Spotlight indexing issues in Ventura 13.6.1

[howdytom]

Hi there,

 

I have noticed a strange behaviour, which occurs frequently since Alfred version 5.1.2 or 5.1.3 on macOS Ventura 13.6.1. When I turn on my Mac Spotlight does not find any files and folders on my Data partition. Spotlight shows files on the System partition, only. When I reboot the Mac Spotlight and Alfred immediately is working again. I did not change any settings! Somehow Spotlight is not triggered for non-system partitions. I tried to re-add the partition to the Search Scope and I also did a full macOS Metadata reindex multiple times to no avail. 

 

Is this known macOS Ventura or Alfred issue?

Edited November 14 by howdytom

[manusz]

I had a similar issue with Spotlight.

 

After a week of trial and error troubleshooting it turned out that the issue did not occur when I logged in on my Mac account with the password. It seems that the fingerprint log-in causes some hiccup.

 

I still don't know the root cause of this, but not using the fingerprint sensor (nor Apple Watch if you have one) may be a workaround in your case too.

 

Mind you, Alfred uses the Spotlight index, so if Alfred produces correct results the Spotlight index is OK.

What remains is that the Spotlight search engine starts producing incomplete results.

Edited November 15 by manusz

[howdytom]

Thank you for your reply. Indeed, I am using a security key to sign in. I will do some more testing.

[manusz]

Good luck and keep us posted please.

I am highly interested in a real solution for this issue.

[howdytom]

Temporarily I unplugged the security key however the Spotlight Index issue still occurs randomly. I do not think it is related to Apple Watch or fingerprint sensor to sign in. It looks like a Ventura Bug in 13.6.1. 

[manusz]

That is too bad.....

It seems that you have been bitten by different bug than the one that got me.

if I find a solution I will let you know.

 

 

 

 

[howdytom]

Thanks. So far I haven't found a way to reproduce the issue. It is always happening when I am busy. Than I have to browse through the Finder window, which is very annoying.

[manusz]

Are you saying that, when Spotlight looses track, Alfred can not find what you are searching for?

[howdytom]

Just now, manusz said:

Are you saying that, when Spotlight looses track, Alfred can not find what you are searching for?

Exactly

[manusz]

That is not what I am seeing here, so definitely a different bug.

 

All I can suggest is to rebuild the Spotlight index.

If you have not do so already, Alfred offers the tools to do that under the Preferences - Advanced.

 

[howdytom]

Today, when I turned on my Mac Spotlight does not find any files and folders on my Data partition. When I reboot the Mac Spotlight and Alfred immediately is working again. What else can I do? I really appreciate any assistance.

 

• I followed along the Troubleshooting File Indexing Issues page.
• The Search Scope is set correctly
• I have performed a deeper reindex multiple times to no avail: Reindex macOS Metadata Index and Deleting the .Spotlight-V100 Folder
• Alfred diagnose still shows macOS metadata missing essential items. Spotlight randomly does not find any files on my Data partition . After rebooting a second time, all files show up just fine. 

 

 

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'Data'
Path: '/Volumes'

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

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

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

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

Unix Permissions: 509
Underlying Type: NSFileTypeDirectory
Extended Attributes: (
    "purgeable-drecs-fixed"
)

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

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

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

❌ Troubleshooting failed
 

Edited Tuesday at 12:54 PM by howdytom
spelling

[howdytom]

Anyone? Today it happened again.

[Vero]

@howdytom Could you please try dragging in an individual file from the volume in question? E.g. a document, PDF, image rather than the volume itself? This should provide some more insight.

 

Have you contacted Apple for support with this as your issue is a Spotlight issue at its core? If you do, I would recommend focusing your issue specifically on finding results in Spotlight without mentioning Alfred or other third-party tools you're using, as this may sidetrack the discussion away from getting the help you need.

 

Let us know how you get on  

[howdytom]

@Vero Thank for your reply. I have attached a diagnostic report before and after restart. It looks like somehow Indexing is randomly disabled on first startup?

 

Got it. so far I have not contacted Apple.

 

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'IMG_2932.JPG'
Path: '/Volumes/Data/Downloads'

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

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

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

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

Unix Permissions: 384
Underlying Type: NSFileTypeRegular
Extended Attributes: (
    "com.apple.lastuseddate#PS"
)

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

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

⚠️ Indexing may not be enabled on this drive

/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes/Data:
    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

/Volumes/Data/Downloads/IMG_2932.JPG: could not find /Volumes/Data/Downloads/IMG_2932.JPG.

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

❌ Troubleshooting failed

 

 

**After rebooting a second time, all files show up just fine. **

 

 

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'IMG_2932.JPG'
Path: '/Volumes/Data/Downloads'

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

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

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

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

Unix Permissions: 384
Underlying Type: NSFileTypeRegular
Extended Attributes: (
    "com.apple.lastuseddate#PS"
)

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

Check if volume '/Volumes/Data/' 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
 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 01:02 PM by howdytom