OJBs Web Site: Tip

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Rebuild the Spotlight Index

If searches fail (including Mail or Outlook searches), or the Spotlight search window shows a progress bar which never completes, you might need to rebuild the search (Spotlight) database.

macOS Ventura (13) or Later

Choose Apple menu, then System Settings.

Click Siri and Spotlight, then scroll down and click Spotlight Privacy on the right.

Drag the disk or folder that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the disk or folder to add. Note: this is usually your main disk, called "Macintosh HD".

From the list of locations, select the disk or folder that you just added and remove it again by clicking the remove button "-". Note: removing it then re-adding it deletes the database then asks for it to be created again.

Click Done, then quit System Settings.

Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed.

macOS Versions Prior to Ventura

Choose Apple menu, then System Preferences, then click Spotlight.

Click the Privacy tab.

Drag the disk or folder that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the disk or folder to add. Note: this is usually your main disk, called "Macintosh HD".

From the same list of locations, select the disk or folder that you just added. Then click the remove button "-" to remove it from the list. Note: removing it then re-adding it deletes the database then asks for it to be created again.

Quit System Preferences.

Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed.

Alternatively, use this Terminal command:

sudo mdutil -E /