debmundo Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Upgrading to Sonoma has broken Alfred's ability to find all of my apps. I have tried several different suggested techniques to re-index, including the choices within Alfred's preferences (checking search scope, rebuilding macOS Metadata, clear application cache). I have also followed instructions to re-index from the terminal and by deleting the spotlight files in the index. I have gone through the suggestions on this page several times: [Troubleshooting File Indexing Issues - Alfred Help and Support](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/). Spotlight can find the applications that Alfred can not. Please help! Here's an example, Spotlight can find it, Alfred cannot. Starting Diagnostics... File: 'Fantastical.app' Path: '/Applications' ----------------------------------------------------------- Check file cache database... ✅ File cache integrity is ok ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if file is readable... ✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file. Unix Permissions: 493 Underlying Type: NSFileTypeDirectory Extended Attributes: ( "com.apple.appstore.metadata", "com.apple.appstore.store_cohort", "com.apple.appstore.storefront", "com.apple.appstore.vendor_name", "com.apple.macl" ) ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS... ⚠️ Indexing may not be enabled on this drive /: Error: unknown indexing state. ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 /Applications/Fantastical.app: could not find /Applications/Fantastical.app. ----------------------------------------------------------- ❌ Troubleshooting failed Link to comment
Andrew Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 This is a clear case that your Mac's Metadata index is broken. (Spotlight and Alfred both cache, so one or the other partially working isn't an indication of validity). First, make sure there is nothing in Spotlight's privacy: https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/#privacy Then deeply rebuild your macOS metadata index from Alfred's "Rebuild macOS Metadata" button in his Advanced preferences. https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/#rebuild On the sheet which pops up, press the "Delete .Spotlight-V100 Folder" button. You'll be asked for your password, then reboot. It'll take a while after rebooting while your Mac reindexes (can be up to an hour). If you're still having issues after an hour, re-run the diagnostics for anything which could not be previously found. Cheers, Andrew Link to comment
debmundo Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 I am happy to follow these steps. I have, however, already. I believe exactly as described, but certainly worth walking through it again. What I think happened the first time, is after it rebuilt overnight, it worked for a few minutes, and then again, stopped finding apps. Thanks for responding. Link to comment
debmundo Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 @Andrew 1. I checked the spotlight privacy tab, nothing is listed in the locations to skip search 2. I went through the steps to perform a deeper reindex <https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/#v100>](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/#v100) 3. I rebooted 4. I Reloaded Alfred Cache. Alfred is still not finding my applications (Spotlight is).Suggested next steps? Starting Diagnostics... File: 'Fantastical.app' Path: '/Applications' ----------------------------------------------------------- Check file cache database... ✅ File cache integrity is ok ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if file is readable... ✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file. Unix Permissions: 493 Underlying Type: NSFileTypeDirectory Extended Attributes: ( "com.apple.appstore.metadata", "com.apple.appstore.store_cohort", "com.apple.appstore.storefront", "com.apple.appstore.vendor_name", "com.apple.macl" ) ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS... ⚠️ Indexing may not be enabled on this drive /: Error: unknown indexing state. ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 /Applications/Fantastical.app: could not find /Applications/Fantastical.app. ----------------------------------------------------------- ❌ Troubleshooting failed Link to comment
YoungAncient Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 I also have this issue. I also followed the steps above. I tried Spotlight and it finds everything just fine. Link to comment
Stephen_C Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Please read this Alfred help page Troubleshooting File Indexing Issues and carefully follow all of the steps outlined there. If after having done so you still have the same problem please confirm your macOS and Alfred version numbers and copy and paste in a new post the result of Alfred's in-built troubleshooting for a file which you cannot find using Alfred. Stephen Link to comment
YoungAncient Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 I followed the steps for clearing cache and rebooting twice (once yesterday then a moment ago) and after a cursory check, it seems like it started working (though it is still indexing so I am waiting before checking deeper). macOS Sonoma and Alfred 5.1.3 [2175] Link to comment
Andrew Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 The errors and warnings seen in the diagnostics are coming from macOS (and being reported by Alfred). The reindexing shortcut in Alfred fixes this issue in all but the rarest of cases. If, after trying both the reindexing and deleting the .Spotlight-V100 Folder options in Alfred, you're still seeing issues, then there is a deeper rooted issue on your Mac. If you open Terminal and paste the following command: mdutil -s / This will give you the current indexing status of macOS. If nothing has improved since you ran the troubleshooting, you'll likely see the same: /: Error: unknown indexing state. It's surprising that Spotlight is still functioning with this state (as this command and output directly relates to Spotlight's own index) For fixing this, if you search Google for "macOS Error: unknown indexing state", you'll find quite a few different ways people have fixed this (including here on this forum). For completeness, if you use the Rebuild macOS Metadata Index option within Alfred, the following commands are run: mdutil -i off /; sleep 5; mdutil -E -i on / Let me know how you get on, or if you need any further guidance. Link to comment
schmu Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 I installed Sonoma a week ago and have since reindexed 3 times, twice reindexed by adding my internal ssd to privacy and removing, and once via the "Delete .Spotlight-V100 Folder" button. The last time is 3 days ago, so spotlight should have finished. But each morning it takes a restart and half an hour before it works, with the same result "likely not indexed" when checking a file in Alfred. Spotlight initially finds only websites and does not show an indexing bar for half an hour, then it does and takes 30 minutes to finish an index. Then it works and troubleshooting is passed. This seems odd. I do have 1.6 TB and mostly on Dropbox (still in home folder) but the mac was open with backup drives attached as it does every night. I Would appreciate more information about a possible Sonoma bug or a permission s issue with Dropbox or something. Thank you Link to comment
Stephen_C Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 Welcome to the forum. It would probably be helpful to go to Alfred Preferences → Help (at the bottom of the left hand column), Troubleshooting then File Search Troubleshooting. Run that and drop into the appropriate window a file which Alfred cannot find. Afterwards copy and paste the results into a new post in this thread. When you say 7 minutes ago, schmu said: mostly on Dropbox (still in home folder) I'm assuming you mean you've selected the Dropbox option make available offline. Stephen Link to comment
schmu Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 Hi Stephen, thank you, here is one report. I was referring to Dropbox moving all user data to a Library folder in order to conform with Apple File Provider API: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-macos-support#:~:text=Dropbox for macOS on File,changes required by the API. that one has not hit me yet. Thus my files are still in /Users/username/Dropbox/ . What will happen once they are in Library, I have no idea. I might give up Dropbox before it can do this. Yes, I have everything "Make available offline". Starting Diagnostics... File: 'xxx.pdf' Path: '/Users/username/Dropbox/a/b/c/d/e/f' ----------------------------------------------------------- Check file cache database... ✅ File cache integrity is ok ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if file is readable... ✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file. Unix Permissions: 420 Underlying Type: NSFileTypeRegular Extended Attributes: ( "com.apple.lastuseddate#PS", "com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags", "com.apple.metadata:kMDItemFinderComment", "com.apple.provenance", "com.dropbox.attrs", "com.readdle.LastPosition", "com.readdle.pdfexpert.handoff.overriddenFileModificationDate" ) ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS... ⚠️ Indexing may not be enabled on this drive /: Error: unknown indexing state. ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 /Users/username/Dropbox/a/b/c/d/e/f/xxx.pdf: could not find /Users/username/Dropbox/a/b/c/d/e/f/xxx.pdf. ----------------------------------------------------------- ❌ Troubleshooting failed Link to comment
Andrew Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 @schmu from your troubleshooting output, my response above is relevant to you. There is unfortunately an indexing issue in macOS at the top level on your Mac which needs to be resolved before considering issues with Dropbox. As an aside, can I also confirm that you have granted Alfred full disk access? Link to comment
schmu Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 Hi Andrew, yes, Alfred has full disk access: I figured this was the exact issue I have and I have since deleted the index via Alfred about 3 days ago while using the mac almost constantly. At first it worked, spotlight was indexing and files were found once it was done, but now eery morning I find nothing. The mac is open over night and the backup drives attached (2x2TB external SSDs, one CCC, one Time Machine, overnight should be plenty to index these as well if that were the issue). After half an hour or so of progress bar, I get apps, and later also files in Alfred and Spotlight. I think Sonoma has a spotlight issue but I posted in the apple forum and got no response. Not sure why. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255221664 Thanks for responding! Link to comment
schmu Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 ps I did reboot after killing the index. Link to comment
schmu Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 failure report from this morning of a screen shot that has been sitting in Downloads for two days: Starting Diagnostics... File: 'Screenshot 2023-10-23 at 12.31.14 CEST.png' Path: '/Users/pi/Downloads' ----------------------------------------------------------- Check file cache database... ✅ File cache integrity is ok ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if file is readable... ✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file. Unix Permissions: 420 Underlying Type: NSFileTypeRegular Extended Attributes: ( "com.apple.lastuseddate#PS", "com.apple.macl", "com.apple.metadata:kMDItemIsScreenCapture", "com.apple.metadata:kMDItemScreenCaptureGlobalRect", "com.apple.metadata:kMDItemScreenCaptureType" ) ----------------------------------------------------------- Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS... ⚠️ Indexing may not be enabled on this drive /: Error: unknown indexing state. ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 /Users/pi/Downloads/Screenshot 2023-10-23 at 12.31.14 CEST.png: could not find /Users/pi/Downloads/Screenshot 2023-10-23 at 12.31.14 CEST.png. ----------------------------------------------------------- ❌ Troubleshooting failed Alfred and Spotlight find only apps, no progress bar in spotlight: Link to comment
Stephen_C Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 Have you at any time followed the exact instructions in Andrew's post higher up the thread? 17 hours ago, schmu said: I think Sonoma has a spotlight issue I don't think that is correct in general terms. There appears to be a serious issue on your machine but many of us have had no problem with file searches in Alfred (or, indeed, in Spotlight). Stephen Link to comment
schmu Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 yes, I have done all suggestions from all posts, including yours from the troubleshooting page that you linked to before my first post. I got the same issue and error messages. That's why I continued here instead of making a new thread. Here is a list of what I did: - checked that Alfred has Full Disk Access - added the internal ssd to Privacy and removed it and waited for indexing to finish (twice) - booted into Safe Mode and back - pressed Delete .Spotlight-V100 Folder in Alfred Prefs > Advanced > Rebuild macOS Metadata, rebooted and waited for two days (Andrew said it can take an hour) after finishing the new index, Spotlight and Alfred worked initially, but then on and off, not finding anything (except websites for Spotlight) in the morning and finding everything including files later in the day, right now it finds only apps. - checked mdutil -s / in terminal several times which gives the "Error: unknown indexing state" googling "unknown indexing state", I have found problem reports but not solutions that refer to Sonoma. I have found terminal commands for older systems that repaired people's indexing function. I don't want to run terminal commands that were recommended from an older system, though. (I have not received a response at discussions.apple.com.) All of this happened since my Apple certified store had to reload the firmware two weeks ago because the mac would not boot any more. They wiped my drive and gave it back to me on Sonoma. I migrated everything back from a Carbon Copy Cloner backup from the last version of Ventura, everything was fine, and then Alfred did not find my files any more. I could wipe the drive myself once more and not migrate but copy/download/install everything new. I had not done this initially because I have a paper due next week. unsmart. I also don't know what caused the firmware issue in the first place. There is one thread saying that the Ventura 13.6 update did so for many, but my mac didn't fail right after the update. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255162457 . EtreCheck has minor issues and complains about the usual suspects, Cisco Secure Client from my university, Proton VPN, Adobe and Microsoft apps and my logitech presenter, and reports high CPU usage on (backwards chronologically) knowledgeconstructiond, Zotero 6.app, , spotlightknowledged, suggestd, an AuthenticationServicesAgent crash, mdwrite, revisiond, backupd, EtreCheckPro682.app, ZoteroSafariExtension, PDF Expert 2.app , CloneKitService, Scrivener, Excel and installd right after getting my mac back. I hope this is useful info. Thanks a lot Link to comment
Stephen_C Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, schmu said: I migrated everything back from a Carbon Copy Cloner backup It's possible that is the key to your problem (although I'm concerned by the unknown indexing state error). If you search on the forum for migrate and migration you'll find a number of posts referring to problems and possible solutions. Start by looking at this post: you might try what is suggested there as a start and see if it helps—even though it sounds as though there are more fundamental problems with your machine. Stephen Link to comment
schmu Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, Stephen_C said: (although I'm concerned by the unknown indexing state error) [...] even though it sounds as though there are more fundamental problems with your machine. I tried the double reset of search scope in the post above, thank you. Typing f now finds the Finder.app and Force quit some things, but typing z does not find Zotero 6.app, for example. Searching for "migrate" on the forum reveals some posts that definitely make me not use the migration assistant any more for anything, especially not migrating stuff to a new system. I'm more concerned about these more fundamental problems. I think it is smart to wipe the drive by booting into Disk Utility and reinstalling Sonoma, then put everything back by hand from the CCC backup or from Dropbox/ Onedrive/ iCloud/App store without the Migration Assistant. But will that be enough? Or does this unknown indexing status hint at a different problem, maybe hardware after all? I was told at the store that the mac not booting was either a software issue or a broken SSD, and if reloading the firmware didn't help I would have to wait for a new logic board. Then they told me reloading the firmware was enough and said that any program could corrupt the firmware. If I don't force shut down my mac (which I don't, I'm nice to it), this usually doesn't happen, and there is nothing else I could do to avoid firmware corruption. I'm not so sure. I appreciate your advice. Edited October 25, 2023 by schmu clarifying that I don't plan to copy apps by hand but download and install then new from where they came Link to comment
schmu Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 Yesterday before installing Sonoma 14.1 update I deleted the .Spotlicht-V100 folder once more via Alfred and used the reboot from the update. The progress bar in the Spotlight search window took more than 12 hours to finish but now it seems stable. I checked the indexing status from time to time via Terminal mdutil -s / and always got /: Indexing enabled. no more unknown indexing status error. Maybe I'll install from scratch without migrating nevertheless, but for now Alfred and Spotlight work again. thanks much! Link to comment
lars777 Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 Same problem here, already re-indexed, deleted .Spotlight-V100 and restarted etc. Link to comment
schmu Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 (edited) Hi, I had issues of Alfred not finding files and thought I had solved them. They appeared after a move from a Ventura Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) backup to a Sonoma new install form the Apple Store after a boot failure and firmware reload. in this thread with lots of help from Andrew and Stephen_C (thanks!) I thought I had solved the issue of Alfed not finding files and reporting an unknown indexing state error after 1. trashing the .Spotlight-V100 folder and 2. immediately updating to Sonoma 14.1 because this command gave Indexing enabled: mdutil -s / resulted in /: Indexing enabled. However, my mac just shut itself off and restarted (). Afterwards, I did the following: 1. booted into Safe Mode and back 2. checked the indexing status mdutil -s / is still fine, but mdutil -s /Unsers/homefolder/ resulted in /System/Volumes/Data/Users/homefolder: Error: unknown indexing state. so my home folder is not indexed. Spotlight search has an Indexing... blue bar. Alfred finds more files, probably because of the cache. Can this be due to a Migration Assistant error as the "Nov 5 post" from Vero here? (Just to say again, I have done all the steps in the post twice: Once: symptom 1 : Alfred finds no files, folders or apps symptom 2: indexing status via "mdutil -s /" gave "error: unknown indexing state". trashed the .Spotlight-V100 folder from Alfred rebooted waited for indexing to complete (which took a day, not an hour) checked for indexing status via "mdutil -s /" the index was lost again, unknown indexing state in terminal. result 1 : Alfred finds no files, folders or apps result 2: indexing status via "mdutil -s /" gave "error: unknown indexing state". Second time: trashed the .Spotlight-V100 folder from Alfred did not reboot installed Sonoma 14.1 update rebotted with the update waited for indexing to complete (which again took more than a day, not an hour) checked for indexing status via "mdutil -s /" result 1 : Alfred finds everything result 2: indexing status via "mdutil -s /" gave "indexing enabled" Now, the computer restarted itself (sent a crash report to Apple but do not see a crash repoirt in Console) and the index via "mdutil -s /" gives "indexing enabled" but "mdutil -s /Users/homefolder/" gives "unknown indexing state". as here: Or are there any other suspects apart from Migration Assistant? Thank you Edited October 28, 2023 by schmu pressed wrong key Link to comment
vitor Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 23 hours ago, schmu said: Spotlight search has an Indexing... blue bar. That indicates an index is in progress. If you keep nuking it, it has to keep starting over. Please be patient; it is normal that it takes several hours, especially if you have many files. Link to comment
Andrew Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 It's also worth noting that mdutil -s / is only intended to discover the indexing state of volumes, not folders... so you'll always get an unknown indexing state when it's not a volume or mapped volume. Link to comment
schmu Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 ok. the crash yesterday killed the index, other than that I had not touched it since the 14.1 update. thanks for the info! if it crashes once more I'll just clean install. Link to comment
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