SPOTLIGHT problems...help!

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hi there

I like to use Spotlight a lot it's usually the quickest way of getting places.

The problem is that it seems to regularly stop working. Enter the searchword, press return, and....nothing happens.
It has always come back eventually, maybe a day or two later, but I can't seem to find out why. Switching off in itself is not enough to reset it.

Any geniuses out there?
 
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Hmm, have you tried repairing permissions?
Also I recommend Quicksilver
I think that it is so much better than spotlight anyway. You can do so much more so much quicker.
 
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Why do you press enter? The search should just start while you type.
 
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Say_Cheese said:
Hmm, have you tried repairing permissions?
Also I recommend Quicksilver
I think that it is so much better than spotlight anyway. You can do so much more so much quicker.

I second Say_Cheese. QuickSilver is a great free app. to get to places. It has many other features too.
 
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Dudes Quiksilver might be fine and all bt why don't we just try to solve his problem for now?
 
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sleepyjohn said:
hi there

I like to use Spotlight a lot it's usually the quickest way of getting places.

The problem is that it seems to regularly stop working. Enter the searchword, press return, and....nothing happens.
It has always come back eventually, maybe a day or two later, but I can't seem to find out why. Switching off in itself is not enough to reset it.

Any geniuses out there?


Two methods both achieving the same outcome which may be the solution -

Force Spotlight to reindex a drive:

You can do this from the command line with the mdutil command. Launch Terminal and enter:

sudo mdutil -E /
and the index file will be erased and rebuilt. The "/" stands for the boot volume; you can substitute the pathname of any volume here.

Substitute "-s" for "-E" to show if indexing is enabled on the volume, and "-i on" or "-i off" to enable or disable indexing. Note that mdutil must be run as root; hence the sudo.

You can also use mdimport to index a subset of files:

mdimport ~/Documents
would index your Documents folder and

mdimport -r /Library/Spotlight/AppleWorks.mdimporter
would index all AppleWorks files on your computer.

mdimport -L
will list all installed metadata importers.

For people uncomfortable with using command line, etc.,

Another way to delete a volume's Spotlight index is to open the Spotlight prefpane, and drag the volume to Spotlight's "Privacy" window. The index will be deleted immediately. To get Spotlight to re-index the volume, remove it from the Privacy list.

~
 
OP
S
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thanx for all your kind suggestions I'll give them a try and get back to you

Sleepyjohn
 
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I don't use Spotlight. Spotlight only searches on just your computer, correct? I use search to find files on our networked Server... but many times it will not work and I get zero items found.

Anyone know how to make Search work properly?
 
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WOW!!!!! QuickSilver is AWESOME!!!

Hmm, have you tried repairing permissions?
Also I recommend Quicksilver
I think that it is so much better than spotlight anyway. You can do so much more so much quicker.

Thanks for the info on Quicksilver!!!! what a cool app... just one more reason that I am glad that iConverted to Mac!!! Way COOL! :mac:
 

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