The Apple Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026. Starting today, the site will no longer accept new posts and is available in a read-only state.

You can continue to find trusted guidance and support on the official Apple Support site.

We want to thank the community members who have contributed their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products.

Psx76 Author

Level 1

7 points

'no date' issue in OSX

Had a problem with finding back files I just worked on. E.g. I was preparing an email with attachment. I would amend or create a file, save it somewhere. Then when I wanted to insert a file the dialog box would dump the file frustratingly right down below under the 'No Date' heading.

I tried disabling the automatic time zone setting and it appears to have resolved the problem for now. From the forums I understand this is a persistent issue and any other tips would be helpful.

Posted on Aug 21, 2014 3:57 AM

19 replies

Sep 14, 2014 8:34 AM in response to Loner T

Everything is checked in Spotlight preferences. Interestingly enough, everything is now showing up with a date when I look. I just downloaded something to check it and it immediately went to the proper date. Do you think running the command in TERMINAL fixed it? I then downloaded several pictures from the internet and each one is now showing with a date. No lag. Could it be that easy?

Loner T

Level 9

59,666 points

Sep 14, 2014 11:02 AM in response to ibcruzing

The terminal command access the filesystem rather than the index. If you do see it happen again, try the command, but it is unlikely to help Spotlight indexing. The Find command does force the file system cache to be accessed, which may cause Spotlight to update.

This is my guess, but only Apple can provide an explanation. 😉

Sep 14, 2014 6:00 PM in response to Loner T

You're right, Loner T. It updated quickly for just a little while and then back to the same old thing. I hope they fix this with the new OS. I so appreciate your help with this - at least I know it's not something I've done (or not done). Thanks!

xroox

Level 1

15 points

Apr 28, 2016 9:27 AM in response to Psx76

Is there a fix for this? I'm still running into this issue on El Capitan. Definitely notice it most on screen shots (maybe affecting other files too).

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

'no date' issue in OSX