gwh89

Q: How to fix spotlight search on El Capitan

As of yesterday, I am no longer able to perform a search in Finder or Mail.

 

I saw a recommendation to Reindex, however, when I attempt to add my Drive to the Privacy list, I get an error (see below).  Is there a workaround?


Thanks in advance for any feedback/recommendations!

Screen Shot - Spotlight Error.png

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jul 14, 2016 4:50 AM

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Q: How to fix spotlight search on El Capitan

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Luis Sequeira1,Helpful

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Jul 14, 2016 10:23 AM in response to gwh89
    Level 6 (11,819 points)
    Jul 14, 2016 10:23 AM in response to gwh89

    You seem to have a problem with the spotlight index.

    The method you used is the one that is normally recommended, but since it's giving you an error, you may try rebuilding directly from Terminal.

     

    Open Terminal (I usually do it using, er, Spotlight... command-space, type Ter, enter; if it does not work, in the Finder press command-shift-U to open the Utilities folder, where Terminal is located; or use Launchpad)

     

    copy and paste the following line to the Terminal:

     

      sudo mdutil -E /

     

    Enter your password as requested (nothing will show when you type the password, not even asterisks; that is normal) and press enter.

     

    This will erase the spotlight index and it will begin reindexing. Your mac may slow down a bit while spotlight is reindexing your drive.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jul 14, 2016 5:50 AM in response to gwh89
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jul 14, 2016 5:50 AM in response to gwh89

    Please launch the Console application in any one of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View ▹ Show Log List

    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

    Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then take an action that isn't working the way you expect. Select any lines that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

    Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

    When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

    If you have an account on Pastebin, please don't select Private from the Paste Exposure menu on the page, because then no one but you will be able to see it.

  • by gwh89,

    gwh89 gwh89 Jul 14, 2016 9:55 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 14, 2016 9:55 AM in response to Linc Davis

    See attached:

     

    7/14/16 12:53:10.941 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:53:22.943 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:53:26.656 PM Microsoft PowerPoint[239]: Stream 0x7fe9f870 is sending an event before being opened

    7/14/16 12:53:26.656 PM Microsoft PowerPoint[239]: Stream 0x7fe9f870 is sending an event before being opened

    7/14/16 12:53:34.965 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:53:46.957 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:53:58.961 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:54:10.960 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:54:16.043 PM WindowServer[169]: Surface testing disallowed updates for 10 sequential attempts...

    7/14/16 12:54:16.465 PM WindowServer[169]: Surface test allowed updates after 99 attempts (396 ms)

    7/14/16 12:54:22.972 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:54:31.850 PM Mail[1685]: Skipping STATUS for INBOX because CHECK failed with error: (null)

    7/14/16 12:54:34.976 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:54:35.768 PM Safari[233]: KeychainGetICDPStatus: keychain: -25300

    7/14/16 12:54:35.768 PM Safari[233]: KeychainGetICDPStatus: status: off

    7/14/16 12:54:43.447 PM taskgated[236]: no application identifier provided, can't use provisioning profiles [pid=9920]

    7/14/16 12:54:47.002 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

    7/14/16 12:54:58.993 PM sandboxd[133]: ([1035]) com.apple.WebKit(1035) deny mach-lookup com.apple.dock.fullscreen

  • by appreciate,

    appreciate Jul 14, 2016 10:12 AM in response to gwh89
    Level 4 (1,276 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 14, 2016 10:12 AM in response to gwh89

    click on go > hold option key & don't release it > library > preferences > right click on com.apple.spotlight.plist & move it to trash . restart from apple logo & empty the trash .

    An apple article is also there for guidance : OS X Yosemite: Spotlight preferences

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jul 14, 2016 10:20 AM in response to gwh89
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jul 14, 2016 10:20 AM in response to gwh89

    The Spotlight index may be corrupt.

    Please back up all data before proceeding.

    Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

    /.Spotlight-V100

    Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

              Services Open

    from the contextual menu. A folder should open with a subfolder named ".Spotlight-V100" selected. Move the subfolder to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password.

    Restart the computer. If you try to search now from the magnifying-glass icon in the top right corner of the display, there should be an indication that indexing is in progress.

    You can't see the folder in the Trash because it's invisible. The next time you empty the Trash, it should be deleted.

  • by gwh89,

    gwh89 gwh89 Jul 14, 2016 1:04 PM in response to appreciate
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 14, 2016 1:04 PM in response to appreciate

    I don't see that file - com.apple.spotlight.plist

  • by gwh89,

    gwh89 gwh89 Jul 14, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 14, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Linc, I don't have access to that folder/subfolder.

     

    Spotlight-V100.png

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jul 14, 2016 4:19 PM in response to gwh89
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jul 14, 2016 4:19 PM in response to gwh89

    I don't have access to that folder/subfolder.

    You don't need access. Just drag it from the title bar of the window to the Trash.

  • by gwh89,

    gwh89 gwh89 Jul 14, 2016 4:22 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 14, 2016 4:22 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thank you Linc!  That resolved by ability to search in Finder. 

     

    That said, I'm still not able to search using Mail.  Is there something else I missed?

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jul 14, 2016 4:49 PM in response to gwh89
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jul 14, 2016 4:49 PM in response to gwh89

    Please test after taking each of the following steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.

    1. Start with this support article.

    2. Select all mailboxes in the mailbox list, then select all messages in the message list. Right-click or control-click anywhere in the message list. From the pop menu, select

              Mark As Unread

    Then, from the same menu, select

              Mark As Read

    Credit for this solution, if it works, to ASC member ikbenut.

    3. If you've installed third-party software called "MailTags," or any other software that modifies the behavior of Mail, remove it according to the developer's instructions.

    4. Please restart the computer in safe mode. Certain caches maintained by the system will be rebuilt.

    Safe mode is much slower to start up than normal. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

    If you do not use FileVault 2 in OS X 10.7 ("Lion") or later, then you can restart as usual (not in safe mode) when the login screen appears. There's no need to log in while in safe mode.

    If you do use FileVault 2 in OS X 10.11 ("El Capitan") or later, or if you're not sure whether you use it, log in as usual while in safe mode, then restart (not in safe mode.)

    If you use FileVault 2 in OS X 10.10 ("Yosemite") or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t start in safe mode. In that case, ask for other instructions.