frankinsanity

Q: New Spotlight not working on El Capitan

Just updated El Capitan. I find the Spotlight works just as the old one. I tried "weather" and sports evens and it shows nothing.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Sep 30, 2015 4:05 PM

Close

Q: New Spotlight not working on El Capitan

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 5 of 6 last Next
  • by gooober,

    gooober gooober Oct 18, 2015 3:34 AM in response to profaen
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Oct 18, 2015 3:34 AM in response to profaen

    I Once had an issue with El Capitan running very slow. Especially at boot up! Found an article that said to boot up in safe mode, then shut down and power my Mac back on. Haven't had the slowness since.

  • by Paul Keleher,

    Paul Keleher Paul Keleher Oct 19, 2015 3:19 AM in response to frankinsanity
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 3:19 AM in response to frankinsanity

    This may be a little left field, but I had a serious problem with Spotlight and it's now fixed.

    I upgraded to El Capitan and found Spotlight was not working properly.  In particular I couldn't search my Mail at all and this was pretty desperate as I use it for work.

    Despite trying everything to re-index, following the usual steps like trashing my Envelope folders and even using Terminal to re-index I was getting desperate as Spotlight still didn't work.

    On a hunch I removed a third party software bundle -  MailTags - from my Library [I'd download the supposedly El Capitan version] and immediately Spotlight re-indexed and everything worked fine, including searches in Mail

    So it was MailTags that had apparently screwed up Spotlight.

    I haven't re-installed Mailtags as even thought I think I could fix Spotlight again - by removing Mailbags - I can't see the point of taking the risk.

  • by LostAccount,

    LostAccount LostAccount Oct 23, 2015 3:06 PM in response to wallopz
    Level 1 (125 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 23, 2015 3:06 PM in response to wallopz

    Some OS X features are not available in all regions. Please review http://www.apple.com/osx/feature-availability/#spotlight-suggestions

  • by ikl,

    ikl ikl Oct 23, 2015 11:37 PM in response to LostAccount
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 23, 2015 11:37 PM in response to LostAccount

    True. But the Apple documentation does not mention anything about the simple web searches working only in selected countries. This has been the case already in Yosemite: the spotlight does not search anything outside the mac itself, only results from local documents, mail, etc.are shown.

  • by amaei,

    amaei amaei Oct 24, 2015 1:42 AM in response to rmjamieson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 24, 2015 1:42 AM in response to rmjamieson

    rmjamieson wrote:

     

    I finally ... at long last ... got Spotlight to work.  Here is what I did ....

     

    Opened System Preferences.  Clicked "Spotlight" to open it.  For "Search Results" I clicked all the categories so they will appear in Spotlight search results.  At the bottom of the window I clicked "Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Spotlight and Look Up".  I then closed System Preference for Spotlight.  I then clicked the Spotlight Icon.  At the top Spotlight displayed icons for various apps including Safari.  I then entered, into Spotlight, such things as "AAPL" and "Weather Chicago" and "Chicago Cubs".  In each case, Spotlight displayed the appropriate result.

     

    So now it's working.  HOWEVER, it's still not working for natural speech searches.

     

    Hope my fix works for you.

     

    Jim Minor

    It actually works, well for me anyway.

    Specific locations don't work eg, "Weather Perth, *specific town* "

    But a main state works, eg, "Weather Perth"

    Even if it doesn't work, just use 2 fingers from the right to make the notification panel appear, and you can check stocks and weather there.

  • by MacuzerNJ,

    MacuzerNJ MacuzerNJ Oct 27, 2015 12:34 PM in response to rmjamieson
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 12:34 PM in response to rmjamieson

    I don't know how it worked, Jim, but I followed what you wrote. Everything was already checked off - not one box unchecked - and I closed it and went up to Spotlight and my old friend is back (it seems). Now, let's see what happens after a restart. <aggghhhh>

  • by Ryan Wilcox,

    Ryan Wilcox Ryan Wilcox Oct 28, 2015 8:04 AM in response to gooober
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2015 8:04 AM in response to gooober

    Goober,

    If you click the lock in the lower right hand corner of the 'Get Info" window it will make the + and - signs black.  Click on the + sign and you should be able to add yourself to that list of users.  Just make sure that you choose Read & Write.  You should then be able to add the HD to the list in Spotlight Privacy.

  • by gooober,

    gooober gooober Oct 28, 2015 8:49 AM in response to Ryan Wilcox
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Oct 28, 2015 8:49 AM in response to Ryan Wilcox

    Hello Ryan,

     

    Thanks for the tip! The default setting for a freshly-installed El Capitan is to not give permission to do this. I am keeping them as they are and not varying from the OS default. I was able to get Spotlight working again and it is now working for me.

     

    Best Regards,

     

    Mark

  • by nollam,

    nollam nollam Oct 29, 2015 6:07 PM in response to frankinsanity
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2015 6:07 PM in response to frankinsanity

    Just to add to the story, not working for me either.

    I tried all the tips I've found online: changing regions, toggling Spotlight settings, re-indexing, rebooting  .... but no good.  I'm finding that screen splitting doesn't work with mail, rather annoying.  I'm amazed and disappointed with this release.

  • by Nikokazaa,

    Nikokazaa Nikokazaa Nov 14, 2015 8:34 AM in response to frankinsanity
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 14, 2015 8:34 AM in response to frankinsanity

    Hi all,

     

    i also have a problem with Spotlight: when i search photos in a certain location (g.e. photos NewYork) it doesn't show me anything although i have effectively photos with New York geotag. Instead if i search "New York" into Photos native app it founds them!

    Anyone have the same problem?

     

    Greetings,

    Niccolò

  • by phonedog_john,

    phonedog_john phonedog_john Nov 28, 2015 9:29 PM in response to frankinsanity
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 9:29 PM in response to frankinsanity

    Solution: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support

     

    Takes 10 seconds to go through the steps. I haven't read all replies so I don't know if this was covered.

  • by primer idiom,

    primer idiom primer idiom Dec 5, 2015 11:23 AM in response to gooober
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 5, 2015 11:23 AM in response to gooober

    Brilliant! Instant fix!  I was getting zero results from spotlight after reboot. Just a prompt field that did nothing when entering data. After applying the two commands it worked right away.

  • by iamkw,

    iamkw iamkw Dec 17, 2015 10:37 PM in response to frankinsanity
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 10:37 PM in response to frankinsanity

    Spotlight Suggestions are available in only few countries:

     

    https://www.apple.com/osx/feature-availability/#spotlight-suggestions

     

    Even i have the same problem as its not available in India.

  • by Tfromparis,

    Tfromparis Tfromparis Dec 26, 2015 3:09 PM in response to frankinsanity
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 26, 2015 3:09 PM in response to frankinsanity

    Had this problem. Tried to work my head around it all day.

     

    This is the solution I found for my particular case:

     

    if you have multiple accounts -> log into the admin account and check if spotlight is working well with that account. Or try safe mode.

     

    I actually had my daily account (not the admin) restricted with parental control and completely forgot about it. Removed parental control on my account and the new spotlight was working fine then. yay.

  • by emmaguildford,

    emmaguildford emmaguildford Dec 29, 2015 10:16 AM in response to phonedog_john
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 29, 2015 10:16 AM in response to phonedog_john

    Perfect! It now works as it should! Weird solution, but easy enough. I copied the whole Macintosh HD drive in and Spotlight now let's me search locally in UK. Many thanks. :)

first Previous Page 5 of 6 last Next