Can't get basic find to work

[melhopkop]

Hi there! I've used Alfred for about 10 years. 

 

It used to work seamlessly for me. At some point, either a transfer to a new computer or an OS update or something, I stopped being able to find folders that I was looking for. 

 

I'm now taking the time to try to get this working smoothly again. I've just updated to Sonoma and I have the most up to date version of Alfred. I've gone to "Default Results" and made sure that folders are included and that Dropbox (where most of my files are) is included in the search scope. 

 

I've looked at your support pages and the Troubleshooting sequence doesn't seem to be located under help anymore. 

 

But I need to get this working again. Let me know what information you need from me to troubleshoot so that I can easily use Alfred to find folders and files again. Thank you!

[melhopkop]

Sorry, I have found the Help -> Troubleshooting.

 

The folder I'm looking for passes troubleshooting but does not show up in the results when I search for it using find. Thank you!

[Vero]

@melhopkop Could you please share the troubleshooting output for at least two files you're having issues with?

[melhopkop]

Happy to do so! But let me clarify, the bulk of the issue seems to be that Alfred isn't returning folders even though I have that option checked. 

[melhopkop]

Here's the output for the first folder:

 

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'Accounting'
Path: '/Users/mel/Dropbox/Clinical/Harbor Integrative Health'

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

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.dropbox.attrs"
)

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

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

✅ Indexing is enabled on this drive

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

Check direct file metadata...

✅ Direct metadata available

Display Name: Accounting
 Other Names: 
Content Type: public.folder
   Last Used: 

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

Check mdls file metadata...

✅ Metadata contains required items

_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions  = "Accounting"
kMDItemContentCreationDate         = 2023-05-24 21:38:43 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2023-05-24 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate     = 2023-05-24 21:38:43 +0000
kMDItemContentType                 = "public.folder"
kMDItemContentTypeTree             = (
    "public.folder",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item"
)
kMDItemDateAdded                   = 2023-05-24 21:38:43 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName                 = "Accounting"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier          = 0
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate         = 2023-05-24 21:38:43 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate              = 2023-05-24 21:38:43 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode               = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags               = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon             = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible                 = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden         = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery              = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                     = 0
kMDItemFSName                      = "Accounting"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                 = 4
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID              = 20
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID               = 501
kMDItemFSSize                      = (null)
kMDItemFSTypeCode                  = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking     = 2023-05-24 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKind                        = "Folder"

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

Check file is in search scope...

✅ File exists within Alfred's default search scope

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

Check MDQuery file search...

✅ macOS returned a match for this file in your search scope.

File Search Results for search scope (
    "[0] /System/Volumes/Data/Users/mel/Dropbox/Clinical/Harbor Integrative Health/Accounting"
)

File Search Results for ~/ (
)

File Search Results for / (
    "[0] /System/Volumes/Data/Users/mel/Dropbox/Clinical/Harbor Integrative Health/Accounting"
)

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

✅ Troubleshooting passed
 

[Stephen_C]

Have you ensured your Dropbox files and folders are available offline?

 

Stephen

Edited December 7, 2023 by Stephen_C

[melhopkop]

3 hours ago, Stephen_C said:

Have you ensured your Dropbox files and folders are available offline?

 

Stephen

I'm not sure that's the problem. The files inside of the folders are showing up but the folders themselves are not.

[Vero]

 

18 hours ago, melhopkop said:

I'm not sure that's the problem.

 

@melhopkop It may be relevant, so could you check whether your Dropbox content is set to be available offline?

 

Next, could you please prefix your search with the spacebar and let me know if you're finding the folders? The spacebar (equivalent to the "open" keyword) broadens the search so that Alfred searches a broader range of file types, which should include the folders even if for some reason they're not being recognised correctly as folders.

 

Let us know how you get on

[melhopkop]

Ok, the Dropbox content is available offline (I've tried both settings and it didn't make a difference). 

 

I've tried with the spacebar and this is not finding the folders.

 

Thank you!

[Vero]

@melhopkop Could you confirm whether the files are found when searching using Spotlight? By this I mean Spotlight's search bar you can pop up in the middle of your screen, not the corner of the Finder window (which uses a slower, deeper search and won't provide insight into this issue)

[melhopkop]

Hi @Vero! Yes, the folders are found by doing a Spotlight search.

[Vero]

@melhopkop Are you able to find about non-Dropbox files via Alfred's spacebar search? And what about Spotlight? I'm a bit stumped at this point, as this feels like an unusual issue given your Troubleshooter output.

 

Could you also create a new folder at the top level in Dropbox and see whether this brand new folder is found?

 

Is there any non-standard configuration or upgrade on your Mac that might help us work out what's happening on your Mac?

[melhopkop]

It doesn't seem to be a file issue. 

 

It's actually a particular folder - Alfred is finding other folders in Dropbox and it's finding folders and files within the folder I'm looking for. But it's not finding this folder (that I use a lot) - there are no special permissions and I'm not aware of any different settings. 

There are no "non standard configurations" here that I'm aware of. 

[Andrew]

@melhopkop Can I confirm that Alfred has Full Disk Access in the macOS Permissions? (shortcut to get to this from Alfred's Preferences > General > Request Permissions > Open macOS Full Disk Access preferences). If Alfred 5 is already listed here, try quitting Alfred, removing (not disabling) Alfred 5 from full disk permissions, then re-adding him back again, then restarting Alfred.

 

If search is still not working in this specific folder, this will be a straight up macOS indexing issue (corruption?) manifesting itself within Alfred. There are fixes for this...

 

1. Try renaming the folder to something else, waiting 30 seconds, searching for the new name. If it's found rename it back again. Likewise, try renaming a file or folder within this folder, wait 30 seconds, and see if it's found.

 

2. A more nuclear option (backup first) is remove this folder from Dropbox by moving it to your home folder. Wait a minute or two, and then copy it back in. If it's a large folder, give it plenty of time to sync back to Dropbox.

 

3. If these two fail, then reindexing your mac by following the guide here will help: https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/indexing/

 

Cheers,

Andrew