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Spotlight not finding PowerPoint content ?

Spotlight works like a dream for finding content in MSWord and PDFs – now that it supports phrase searches (thank you so much for that change – you listened !) – but with PowerPoint content it is very patchy, even poor. It fails to pick up on simple two-word phrases that I can SEE are there in a presentation : sometimes in PPTs that are years old (and have been indexed over and over). I haven't been able to discover why it works in some cases but not in most.


I refer to old files dozens of times a day, to check terminology in translations. Spotlight has become an essential tool for me, but its ability to find what i know to be there in PPTs seems to getting worse and worse.


Anybody else having this problem? Any idea what i might try?


If you have any ideas, i'd be very grateful. If not, thanks for reading !


Nick Carter


I put this in "Using Apple Support Communities" because nothing else applies…

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 24, 2015 3:43 PM

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8 replies

Mar 24, 2015 8:12 PM in response to Nicolas Carter

  1. Is Office fully updated? Office 2011v14.4.8, Office 2008 12.3.6
  2. If you are still in Lion, download and run the combo updater to refresh your OS X files.


OS X Lion Update 10.7.5 (Client Combo) 1.91 GB

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1582



MORE INFO ON WHY RUNNING COMBO FIXES ISSUES

Apple updates available from the Software Update application are incremental updates. Delta updates are also incremental updates and are available from Apple Downloads (software updates are generally smaller than delta updates). The Combo updates contain all incremental updates and will update files that could have become corrupted.


Combo updaters will install on the same version as they're applying--no need to roll back or do a clean install. So if you think you've got a borked 10.7.5 install from a regular update, just run the 10.7.5 Combo Updater on that system.


"Delta" updaters can only take you from one version to the next. For example: 10.7.4 to 10.7.5 . If somehow the 10.7.5 is missing something it should have, and that something isn't changed between 10.7.4 and 10.7.5 it will still be stale after the delta update.



PowerPoint files are indexed in the Finder unlike Outlook that requires a special mdimporter to index Outlook 2011 messages.


Options to reindex your files:

1) Try dragging a folder with PowerPoint files into the Spotlight > Privacy tab. Leave a bit them remove. This will force Spotlight to reindex that folder.


2) Use Terminal to reset Spotlight


Copy the text below and open Terminal (in /Application/Utilities). Paste the code into the Terminal window at the prompt.


sudo mdutil -E /


You will be asked for your administrator password (and if you've never used the sudo command you'll need to accept the warning presented). When you type your password, it will look like nothing is being typed. That's normal. Once you've typed your administrator password, press Return.


This will completely remove the Spotlight index and force a new one to be created. Probably not necessary, but I would immediately quit Terminal and restart your Mac.


SUMMARY:


Depending on your Mac and the contents of it's hard disk, re-indexing may take several hours. Doing this overnight is a good option if you have a large drive.



3) Boot into the Recovery Drive and reset Users Permissions.


Boot into the Recovery Drive by holding down Command R when restarting.


In the menu bar, select Utilities -> Terminal. Type resetpassword in the Terminal and press Enter.

1 Select your main hard drive.

2 In the dropdown box under "Select the user account" make sure to select your username.

3 Select the option: "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs", click the Reset button. Wait until you see "Reset" to know it's complete.

4 Quit the Reset Password application.

5 Quit the Terminal.


At this point you can restart or do other tasks like running Repair Disk in Disk Utility or Reinstall OS X.


To Restart: Click Mac OS X Installer in the top left and click Quit Mac OS X Installer. Click the Startup Disk button. Click on your main hard drive and click the Restart button.


For more info and screen shots see: Use OS X Recovery Disk Assistant to reset Your files and folder permissions


(Fair disclosure: Needhelp4Mac is my site. I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from links on my site..)

Mar 25, 2015 2:01 AM in response to dianeoforegon

Wow, there's a whole battery of measures there !


The only thing i have already tried is changing the Privacy settings on and off again in Spotlight. I was under the impression i got a slight improvement, but i didn't have time to do objective tests. But it still wasn't working anything like as well as with text and pdf files, and it seemed to get worse again.


I was thinking of upgrading to Mavericks anyway - i'll see how that pans out, and i'll keep your useful advice for reference.


Many thanks.

Spotlight not finding PowerPoint content ?

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