El Capitan spotlight broken

A lot of people have been having issues with the new Spotlight functions. I'm one of them. I'm holding out that in upcoming updates, this will get resolved. Until then, you'll just have to be patient.

Stuart Luff wrote:

Can someone create a folder on their desktop called '1234-56-78' and then try searching for it using both Spotlight and a search via a Finder window and let me know you're results? If you get no results try taking out a dash and see what happens.

I tried that. For the Spotlight window I get a single 'top hit,' which is a math result (1234-56-78=1,100). Basically, as long as there are just numbers & the dash, Spotlight interprets it as an equation.

For the Finder window version I get no hits unless I select 'Filename > Name matches 1234-56-78' from the choices rather than 'everything.' If I select Name matches 1234-56-78 then I do get the folder in the Finder window results.

I do not normally have "Folders" checked in System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results. When I check Folders in that preference I do get the folder in the Spotlight search results. So I'm just guessing, but I suspect you do not have Folders checked in your Spotlight preferences.

Can someone create a folder on their desktop called '1234-56-78' and then try searching for it using both Spotlight and a search via a Finder window and let me know you're results? If you get no results try taking out a dash and see what happens.

I've done that!

I have clean install of El Capitan. I did not upgrade from a previous version.

command-space immediately showed the folder as the top hit. When I tried again, circa 2 minutes later, I get a math result as the top hit but the folder named 1234-56-78 still showed up but more towards the bottom.

Using command-F I get nothing. Yup, just a blank window even if I populate the comments portion of the get info window for the folder.

*If I search with quotes around folder name it comes up as a top hit everywhere.

Stuart Luff wrote:

Another bug I've noticed in Mail is when in 'classic mode/view' if I resize the Inbox in the top half of the mail window when there is only about 4 or 5 emails in it those emails get literally squashed upwards into nothing. Then when I click anywhere in the Inbox window they reappear as they should. Apples software REALLY is getting worse.

I have always used classic view for Mail but I can't reproduce that behavior either.

Stuart I feel your pain and I am right there with you. I do design work for a company and we have many brands and 1,000's of images. I've been really inconvenienced by this sloppy OS update Apple has botched.

My Adobe CS5 keeps crashing at random times from all programs.

I have no working search in spotlight or most importantly from the finder and program finder.

REALLY regretting doing this update.

CS5 is not supported in Yosemite, not by apple, not by adobe. While that is the case there are a few things you can try

• Make sure you are using the correct JAVA version

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

• boot the application from the applications folder holding down SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+CMD and reset the preferences (this will not work on a shortcut of the app

or the dock icon)

• Create a new administrator account and boot into that account

• Restore to a previous OS if you have a Time Machine Backup.

- all that aside my spotlight use is clunky and slow as molasses in both 10.11 and 10.11.1

JimmyCMPIT wrote:

- all that aside my spotlight use is clunky and slow as molasses in both 10.11 and 10.11.1

It seems to depend a lot on how many categories System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results is set to search, if "Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Spotlight and Look up" is enabled, what is excluded in the Privacy tab, & even the history & extent of previous searches.

For example, if it is set to allow any searches that include drives that have spun down, there may be a lag while they spin up. Any search that includes fetching up-to-date data from the web can cause a delay. The new "natural language" capability also seems to be adaptive & takes less time to decide what you mean the more you use it. I have also noticed that restarting into safe or recovery mode and/or reindexing the Spotlight database can clobber the response time.

It is as if there are caches or something that have to be built/rebuilt before it starts to perform reasonably well, if that makes any sense.

Same here, just jumping on this train. Our Spotlight feature has been busted since Yosemite update on one server and it's working just fine on a different server. They are Identical setups and now updated to El Cap 10.11.1 and Server 5.0.15. Just a completely unacceptable mess not being able to search our servers at work in an industry that needs that basic functionality every day. We've had Apple Techs, Freelance Techs take a look at it to no avail. Trying to find the time to completely wipe it out while maintaining workflow is very challenging. Spotlight is a complete waste of time and money. Very disappointing and inadmissible.

We're having similar problems, Spotlight cannot find anything dated between April and November this year. The instructions we found online to get it to re-index the hard drive down't seem to work either [adding the HD to the Spotlight Preferences Privacy window then removjng it]. If anyone knows how to get Spotlight to perform a re-index we'd be very grateful.

I have a different Spotlight problem. When I search for a partial name of a file (File name: This is truly unbelievable; search phrase: truly), I get no results. The search by name function only works with an exact match of the entire file name. I can't get Spotlight to search by name contains. I also cannot get Spotlight to search contents.

I used TinkerTools System and discovered that the Spotlight index is gone. I have no idea how that happened. I hope rebuilding it will end the problems.