Q: Finder search not giving accurate results in El Capitian 10.11.3

Not the issue or it would be same for all files in the folder.

I installed El Capitian almost as soon as it was released.  Search worked fine right from the search field in the finder windows.  I use it to move files back and forth often depending on certain phrases I have in the files for certain things etc.  At first I didn't realize it was missing some of the files.  Until I opened one and realized it should have been found along with the others because the phrase/word is the exact same as the other files the search listed, and the same format = .docx

Thus why I am not sure if it was one of the last updates etc.

dianeoforegon wrote:

 

I find that if I get too specific in Spotlight search, I can't find the file. I also find that using the top Spotlight search will find the item where using the search box in a Finder window fails because of the criteria I have selected.

 

You might find one of these apps more productive for searching:

 

Easy Find (free)    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easyfind/id411673888?mt=12

 

Houdah Spot https://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/ Has a demo you can try first.

Houdah also makes Tembo (a lite version of Houdah Spot)  https://www.houdah.com/tembo/

 

Check out Brett Terpstra's review here: http://brettterpstra.com/2016/01/25/houdahspot-4-dot-1/

 

Hope this helps!

Hmmm Just tried Easy Find. Didn't find any. Not even the ones finder found.

ChitlinsCC wrote:

 

Hmmmm... mysterious.

 

I would heed Diane's advice. She is not only an expert with all things Microsoft, she has been using El Cap since early (first?) Beta.

Will do.

You know what... I just realized when I did the spotlight "refresh" I did not include the external drive I have connected.  I don't access that drive hardly ever. It is for an extra backup using Time Machine.  So... I went to spotlight/privacy and added both my local SSD and the external. Then removed the SSD = internal drive and noticed that now it's actually "Re" indexing unlike before when I only did that with the internal drive.  Which seems like that shouldn't matter, however there it goes indexing.  I'll reply later on when the index completes to update if it solved the issue.

FYI - I did try both apps suggested above and they didn't find the files at all.  So hope the reindex trick works.

dianeoforegon wrote:

 

I find that if I get too specific in Spotlight search, I can't find the file. I also find that using the top Spotlight search will find the item where using the search box in a Finder window fails because of the criteria I have selected.

 

You might find one of these apps more productive for searching:

 

Easy Find (free)    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easyfind/id411673888?mt=12

 

Houdah Spot https://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/ Has a demo you can try first.

Houdah also makes Tembo (a lite version of Houdah Spot)  https://www.houdah.com/tembo/

 

Check out Brett Terpstra's review here: http://brettterpstra.com/2016/01/25/houdahspot-4-dot-1/

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info. And quick responses EVERYONE!

I'll post after I've tried a few things...

Kappy wrote:

 

May be you need to reindex the drive: Spotlight- How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support.

Guess what. You're right!

I only reindexed my internal drive and not external.  Although the files in question are on the internal, for some reason because I ONLY first reindex the internal for some reason it didn't work.

Now, I moved the external AND internal to private section in spotlight, then only removed the internal = left the external in private.

BAM! Worked!  Now the search shows ALL files with the phrase.

Weird.  Why did having the external drive affect the internal as far a spotlight is concerned?  No idea.  I only know this process solved my issue.

This is also true for the apps mentioned, which tells me they still need spotlight to work it seems.