Help me understand why Alfred can’t find some files

[alexcr]

I have two exported Zotero libraries in a subfolder of my home folder: A.bib and B.bib. Spotlight can find both of those files. For some reason, searching either through [space], open or find with Alfred only finds A.

 

This happens with all other files at random: two files with the same extension, in the same folder, and Alfred can find one but not the other.

 

Can someone help me figure out what is wrong here?

[deanishe]

11 hours ago, alexcr said:

Can someone help me figure out what is wrong here?

 

It's usually a problem with the metadata index. See the troubleshooting tips.

[alexcr]

Hey thanks a lot for the reply.

 

Ran the troubleshooter on a file Alfred couldn’t find.

 

Strange thing is that it says metadata is missing but Spotlight can find it. It can that be possible?

 

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'Academique.bib'
Path: '/Users/alexandre/'

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

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

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

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

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

Check if volume '/' 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

Display Name: 
 Other Names: 
Content Type: 
   Last Used: 

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

Check mdls file metadata...

❌ macOS metadata missing essential items

kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = (null)
kMDItemFSCreationDate      = (null)
kMDItemFSCreatorCode       = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags       = (null)
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon     = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible         = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = (null)
kMDItemFSIsStationery      = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel             = (null)
kMDItemFSName              = (null)
kMDItemFSNodeCount         = (null)
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID      = (null)
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID       = (null)
kMDItemFSSize              = (null)
kMDItemFSTypeCode          = ""

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

❌ Troubleshooting failed

 

[alexcr]

Quote

This can sometimes be obvious because Spotlight won't show any results either, but in some cases, Spotlight may still be showing old cached data. Rebuilding the index will allow macOS to reindex all files, refreshing the results it provides you.

You should rebuild your Mac's index even if Spotlight appears to be showing the right results.

 

Right I’ll rebuild and update this thread.

[alexcr]

Index rebuilt, Alfred’s cache reloaded: everything now appears to work fine.

 

This is however a bit odd because I had rebuilt Spotlight’s index not too long ago actually.

 

Anyway, thanks for your help @deanishe!