the System location (iPhoto, iCal and Mail). Whereas the mdimporters from iWork go where one would expect. Ah well, it's their system so I guess they can do what they want. 😉 I suppose one more peculiar quirk in Spotlight is only to be expected, and it is nice to know about it. Might help others having odd problems getting some files indexed.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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