Spotlight shows only popular pdf

Question

Level 1

4 points

Spotlight shows only popular pdf

Dear Supporters!

xI recently stumbled over a spotlight problem. Since updating to El Capitan, I have problems when it comes to searching PDFs. I have a lot of them, but Spotlight somehow shows me more or less the same files when I enter a search term. It is as if some PDF are identified as "hyperrelevant" and are always shown and I don´t find the ones, that I really searched for. Before updating, I remember, that spotlight showed a higher "variance" of results. Now, half of the list shows the same 5 PDFs, no matter which keyword I enter.

Have you any idea, how to overcome this? Thank you for helping! 🙂

Posted on Aug 22, 2016 2:42 AM

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Answer 1

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Aug 23, 2016 1:29 AM in response to Jensbo

Hey there Jensbo!

Thanks for bringing this question to the Apple Support Communities! I find Spotlight to be the most valuable resource on a Mac. I can only imagine how eager you are to have it populate more relevant searches. Though this resource contains the basics, ensure that Spotlight preferences are adjusted and setup appropriately:

Mac Basics: Spotlight helps you find what you‘re looking for

The ultimate resource we'll be working through today, is the following:

OS X El Capitan: If searching your Mac doesn’t return expected results

This will be a great start to adjusting your settings and ensuring that Spotlight is pulling from the appropriate locations.

Have a phenomenal day.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,106 points

Aug 22, 2016 4:06 PM in response to Jensbo

It would help to know what “keyword(s)” you are entering in Spotlight (or Finder search).

The following will find all PDF documents in your home directory that have the content "Magnanimous day."

kind:PDF "Magnanimous day"

The next sequence will find all PDF documents with Bramblehurst in them created between Aug 1 and Aug 16 2016.

kind:PDF Bramblehurst created:08/01/16-08/16/16

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