Find for gdoc files works on 1 Mac not on another Mac

[face]

 Hi,

i've this workflow that search for files.

The odd is that the same workflow works like a charm on one Mac while on another Mac not finds the gdoc file (but only pdf files): any hints ?

 

 

[face]

Here's the log from Troubleshooting File indexing:

 

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'Test.gdoc'
Path: '/Volumes/GoogleDrive/Il mio Drive/Test

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if volume '/Volumes/GoogleDrive/' is indexed by macOS...

✅ Indexing is enabled on this drive

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check direct file metadata...

⚠️ Direct metadata is missing, this file is likely not indexed by macOS

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check mdls file metadata...

❌ macOS metadata missing essential items

/Volumes/GoogleDrive/Il mio Drive/Test/Test.gdoc: could not find /Volumes/GoogleDrive/Il mio Drive/Test/Test.gdoc

-----------------------------------------------------------

❌ Troubleshooting failed
 

 

in Spotlight the file is shown (in others) on the Mac in which Alfred cannot find the file (Mac OS 11.1)

on the other Mac where Alfred works Spotlight shows the same file in Documents (Mac OS 10.15.7)

 

i've re-enabled "Request permission", recreate Spotlight indexing, but nothing seems to work

Edited January 29, 2021 by face

[Vero]

@face This is much the same discussion as you and I had a few weeks ago in the thread below. Google Drive is not a standard file system, and while it may occasionally return results, it's not suitable for Spotlight to consistently and reliably index it.

 

Spotlight may be holding on to a file cache at the moment, but when it refreshes its cache, it will encounter the same errors as Alfred, as you can see from the Troubleshooting logs that these files are not indexed; Neither macOS or Alfred will know what the file is, or anything about it. 

 

 

It's really down to Google to make their Google Drive service reliably indexable in macOS first.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[face]

@Vero thanks for the reply and support.

I remember the old discussion a few weeks ago, but now the issue seems different.

Actually the gdoc files are found by Spotlight (even if in others section and not documents sections) but not by Alfred.

I'm wrong ?

 

[Vero]

@face Spotlight has various caches of its own, so it may be holding on to those files for now, but if the metadata is as empty as you've shown in your previous post, Spotlight doesn't know either whether your file is a document, a folder, an app or anything else.

 

If you prefix your search in Alfred with the spacebar, you may find that those Gdocs are showing too as this is the broadest file search method. However, once you create a File Filter that specifies a file type, it won't find them, because the metadata doesn't contain any information to say when you've last opened it, what type it is, etc. 

 

I would LOVE to give you a workaround and we've been bashing our heads against this for 4-5 years at least. If Google could allow the files to be stored locally, indexable like normal macOS files, everything else would be a smooth ride!

[face]

Yes i can understand but the odd is that i'm using Google Drive with File Stream SAVING all the files also in local, so they should be read by Spotlight and also by Alfred, isn't it ?

And the odd is that on all my Mac works only with the new Big Sur no.

🤔