6 Tips if Spotlight on Your Mac Doesn’t Fetch the Desired Search Results
Spotlight is a powerful search tool that allows users to quickly search for files, apps, and other content on their Macs. Usually, searching in Spotlight shows you precisely what you’re looking for. However, you may occasionally experience the issue of Spotlight not showing you the desired search results.
The good news is that you can resolve the issue by trying a few troubleshooting steps. We’ll walk you through them so that you can ensure Spotlight fetches your desired search results.
1. Ensure You Entered the Correct Search Term
You should probably start here. Sometimes, we make mistakes when we type things in search fields or text boxes on our Mac, perhaps because we’re in a hurry or do it without thinking. Either way, we enter the wrong thing and end up with the wrong search results.
If Spotlight shows irrelevant search results, you might want to check what you typed. Did you spell your search term correctly? One wrong character can make all the difference between an accurate search result and an unexpected one.
Also, be sure you’ve entered the correct word. If you’re entering a phrase, be sure it’s accurate and that you put it in quotes; placing a phrase in quotes ensures you get results with exactly that phrase.
2. Search for a File by Type
If you’re searching for a specific type of file with Spotlight, such as an app, PDF, or image, being specific can improve your search results; this means searching by file type. Searching by file type is one way toimprove your searches with Spotlight in macOS.
To do it, enterkind:followed by the file type to show files of a specific type. For example, if you’re looking for PDF documents, typekind:PDFto narrow your search to this file format.
There are many kinds of shortcuts like this one that you could use in Spotlight to improve your searches in Spotlight, which you can find on ourSpotlight search tips cheat sheet for the Mac.
3. Check Your Spotlight Settings
If Spotlight isn’t showing your desired search results, it could be because youstopped specific files from showing up in Spotlight searches. A quick trip to System Settings on your Mac will confirm whether or not this is the case. If it is, do the following.
After following these steps, you should see the previously hidden categories and Finder locations in Spotlight when you search for them.
4. Check Archive Files
If you haven’t extracted a file from an archive, such as a ZIP or RAR file, you won’t see it when you search Spotlight. To fix this issue, extract the file first, then perform your search again.
Extracting a ZIP file on a Macis pretty straightforward, but you might need some assistance withRAR file extractions in macOS. After extracting the archives, try searching Spotlight again.
5. Search Your Backups
Sometimes we delete files by mistake or because we no longer think we have use for them. We might need these files again and search for them, forgetting we already deleted them.
This might be what you’re experiencing if you search Spotlight and can’t find a file you’re certain you had at some point. Thankfully, if you’vebacked up your Mac with Time Machine, you may be able to restore the file you deleted and see it in your Spotlight search results.
So, next time you can’t find something in Spotlight or anywhere else on your Mac, it might be because it’s on a backup of your Mac and not your Mac itself.
6. Rebuild Your Spotlight Index
One last thing you’re able to try is rebuilding your Spotlight index. Doing so is bound to get Spotlight running like normal again on your Mac. Here’s how to do it.
Spotlight will begin to reindex the contents of the folder or disk, but the time it takes will depend on how large it is.
Find Exactly What You Need With Spotlight
Spotlight is an extremely capable search tool that can search throughout your Mac and provide you with exactly what you’re looking for in no time. It eliminates your need to go through folders looking for files.
If you’re looking for files that aren’t showing up in your Spotlight searches, try one of our above suggestions to rectify the problem. You should be able to see your desired search results in no time.
Want to launch an app, search for a file, or do basic math? Spotlight can do it all. Learn how to put it to good use on your Mac.
My iPhone does it all, but I still need my dumb phone.
Your iPhone forgets what you copy, but this shortcut makes it remember everything.
Who asked for these upgrades?
I plugged random USB devices into my phone and was pleasantly surprised by how many actually worked.
Flagship price, mid-range phone.
