Spotlight search and dictionary app bug.

Question

Level 1

11 points

Spotlight search and dictionary app bug.

I have a consistent problem with spotlight searching and the Dictionary app.

When I try to find a term, e.g. "chair", in Spotlight, I can click on it (or hit enter) to open the Dictionary app. But then the app reports an error:

“Oxford Dictionary of English” is not available in the current dictionary set.

You can turn on “Oxford Dictionary of English” in this application's preferences.

I don't have this dictionary switched on, but switching it on gives a similar error for a different dictionary:

“牛津英汉汉英词典” is not available in the current dictionary set.

Also the preview inside the Spotlight app shows strange output:

"chair|tʃeə(r)|A.noun①(seat)(with no arms and unupholstered)椅子 yǐzi (with arms and upholstered)单人沙发 dānrén shāfā to sit on/in a chair坐在椅子上/单人沙发里

"

It seems to be searching in the wrong dictionary?

I have tried rebuilding spotlight index, switching on and off all dictionaries, but nothing resolved the issue so far

I'm on OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 Public Beta but had the same problem in 10.11.0, that's why I tried the beta. I already submitted a report to Apple.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan (10.11), Public beta 10.11.1

Posted on Oct 4, 2015 5:28 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 21, 2015 10:48 PM in response to Curtius

This is similar to my problem in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7256256I don't think Apple cares. I have just updated to 10.11.1 (15B42), and now the english language search results are in american, despite having deselected that language, and everything else is in korean.

Have you tried this solution: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2131719? I cannot do it, because System Preferences crash if I access that area.

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Answer 2

Curtius Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 28, 2015 2:58 AM in response to RasmusMalver

Updating to 10.11.1 didn't solve the problem for me.

My "input source" (Under preferences/Keyboard) was Dutch. The Dutch layout is very similar to U.S. with some subtle differences (such as inclusion of the Euro sign). I replaced the Dutch keyboard and replaced it with U.S. and now I do not get any errors any more. With these settings, Spotlight finds definitions in the US English dictionary, Wikipedia, and the Apple wordbook. At this point it does not search the Dutch dictionary ("Prisma") when I type in a Dutch word, but I don't know whether it actually did before (as I only got error messages).

The point is that changing your input source might help...!

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Answer 3

Oct 28, 2015 5:30 AM in response to Curtius

Curtius wrote:

I replaced the Dutch keyboard and replaced it with U.S. and now I do not get any errors any more. With these settings, Spotlight finds definitions in the US English dictionary, Wikipedia, and the Apple wordbook. At this point it does not search the Dutch dictionary ("Prisma") when I type in a Dutch word, but I don't know whether it actually did before (as I only got error messages).

You're right! This does change the behaviour of Spotlight. We have found the cause of the bug: Apple's thinking they're oh so clever, and should overrule our choices, dependant on the input language.

UK input: ordre ➔ nm 1 (commandement) order (EN to FR translation)

FR input: ordre ➔ n. m. 1 Disposition, arrangement .. (the desired result)

DA input ordre ➔ ọrdern tr., itr. V. (Kaufmannsspr.) order (EN to DE translation)

I have not asked Apple to translate english words to german or french. I just want the Spotlight lookup function from every other OSX, where the word is looked up, and the results presented in the order I have chosen.

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Answer 4

Curtius Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 28, 2015 5:37 AM in response to RasmusMalver

So the Input Source determines the behavior of Spotlight (very intransparent behavior...)!

Anyway, although we seem to partly understand the problem, I -still- get error messages in Dictionary.app when I change back my input source to Dutch. This means that there is still a bug to fix...

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Answer 5

Oct 28, 2015 1:11 PM in response to Curtius

Curtius wrote:

So the Input Source determines the behavior of Spotlight (very intransparent behavior...)!

Yes. But I don't think this would inconvenience a monoculture like the americans, so I don't think we can expect it to ever be fixed. As I mentioned, there are several of these posts and bug reports, but none have been addressed or acknowledged by Apple.

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Answer 6

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,470 points

Oct 28, 2015 1:27 PM in response to Curtius

Here is the preference order for my Apple Dictionary in El Capitan. When I search on chair in Spotlight, you can see that I get unpolluted results.

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Answer 7

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,470 points

Oct 28, 2015 1:27 PM in response to Curtius

Here is the preference order for my Apple Dictionary in El Capitan. When I search on chair in Spotlight, you can see that I get unpolluted results.

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Answer 8

Oct 28, 2015 1:35 PM in response to VikingOSX

Which languages are chosen in your System Preferences - Language & Region, and what is your input source? As we've concluded, changing input source alters the behaviour of Spotlight.

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Answer 9

Curtius Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 28, 2015 1:36 PM in response to VikingOSX

Probably your "input source" is a US keyboard. Under this condition I get the same output as you.

Some other keyboards lead to the problem with "polluted" results, such as the Dutch input source that I've always used and never had problems with until El Capitan.

I now found out that there is a bug in some input sources and the way they interact with the Dictionary app.

I guess there is a SECOND issue, namely that Spotlight doesn't seem to respect the preference order. It gives only the result for the English dictionary. If I put e.g. French on top and search for "chaise", Spotlight doesn't find any result

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Answer 10

Munas

Level 4

1,270 points

Dec 7, 2015 3:05 PM in response to Curtius

I had similar problem. Solution I found, in my case, was quite simple - by disabling dictionaries one-by-one I found that the problem does not appear if "Apple Dictionary" is disabled.

Disable it and check if it works for you.

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Answer 11

Dec 7, 2015 10:47 PM in response to Munas

Munas wrote:

I had similar problem. Solution I found, in my case, was quite simple - by disabling dictionaries one-by-one I found that the problem does not appear if "Apple Dictionary" is disabled.

Disable it and check if it works for you.

This does nothing. It's a bug related to input source. Apple has refused to consider it, stating that “there are no people but Americans”. They expanded that “filthy foreigners are not worthy of our attention. If they speak more than one true language, they do not exist.”

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Answer 12

Munas

Level 4

1,270 points

Dec 8, 2015 6:35 AM in response to RasmusMalver

In my case solution that I described above removes the word translation suggestions in Korean or Chinese as well as the error messages about these languages not enabled in the Dictionary app, enabling which do not solve the problem. In my case disabling the "Apple Dictionary" in Dictionary app - solved the problem and I did not dig deeper into it.

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Answer 13

gcallari

Level 1

8 points

Dec 8, 2015 10:32 AM in response to Curtius

One workaround I am using is moving all unused dictionaries from /Library/Dictionaries to another folder (say /Library/DisabledDictionaries).

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Answer 14

Dec 8, 2015 10:45 AM in response to gcallari

gcallari wrote:

One workaround I am using is moving all unused dictionaries from /Library/Dictionaries to another folder (say /Library/DisabledDictionaries).

This does work, if the aim is to avoid results from unwanted Dictionaries. Another is, weirdly, to validate fonts in Font Book. It does not, however, result in the desired results being served.

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Answer 15

gcallari

Level 1

8 points

Dec 8, 2015 10:57 AM in response to RasmusMalver

Yes, as a matter of fact I am using just the italian and the english dictionaries and thesauri. If I should use, for example, english and chinese-english dictionaries the issue remains.

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