spotlight stops searching contacts

Hi there,

Thanks for your post.

Here is what I think you are saying:

Google is better than iCloud = Solution for Searching Contacts via Spotlight!

Here is my thinking:

One of the Biggest Reasons I don't want to add Google to my Cloud Echosystem is SUPPORT! No matter how good or bad someone's experience is with AppleCare, it's still a lot better, for most people, than not having anyone to talk to! AppleCare, in USA at least, is a Toll Free Phone Call. The Customers are not being charged by the minute! Add to that Apple Stores. Google has nothing like that, except their own Discussions Boards like we have here at Apple!

If in the end this issue - SPOTLIGHT STOPS SEARCHING CONTACTS - turns out to be caused by iCloud interactions with our Macs, and thus Spotlight Search, then Apple should fix it! Hopefully they are working on it already!

In my previous Post I tried to provide as many specifics as possible about my OS, Hardware, and my Test Steps! That way there is a better Contextual Reference! But not all Comments on this topic, and in general on Apple Discussions Pages provide that kind of Specifics, Details, Context! Therefore, even if Apple reads All Our Comments All The Time, they have to work even harder trying to help us. In theory, they could cross reference our Info to see what was the latest Apple hardware that we have registered, assuming everybody registers their purchases:)! So...

It'd be great if All Comments included: OS Version, Hardware Description, and Specific Step when Testing an Issue…

If everyone who not only posted here, but also read this particular Discussion, provided Specifics, then Apple would be in a better position to see if there is some kind of a Common Pattern. But that assumes that Apple reads this Discussions! I hope they do!

After I'll speak to them about this issue, and they hopefully help me fix it, I will try post about about that fix here. But that might not be a solution for all users, because we all don't use our Macs the same way. Some OS Installers are specific to some Hardware. But regardless, Spotlight is a Core Universal Feature that should work for all users all the time!

Another reason why I suspect that this issue is connected to iCloud is this…

On my iPhone and iPad, I have Podcast App. Even if I Disable Automatic Downloads of Podcasts, that App is often, if not always, polling iCloud, as if it's saying:

"Hello, iCloud, do you have any new stuff for the Subscriptions on this device! If yes, I need to let this device' owner know about it, so that he/she can Download any of that Manually, if they want!!! I'll be back soon so that we can go through this List of Ours together again. That's my job, Thanks.. :)!"

Same thing, I suspect is happening to our iCloud related stuff on our Macs - Contacts, Notes, Calendars etc.. All those Apps constantly communicate with iCloud! So, if anything is less then perfect between iCloud and our Mac, the Spotlight might be affected!!! That is why this Issue comes and goes, at least for me!

When I Edit, and thus Refresh, Update, a Contact on my Mac, that Updated Info is sent to iCloud, and Spotlight is also Notified about that Specific Contact to be included in the Search Results!!! But obviously such "Refreshment" of the Contacts is not happening automatically all the time, and that is my guess why Spotlight FORGETS about All our Contacts, and thus Spotlight simply doesn't SEE them…

Monday, November 19, 2012 4:45:43 PM

My Suspicion about iCloud being the Cause remains! Also:

• Apple is still working on the Next Version of iTunes, which, I assume, is connected to iCloud. Maybe they are testing it, and that is what is effecting some of us?
• iCloud in general is a work in progress, as are Mac OS and iOS, so maybe this is a Known Problem, a Bug?

Recent iCloud Outages with iMessage probably have nothing to do with this Contacts Search in Spotlight Issue, because I remember this issue even when there were no Official Troubles Reported with iCloud! If I am not mistaken, it started after my Upgrade to OS 10.8.1, and it has been intermittent ever since, including my OS 10.8.2 with Supplemental Update now! I am running All Latest Mac OS and iOS Updates (6.0.1)

Contacts Can't be Searched in Spotlight sometimes, and sometimes they can be! I'll try to keep a Log of such "Luck"!

It would be interesting to know if others with this Issue are also "lucky" today, when I am, and how long such "luck" will last this time for us:)!? Such reporting might be helpful to Apple, assuming they are reading these pages!

I am seeing all the same issues others have described. I spent 3 hours on the phone with Apple and they could not solve it. We tried all the things others have described. Turning on and off iCloud ,etc. It does seem to be related to iCloud. As of today, Spotlight is still not finding my contacts. I have a a MacBook Air 2010, running latest version of Mountain Lion and I use iCloud to sync my Contacts to my iPhone.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012 12:22:50 PM

I am on OS 10.8.2, All Latest Updates, MacBook Pro 17', SSD all maxed out.

I don't remember having this issue prior to OS 10.8.2, to which I Upgraded from 10.7.4.

I did not try Deleting any Files or Folder to fix this yet!

I did recently Signed Out and back Into iCloud while on call with AppleCare.

This issue of - Spotlight Stops Searching Contacts - comes and goes!

This issue existed before and after my Sign Out and Into iCloud!!!

My Luck lasted 2 Days... Spotlight stopped Searching Contacts this AM.

Normal usage on my part. Did my Restart & SuperDuper Clone Backup last night. Checked out right before Shutting Down if the Contacts Searched in Spotlight a they did! In the AM I started my MacBook Pro, and the problem is back!

Hopefully someday we won't have to live like that, looking over our shoulders to see if such Standard Feature is stil lworking or not!

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW, APPLE?!:)! Please Help, or at least acknowledge this Problem, so that we all here know that the FIX is coming, and we, the users don't have to worry abou being lucky:)!

Thursday, November 22, 2012 10:34:19 PM

Contacts are back in Spotlight! They just came back all of a sudden today at the end of Thanksgiving! They were not searchable in Spotlight this morning, and now they are! Maybe they came back even earlier this afternoon?

It feels silly to be checking Spotlight all the time throughout the day, to see if the Contacts are searchable. I usually try to remember to check it in the AM, and Night, plus maybe in the afternoon!

After a Restart and SuperDuper Clone Backup, the Contacts are still searchable in Spotlight. Let's see How Long My Luck Will Last This Time:)!

Maybe I'll have a better luck then this...

badamske

Re: spotlight stops searching contacts

Nov 20, 2012 12:46 PM (in response to arkady1)

I am seeing all the same issues others have described. I spent 3 hours on the phone with Apple and they could not solve it. We tried all the things others have described. Turning on and off iCloud ,etc

when I speak to AppleCare?!

Friday, November 23, 2012 2:00:01 PM

My Luck didn't last even 1 day this time! Again None of my Contacts can not be searched in Spotlight, unless I update a Specific Contact, then that Specific Contact can be searched in Spotlight. I've reconfirmed that by Updating another Contact, and it also showed up in Spotlight, but NOT the rest of All My Contacts! This is a Repeatable Behavior with this Issue, as others and myself have mentioned before!

Again, nothing unusual in my Mac activity. I just Turned my MacBook Pro on and shortly after remembered to play this "New Game" of checking the availability of Contacts in Spotlight! OS 10.8.2 All Latest Updates!

When I report it to AppleCare, I'll have them read all my postings here, and I'll also mention badamske Nov 20, 2012 12:46 PM (in response to arkady1) where 3 hours of AppleCare time was devote, and the Problem was Not Solved!

Maybe between that case, and my case, plus other reports here, this Issue will get Escalated high enough to Apple Engineers, which seems to be the usual Protocol with AppleCare! The Engineers might then suggest further Troubleshooting Steps. If thatdoesn't work, this Issue will get Escalated further, and hopefully it will get Resolved Eventually as part of "Other Fixes" that are usually not Individually Listed during the OS Updates! 10.8.3 or 10.8.4 etc.? Will see...

As it stands right now, Apple's Legendary Motto - IT JUST WORS - does NOT apply in this case… yet:)!

Thanks in advance for your any feedback on this issue! Please share the URL of these Comments with AppleCare when you speak to them!

Hi Arkady,

The person I spoke with at Apple support is named Lauren Toth. My call with Apple regarding this matter was on July 25th, 2012. Hope this helps. I think the case # was 338682723 but not 100% sure as the email from apple does not reference the problem with the case number and I have called Apple for multiple issues.

Brad-

Hi B,

You are still with 10-15 Minutes Editing Time frame of your latest post to Delete the Specifs like the Person you spoke to, and or your Case # or even your Name. I am just mentioning that in case you didn't consider Your Privacy Concerns! Hey, in this Crazy World we live in, one might want to be Extra Careful:)!

Hope you are reading this with your Edting 10-15 Minutes Limit, before your Post gets Saved-Frozen! Does anyone know How Long Exactly do we have before our Comment can no longer be Edited?

But thank for the Info and Feedback. Hope Apple fixes this soon.

BTW, your Profile says:

13" MacBook Air, 2.13 GHz, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD 27" LED Display, Mac OS X (10.6.7), iPad, iPhone 4

Is that still your current Info? I am on 10.8.2, so right there is a big difference with your Mac OS 10.6.7, unless you forgot to update your Info! That's why I try to often mention my OS 10.8.2 Latest Updates in each Post, so that the readers have My Big Picture Instantly At A Glance! Also I run iOS 6.0.1 on my iPhone and iPad!

Saturday, November 24, 2012 3:16:27 PM

I am "lucky" again. All Contacts are back in Spotlight now.

I suspect that this time it might have something to do with my Notes App, which got Frozen, because I left a few Individual Notes open in separate windows! Closing some of those Windows would Freeze the Notes. Restarting my MacBook Pro, late 2011, 10.8.2 Latest Updates, didn't hep. I Unchecked Notes Sync in System Preferences, chose Delete Notes On This Mac! After a few minutes, I Check Notes again and waited a a few minutes. There was 1 Notes Mismatch, 1 More in iCloud than on Mac. I saw a Duplicate. Removed it in iCloud! All's fine after that! Don't even get me started about Notes Duplicates!

Then I noticed that my Contacts were again searchable in Spotlight. Maybe that Refresh of Notes Syncing helped to Refresh the Syncing of Contacts, and thus Refreshed Spotlight?

Maybe next time, when Contacts are Not Searchable in Spotlight, I could Uncheck/Recheck Notes Sync, so to Refresh Notes on my Mac! No Restarting! Then see if that fixes Contacts in Spotlight! If Yes, then it's another proof, I think, that this issue - Contacts Can't be Searched in Spotlight - is related to iCloud!

The Mystery goes on!

I have been experiencing these same issues with spotlight sporadically being unable to search my Contacts ever since the Mountain Lion upgrade. I have gone through the re-indexing procedure to no avail as well as trying this last Note sync/unsync idea. To no avail. Yesterday Spotlight could search Contacts successfully but today, nothing. It's been back and forth like this for quite a while. Reporting this bug to Apple. Hope someone solves it.

I've noticed this also. Randomly occurs, one hour contacts not spotlight searchable, the next they are. I don't use icloud or anything like that. Don't worry about it, either they'll fix it or they won't.

It could be that Spotlight is constantly updating its database, and while it's indexing a particular segment of the drive, the program(s) which sit on that part of the drive in inaccessible. I've noticed the downtime can be pretty short.

I will also add that in Mountain Lion, Contacts has become an extremely unreliable program, oftentimes deleting portions of contact info on the fly. It's not unusual for me to enter a few lines of information in the Notes section, only to have a segment of the entered information disappear on the next opening of the app. I talked with apple support about this, they hadn't the foggiest what was happening.

Hello everyone.

I have a iphone4 (ipdates to ios7)

My problem is that suddenly i cant find MOST (not everyone) of my contacts.

not is the spotlight and not in the adress book - altough everyone is still there.

i tries to turn it off & on, i even erased and synced it again threw icloud,

but nothing seems to work.

(i still cant find my father (-: althoght he is the first to apear in the list)

what should i do smart people .. . .. ?!

Same here, no Contacts (nee Address Book) found in Spotlight

I found the re-index workaround (put volume in Privacy) then remove it forcing a re-index, which didn't work for me.

But, in System Preferences>spotlight uncheck all boxes, so only Contacts is checked. Close the window and do a spotlight serach on a Contact name. Bingo.

Go back and check everything and voila

Hopefully it will also work for you Mtn Lion