Koen_73 Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) When I search for files and folders using a [space] first, I do get search results from my folder 'Mijn bibliotheek' But, when I use my Simple Folder Search workflow [f][space] ... , no results are returned... I have had results from this workflow, but for unclear reasons as described here now they are not. See screenshots. Any help is appreciated. Edited January 6, 2022 by Koen_73 Link to comment
Vero Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 @Koen_73 Could you drag one of the folders within the relevant search scope to the File Troubleshooting tool? Is the metadata complete? Next, try removing the folder file type so that only the search scope is set in your workflow. The "open" keyword (and spacebar) opens up the search to most file types, so if it's found then but not in your workflow while looking at the same scope, could it be that folders aren't correctly being recognised as folders by macOS? You mentioned in the other thread that sometimes results are found and sometimes not (which I assume you meant while using the same keyword and/or workflows). Is this still happening on your Mac? If so, there's something very strange happening to your underlying metadata, and Alfred is just the app showing you it's happening. Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) @Vero I've dragged one of the folders from 'Mijn bibliotheek' to the File Troubleshooting tool. See results below: Starting Diagnostics... File: 'David Allen - GTD Managing Projects (audio)' Path: '/Users/koenbunders/Mijn bibliotheek' ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 available Display Name: David Allen - GTD Managing Projects (audio) Other Names: Content Type: public.folder Last Used: ----------------------------------------------------------- Check mdls file metadata... ✅ Metadata contains required items _kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions = "David Allen - GTD Managing Projects (audio)" kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2014-08-24 16:07:46 +0000 kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2014-08-24 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2021-12-05 14:10:06 +0000 kMDItemContentModificationDate_Ranking = 2021-12-05 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemContentType = "public.folder" kMDItemContentTypeTree = ( "public.folder", "public.directory", "public.item" ) kMDItemDateAdded = 2021-12-28 15:24:56 +0000 kMDItemDateAdded_Ranking = 2021-12-28 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemDisplayName = "David Allen - GTD Managing Projects (audio)" kMDItemDocumentIdentifier = 0 kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2021-12-05 14:10:06 +0000 kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2014-08-24 16:07:46 +0000 kMDItemFSCreatorCode = "" kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0 kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = 0 kMDItemFSInvisible = 0 kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0 kMDItemFSIsStationery = 0 kMDItemFSLabel = 0 kMDItemFSName = "David Allen - GTD Managing Projects (audio)" kMDItemFSNodeCount = 13 kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 20 kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501 kMDItemFSSize = 13 kMDItemFSTypeCode = "" kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking = 2021-12-05 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemKind = "Folder" ----------------------------------------------------------- Check file is in search scope... ✅ File exists within Alfred's default search scope ----------------------------------------------------------- ✅ Troubleshooting passed You also mentioned: Quote Next, try removing the folder file type so that only the search scope is set in your workflow. The "open" keyword (and spacebar) opens up the search to most file types, so if it's found then but not in your workflow while looking at the same scope, could it be that folders aren't correctly being recognised as folders by macOS? I'm not sure what you mean. Could you mention the steps that I should follow to 'try removing the folder file type so that only the search scope is set in your workflow'? @Vero? Quote You mentioned in the other thread that sometimes results are found and sometimes not (which I assume you meant while using the same keyword and/or workflows). Is this still happening on your Mac? If so, there's something very strange happening to your underlying metadata, and Alfred is just the app showing you it's happening. Yes, this is still happening. I think it has to do with mounting / unmounting external drives, but I haven't been able to reproduce yet. Edited January 6, 2022 by Koen_73 Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 Hoping to get a response to: Quote I'm not sure what you mean. Could you mention the steps that I should follow to 'try removing the folder file type so that only the search scope is set in your workflow'? @Vero? And regarding the above and what @Vero mentioned below... Quote You mentioned in the other thread that sometimes results are found and sometimes not (which I assume you meant while using the same keyword and/or workflows). Is this still happening on your Mac? If so, there's something very strange happening to your underlying metadata, and Alfred is just the app showing you it's happening. ... I'd like to point out that Spotlight is finding these folders (and files)! So it must be Alfred, I guess? Link to comment
Vero Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 1 hour ago, Koen_73 said: ... I'd like to point out that Spotlight is finding these folders (and files)! So it must be Alfred, I guess? No, this issue will be caused by using the Migration Assistant, which you confirmed in the previous thread you used to transfer your setup from your previous Mac. Even though not all files were copied from another Mac, the underlying file system structure likely assumes that your user directory setup is identical to the previous Mac when it isn't. This is where the bug in macOS Monterey lies, and all we can do is offer workarounds to the issue caused by Apple. Have you tried following Andrew's suggestion here? Again, it's only a workaround, and the real resolution can only come through either 1. a reinstall of your Mac, or 2. Apple fixing the issue with Migration Assistant retrospectively for users who've already used it. Cheers, Vero Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 (edited) Thanks @Vero. I thought I already completely reinstalled my Mac after I learned the Migration Assistent caused these issues. These are the steps I took: 1. Open System Preferences 2. Erase All Content And Settings (from the menu) When the problem kept occurring, I reinstalled MacOS via these steps: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 Did I do something wrong? Please help. Quote Have you tried following Andrew's suggestion here? Yes, I have. No solution. Edited January 7, 2022 by Koen_73 Link to comment
Vero Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 @Koen_73 Could you provide more information as to the current state of your Mac? Did you do a full, fresh reinstall of your Mac from scratch? Or did you reinstall on top of the existing OS? Did you migrate any settings from a previous Mac or Time Machine after that? Can Spotlight and Alfred find files? Please provide specific examples including the output from the File Troubleshooter, and let us know exactly what you're typing into Alfred (including any prefixes like the "open" keyword) You said in the past that results appeared and disappeared when using the same keyword. Is this still happening? We can do our best to help you work out the underlying issues in your Mac's index, but keep in mind that these indexing issues are outside of Alfred so I can only guess what's happening in macOS with your specific install. Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted February 5, 2022 Author Share Posted February 5, 2022 (edited) Hi @Vero, sorry for the late reply. Quote Did you do a full, fresh reinstall of your Mac from scratch? Or did you reinstall on top of the existing OS? I opened 'System Preferences' and selected the menu option 'Erase all Content and Settings' Did you migrate any settings from a previous Mac or Time Machine after that? No. Quote Can Spotlight and Alfred find files? Please provide specific examples including the output from the File Troubleshooter, and let us know exactly what you're typing into Alfred (including any prefixes like the "open" keyword) At this moment both Spotlight and Alfred can find files and folders when I use the "open" keyword. But when I use the Simple Folder Search Workflow "f" space ... it is not finding the folders that I would expect (folders that do show up when I use the "open" keyword). Quote You said in the past that results appeared and disappeared when using the same keyword. Is this still happening? It is still happening every now and then. PS. It is interesting... I was experimenting with File Search Raycast. In Raycast you can toggle between search results on 'This Mac' or 'User (me)'. For some reason Raycast is also not finding the folders that I was expecting to find with Afred's Simple Folder Search in the 'User (me)' results, but it does find these when I toggle to 'This Mac'. Apparently, my files are still messed up... Edited February 5, 2022 by Koen_73 Added the PS. Link to comment
Vero Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 @Koen_73 Could you please go to Alfred's Features > Default Results, and follow the instructions in step 2 here to widen your search scope? https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/monterey Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 Hi @Vero that was something I already did. Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 Hi @Vero, so I've waited now for almost 3 months... still no update, fix or news on this issue? Would love to hear from you. Best, Koen Link to comment
Vero Posted May 4, 2022 Share Posted May 4, 2022 @Koen_73 Given your earlier PS addendum saying that your files were messed up, I assumed you were taking the necessary steps to investigate further what's happening on your Mac, given your very minimal response. Could you please provide your Diagnostics file, which you can get by typing "?diagnostics" into Alfred. You can then email it to our info@ address, and I'll take a look. Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted May 5, 2022 Author Share Posted May 5, 2022 Here is just another example: I have a folder called 'David Allen - Ready for Anything; 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (audiobook, ebook)' When looking at it via the troubleshooter, I get: Starting Diagnostics... File: 'David Allen - Ready for Anything; 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (audiobook, ebook)' Path: '/Users/koenbunders/Mijn bibliotheek' ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 available Display Name: David Allen - Ready for Anything; 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (audiobook, ebook) Other Names: Content Type: public.folder Last Used: ----------------------------------------------------------- Check mdls file metadata... ✅ Metadata contains required items _kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions = "David Allen - Ready for Anything; 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (audiobook, ebook)" kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2013-07-30 19:54:10 +0000 kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2013-07-30 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2021-12-10 12:06:33 +0000 kMDItemContentModificationDate_Ranking = 2021-12-10 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemContentType = "public.folder" kMDItemContentTypeTree = ( "public.folder", "public.directory", "public.item" ) kMDItemDateAdded = 2021-12-28 15:24:56 +0000 kMDItemDateAdded_Ranking = 2021-12-28 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemDisplayName = "David Allen - Ready for Anything; 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (audiobook, ebook)" kMDItemDocumentIdentifier = 0 kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2021-12-10 12:06:33 +0000 kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2013-07-30 19:54:10 +0000 kMDItemFSCreatorCode = "" kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0 kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = (null) kMDItemFSInvisible = 0 kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0 kMDItemFSIsStationery = (null) kMDItemFSLabel = 0 kMDItemFSName = "David Allen - Ready for Anything; 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (audiobook, ebook)" kMDItemFSNodeCount = 43 kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 20 kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501 kMDItemFSSize = (null) kMDItemFSTypeCode = "" kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking = 2021-12-10 00:00:00 +0000 kMDItemKind = "Folder" ----------------------------------------------------------- Check file is in search scope... ✅ File exists within Alfred's default search scope ----------------------------------------------------------- ✅ Troubleshooting passed When I do a simple folder search 'f ready for anything', I am not getting any results: When I do a file search via 'SPACE ready for anything' Alfred does find it: Isn't that weird? When I do a file search with Raycast I see this (maybe that helps): the folder is not found this user, but it is found on this mac: Spotlight has no trouble finding it: Link to comment
Vero Posted May 5, 2022 Share Posted May 5, 2022 @Koen_73 What you're describing perfectly matches the issue here: https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/monterey/ As per my reply from 7th January, your issue is related to the Migration Assistant bug in macOS, where macOS isn't correctly reporting your Home folder to Alfred and other apps. As such, when no scope is specified (e.g. search the whole Mac), the file is found, but as soon as your home folder IS specified, Apple's metadata index doesn't return any results. Spotlight returns the results because it doesn't specify a search scope and returns results from your whole Mac, regardless of location. For the vast majority of users who've encountered this since Monterey was released, setting the search scope to / in Default Results is sufficient, but in your case, there seems to be a deeper underlying corruption or inaccuracy in what macOS believes to be your home folder. At this point, you could try creating a new user account temporarily and see what behaviour you get on that profile; Creating a new user account with no historical data transferred from another Mac may be sufficient to work around that Migration Assistant bug. Cheers, Vero Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted May 5, 2022 Author Share Posted May 5, 2022 Thanks. I've tested with a new user account, but sadly without any success. What a mess. 😢 Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted May 5, 2022 Author Share Posted May 5, 2022 So why is Alfred finding it via 'SPACE ready for anything' but not 'f ready for anything'? Link to comment
Vero Posted May 5, 2022 Share Posted May 5, 2022 17 minutes ago, Koen_73 said: So why is Alfred finding it via 'SPACE ready for anything' but not 'f ready for anything'? Using the space prefix searches the entirety of your Mac's search scope (bypassing the home folder bug) while the "f" folder search requires that macOS understands you're searching within your home folder. Apologies for repeating myself but this is a bug in Apple's software in establishing your home folder correctly after moving from one Mac to another. Until that underlying issue is resolved, you'll keep seeing these issues in any app that relies on data being provided by macOS. In your case, reinstalling from fresh and ensuring you do not then use the Migration Assistant to transfer your data to the freshly installed Mac may be the only way to get past it. Link to comment
nasdaren Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 I have the same problem. Can you help me。 Link to comment
nasdaren Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 I also migrated from another Mac. Link to comment
Vero Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 4 hours ago, nasdaren said: I also migrated from another Mac. Could you please follow the same instructions I provided above, in that case? Widen your search scope to work around the Monterey Migration Assistant bug, as per the guide here: https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/monterey/ Cheers, Vero Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted May 16, 2022 Author Share Posted May 16, 2022 (edited) On 5/5/2022 at 12:50 PM, Vero said: In your case, reinstalling from fresh and ensuring you do not then use the Migration Assistant to transfer your data to the freshly installed Mac may be the only way to get past it. I asked this before, hope to find an answer. What is the proper way to 'reinstall from fresh'? I tried this before and that didn't help. Maybe I didn't use the correct method. Here is what I did to reinstall from fresh: - Created a backup of data on external disk - Open System Preferences - Open System Preferences menu - Select 'Erase All Content and Settings' - Copy back my data from the external disk - Reinstall Alfred - Set up Simple Folder search - Test again As mentioned, this didn't resolve the issue. Should I try something else? Edited May 16, 2022 by Koen_73 Link to comment
Myra Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Hi. I found this thread when searching this exact problem. ...I didn't want to run through all this but I DID rebuild my spotlight index. (e.g. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716) That solved the problem. So I recommend trying that Link to comment
Koen_73 Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 Thanks @Myra, I did the same thing, then it works for a while and after a while spontaneously not anymore. https://www.loom.com/share/d6dc1c59caec443695e49b82be63bb3b At this moment I do find files, but some folders I don't other folders I do. See Loom recording. Link to comment
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