Spotlight crashes after typing a few letters since Safari 12 update

No, I'm running Safari 12.0.1 within Sierra on a late 2011 MBP and 12.0.2 on a late 2009 iMac, and both still have the Spotlight bug. However, the workaround of unchecking Bookmarks & History from Spotlight Preferences' Search Results tab works fine.

I would upgrade to High Sierra as a permanent fix except that I have multiple backup problems that I'm fixing. Apple don't advise upgrading until you have a current backup.

All I did was to rerun the 10.12.6 Combo Installer over the current install and it fixed everything without having to change any settings that would take away features. I do the rerun/refresh every so often anyway, it refreshes the install and things run a lot better afterwards. Been doing for years. Have had to do it several times as newer versions of Safari touting "bug fixes" got installed. I have now "Hidden" the Safari update. I don't use it anyway.

I saw an update including Safari come through yesterday and hid the Safari update. I don't use Safari and its latter versions are impacting the everyday operation of the OS. So I will not be installing anything Safari, unless I have time to do the "recovery" process that I have discovered is the only was to return from the damage that the installs have and will create.

Thank you so much for this post! This has been driving me insane.

It's unfortunate that Sierra is not very old, and many corporate IT groups don't support anything newer; yet Apple has neglected this release.

You're right, it is a fix rather than a solution but I'm glad it worked for me.

I personally think Apple need to focus on making their operating systems stable and just settle on one version rather than continuously updating them every year, requiring them to maintain at least 3OS which are buggy. The reality is, I need to use 32bit apps and they don't run on Mojave unless I run virtualisation software which I'm looking into but backwards compatibility is very useful in other OSs. They also need to focus on price point and usability/upgradeability. The new products are too expensive and locked in... who can afford £1K+ phones every one to two years? Same with the insane notebook prices especially once the dongles and other peripherals are included, without the option to upgrade the hardware. It's a false economy, Apple has been greedy and are now paying the price for it.

Since this "newer and improved" version was released I have had major issues across the board that was fixed by rerunning the current macOS version over the install to "normally refresh it", which I do often these days, but, which I have found, to fix whatever Safari does to the OS to make it unstable. I have stopped using it all together, "Hide" the update and will not even go near it anymore.

BUT rerunning your current OS version updater, must be the "Combo", over your install will clean things up and fix the damage. Or so I have found the three times I was forced to use it before abandoning Safari.

I tryied to install the latest Combo update for Sierra, but my HD stays greyed, it says that it can't find a suitable HD to install it...

we are stuck in a buggy Sierra for ever (unless you do the titanic work of delete your HD and reinstall from a backup your 1TB... which it isn't extent of possible failures and it takes a long long time to complete, last time I did, downgrading from HS to Sierra again, I lost the modified dates of all folders, which cost me a lot lot lot of problems)

My problem that Safari did was every time I even selected a .webloc file in the Finder the Desktop would refresh. And not a quick blink. Many times I though my desktop had been wiped.

I have a Installer on a Thumb Drive that I use. But I trust you could boot to your "Recovery Drive" and reinstall through the Installer? The first time I did that I was scared to death that it would wipe the drive and reinstall since the motions don't tell you otherwise. But to my delight, it didn't.

I'd back up the drive, CarbonCopyCloner, if only a TimeMachine back up to an external/separate drive/partition for the first time you try it. Just to make sure things go as they should. I just resigned myself in that moment of shear terror to the fact that I did have TM backups, as spotty as they have been in the past, on a separate drive and that I had the afternoon open in case I had to rebuild from scratch. Since I have done this 3 times until I stopped updating Safari and have had no major problems, I feel comfortable suggesting it. ALSO down the road when the OS goes wonky, and it will, this process that I discovered while on the phone with Apple asking if it could be done and them not knowing and when he returned to the call and I had done it successfully, THEN when it was proven, they (Apple) started suggesting it themselves . . . . cures a ton of ills.

Hope this helps. Good Luck. "Hide that Safari update" in the App Store and forget Safari until they really fix it!!! OR if you get comfortable with this "Refreshing" process, be the one to find out when Safari is fixed for those who can't.

I had the same problem, and your solution worked for me: unchecking "Bookmarks & History" in the Spotlight Preferences Pane.

Wow, never had a problem fixed so easily. I rarely search Bookmarks anyway and always do it from the Bookmarks menu

Thanks

Thanks! This was driving me crazy, and all I had to do was follow this and I'm back to normal now! Appreciate it!

ME

10-3-18

This issue getting some publicity now:

“Tidbits- Safari 12 Crashes Spotlight in Sierra—Here’s the Fix”

https://tidbits.com/2018/10/01/safari-12-crashes-spotlight-in-sierra-heres-the-f ix/

I can confirm that El Capitan, Sierra and Mojave are also affected

Worked for me. I tried reindexing first and for the first time in ages Spotlight actually gave me relevant results . So I guess something good came from this 🙂