Calculator operations in Spotlight not working?

Question

Calculator operations in Spotlight not working?

This may seem like an odd problem, but since I updated to 10.10.2, using calculation operations in Spotlight (for example, typing 2+2 would show =4 as the result) has stopped working. I've done the following:

a) Unticked then re-ticked the "Calculator" preference under Spotlight preferences

b) Repaired permissions and reset user ACL's

c) Installed the combo update of 10.10.2 over 10.10.2

d) Tried a new user account (it worked just fine in the new test user account)

I'm at a loss at what to do now. Any ideas? Anyone experiencing this? It must be account-specific, as opening a test user account had it working just fine. Perhaps a corrupted preferences file (PLIST) somewhere?

Many thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Jan 29, 2015 4:37 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 29, 2015 4:59 PM in response to Community User

Updated Report:

Went to ~/Library/Preferences. Deleted com.Apple.Spotlight.plist. Restarted. All Spotlight settings has been reset, and calculations now work!

Oddly enough, if I uncheck and then re-check Calculator in the Preferences, it will 'stick' the 'off' setting for Calculator and I would have to go through the whole process again (deleting the .plist and restarting). Not sure what the issue is. Does this seem like a bug or something wonky with my account, or with 10.10.2, as it seems specific to my user account?

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Answer 2

Jan 31, 2015 4:16 AM in response to Community User

I'm having the same issue, but deleting the preferences did reset all spotlight settings, but did not fix the problem that calculator is no longer working.

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Answer 3

Feb 3, 2015 11:56 AM in response to armin.sch

What I just found out: the calculator *ONLY* works if you also have "conversions" enabled (and vice versa). Can anyone see the same? Seems like a new bug in 10.10.2.

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Answer 4

Gerald13

Level 1

0 points

Feb 6, 2015 3:17 AM in response to armin.sch

This seems to be the solution. Deleting the preference file did fix the problem, but only because it turned conversions back on. Even after deleted the plist, if I turn conversions off, calculator doesn't work again.

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Answer 5

TheFox21

Level 1

0 points

Mar 11, 2015 4:10 AM in response to armin.sch

Yes, same here. I don't want to update OS X anymore. It gets worser and worser from update to update.

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Answer 6

Mar 26, 2015 4:05 PM in response to armin.sch

I concur. If either conversions or calculations are turned off, then neither will work.

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Answer 7

Cosman

Level 1

32 points

Jun 22, 2015 7:49 AM in response to Community User

I have the problem that Spotlight will calculate 5/2=2.5, but will not calculate 50/2, it shows "50/2-Remind Me”. As I am typing the 50 and hit /, it will flash the = sign, then replace it with the “-Remind Me” immediately.

I tried trashing the “com.apple.spotlight.plist" file, but that did not help. There is another “com.apple.spotlight.plist.lockfile” I did not delete.

Should I delete that also?

UPDATE:

I deleted the lockfile and it did nothing. Then I noticed that when the "50/2-Remind Me” message appears and I hit return, a notification type icon appears to the right with Flashlight in it.

I searched for Flashlight and found it as an app. I deleted it and now the caclulator works.

Flashlight is an IOS app for my iP6. I vaugely remember downloading it to my MPB because my iP6 was somewhere else. Apparently it actually ran and messed up Spotlight Calculator.

Weird.

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