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Spotlight crashes after typing a few letters since Safari 12 update

Sierra 10.12.6


So this just started happening after updating to Safari 12 a few days ago.


When I invoke Spotlight, from Finder (command-spacebar) or from menubar, and type a few letters. It immediately vanishes because it crashes.


I forced Spotlight to re-index several times and it briefly works until the indexing is done and then the problem returns. It also happens while using a different Admin account. After a lot of troubleshooting, I can get it to stop crashing by only UN-checking the "Bookmarks & History" option in the Spotlight pane of System Preferences (all other Spotlight options are checked). I think it's a bug or issue with Safari since it's only "Bookmarks & History" and the problem coincides with the update to version 12.


This problem is 100% repeatable.


Here is a portion of the crash log. I can provide more of this log upon request.


Process: Spotlight [1819]

Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/Spotlight.app/Contents/MacOS/Spotlight

Identifier: com.apple.Spotlight

Version: 1.0 (1075.40)

Build Info: SpotlightUI-1075040000000000~244

Code Type: X86-64 (Native)

Parent Process: ??? [1]

Responsible: Spotlight [1819]

User ID: 501


Date/Time: 2018-09-20 23:48:51.219 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.12.6 (16G1510)

Report Version: 12


Time Awake Since Boot: 34000 seconds

Crashed Thread: 4 Dispatch queue: com.apple.root.default-qos


Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)

Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000

Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY


Termination Signal: Illegal instruction: 4

Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x4

Terminating Process: exc handler [0]


Application Specific Information:

XPC API Misuse: Release of last reference on a suspended connection.


Application Specific Signatures:

API Misuse

Mac Pro (Mid 2012), macOS Sierra (10.12.6), 32 GB, 3.33 GHz 6-Core

Posted on Sep 21, 2018 3:42 PM

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3 replies
44 replies

Sep 25, 2018 8:37 PM in response to sparky67

Sorry @sparky67, you're right I didn't read carefully beyond where you tried reindexing spotlight. I appreciate your post though, because this had been annoying me and it got me on the right track knowing it was related to Safari. I don't use Spotlight to look up browser history or bookmarks, so this workaround is great for me, but I understand it's not ideal for someone who likes to use it for those purposes. Hopefully they'll fix it with the next Safari update.

Sep 29, 2018 4:30 AM in response to sparky67

Good work finding the offender. Your workround works great for me.


What kind of testing did they do for Safari 12. I would have thought that interacting with Spotlight would have been on the list as it is a specific checkbox on the Spotlight preferences.

Somehow I don't think I will be instantly updating to Mojave when it comes out. Give it a couple of updates maybe...

Question marked as Best answer

Oct 3, 2018 3:46 PM in response to sparky67

Workaround:


As I stated in my original post, I unchecked the "Bookmarks & History" option in the Spotlight pane of System Preferences, and the problem is solved.


A Fix:


I upgraded Sierra to High Sierra and re-checked the "Bookmarks & History" item without any problems. Other users have reported that reinstalling Sierra solved the issue, but I cannot confirm this.


Despite the claim in this article that links back to this thread, others are reporting this same issue with High Sierra, but again I cannot confirm because when I upgraded to High Sierra today and then updated Safari to version 12, I was able to re-check the "Bookmarks & History" item without any problems.

Spotlight crashes after typing a few letters since Safari 12 update

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