Red Fall
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: El Cap Finder Search Bug?

So, it worked in Yosemite, but not in El Capitan.

There is a folder that has image files in it, one named "143.png", one named "1436.png" (this started out with thousands of image files, but I made a new folder to simplify it with an image attached here).

 

 

In El Capitan, in that folder:

 

 

 

- I search 143 (no quotes), BOTH files show up.

- If I search 1436 (no quotes), NOTHING shows up.

- If I search for "1436" (WITH QUOTES), the 1436.png show up.

 

BUT, in Yosemite, 1436 (NO QUOTES) shows the 1436.png file.

 

Is this just a change from Yosemite to El Capitan, or is this a bug in El Capitan? Because I've had nothing but trouble with Spotlight in El Cap also.... it won't find files I KNOW are there... I've tried using the System Preferences "Privacy" Add/Delete thing on the whole hard drive, but I still keep having issues. Does the Fusion drive have anything to do with it? It's driving me crazy because as I graphic designer with TONS of design assets on the computer, Spotlight and Finder searches are not allowing me to find files I need

 

 

 

Finder-FUKT2.jpg

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), null

Posted on Feb 6, 2016 12:07 AM

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Q: El Cap Finder Search Bug?

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  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 9, 2016 4:54 PM in response to chroot
    Level 9 (50,854 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 9, 2016 4:54 PM in response to chroot

    chroot wrote:

     

    mdutil Vol -E is the same as doing mdutil Vol -i off then mdutil Vol -i on.  It's the same as adding and removing the volume from the Spotlight preferences in the Privacy tab.  None of which will resolve the issue, I chalk it up to a logic error.

    How do you know?

    Off and on just turns indexing on and off. It doesn't imply that it is erasing the index, just disabling it.

    Using the GUI interface in Privacy tab does not imply it is erased, but perhaps merely vacuumed and restarted.

    The first certainly may not be the same as erasing the index database.

    The second may be the same, but there is no indication that it is.

    So, how do you know that it is? Are you assuming that it is or have you actually traced the execution paths to know it is the same?

  • by chroot,

    chroot chroot Feb 9, 2016 9:28 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 4 (1,099 points)
    Feb 9, 2016 9:28 PM in response to Barney-15E

    Barney-15E wrote:


    So, how do you know that it is? Are you assuming that it is or have you actually traced the execution paths to know it is the same?

     

    All three methods of disabling Spotlight indexing removes the contents of /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 3:41 PM in response to chroot
    Level 9 (50,854 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 3:41 PM in response to chroot

    chroot wrote:

     

    Barney-15E wrote:


    So, how do you know that it is? Are you assuming that it is or have you actually traced the execution paths to know it is the same?

     

    All three methods of disabling Spotlight indexing removes the contents of /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2.

    I had never considered just watching that folder. Thanks.

  • by Red Fall,

    Red Fall Red Fall Feb 11, 2016 12:58 AM in response to Red Fall
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 11, 2016 12:58 AM in response to Red Fall

    So, this is getting old. I've tried everything I could find about resetting/rebuilding the index.

    • the add/delete from privacy tab thing
    • add HD's to Privacy tab, turn OFF Mac (not restart, shutdown and restart), then remove HD's from Privacy Tab
    • remove virtual machines from index
    • Using Terminal, sudo mdutil -E /
    • sudo mdutil -E / , then dragging the HD (both of them separately sine this is a fusion drive and there are 2 HD's) to the Terminal window to specify the exact path the the HD's
    • turning on invisible files and manually deleting the .Spotlight-V100 folders from BOTH drives

     

    NONE of it worked. Well, it SORT of worked on SOME folders. I can search in some folders for the full file name and it will work "normally". Then in other folders, including the one I made as an example for this post, it wont work. The Index WAS rebuilt - I could se the progress in the Spotlight window, but it didn't solve the problem

     

    If I copy the same folder onto a flash drive and take it to the old Yosemite iMac, searching 1436 returns the file in the search if the folder is copied to the computer or even if I search the flash drive itself... but NOT on the El Cap iMac.... I'm not sure what I can do here...

     

    In this article

    http://www.macissues.com/2014/12/12/how-to-determine-when-your-spotlight-index-n eeds-to-be-rebuilt/

    it describes EXACTLY what's happening here; "The primary indication that Spotlight’s index needs to be rebuilt is if your Spotlight search is not working properly. That is, if you type the first few characters of a file’s name you might see the desired file appear, but if you enter additional characters of the name then the file might disappear from the results list. This indicates the system is not able to properly retrieve search queries from Spotlight’s database".

     

    This machine was too **** expensive for the native search function to not work, especially when it works on a 2009 iMac running Yosemite.

    Is it maybe time to re-install the OS, or is this a problem for enough other people that it seems like it's just a bug Apple needs to fix in 10.11.4?

  • by balsa2,

    balsa2 balsa2 Feb 11, 2016 3:28 AM in response to Red Fall
    Level 3 (533 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 11, 2016 3:28 AM in response to Red Fall

    This might help, as I am experiencing the same :

    A search for 2344, no results.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-11 at 10.32.27.png

    press the Down arrow :

    Screen Shot 2016-02-11 at 10.32.42.png

    then the Return key :

    Screen Shot 2016-02-11 at 10.32.54.png

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