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Big Mac · Dec 21, 2008, 03:28 PM

I have a folder with user manuals for consumer electronics I own. It is located at the following path: ~/My Documents/User Manuals. Not such a big deal right? You'd think Spotlight could find these documents really easily. Wrong. I can search by exact user name in either Spotlight's menu or in the Finder's window search field for any of the user manual files and get emails and web pages somewhat related but not what I want. I can search for the name of the folder, User Manuals, and not get it. Here are the things I've tried:

1. Putting my drive in the privacy pane and then removing it to reindex.
2. Using the mdutil command to do the same thing.
3. Putting the drive in the privacy pane one more time to be doubly sure.
4. Putting my "My Documents" folder in the privacy pane and then removing it

But after every attempt and reindex, I still can't get Spotlight to find the manuals. WTF? A traditional file finder never failed me like this.

turtle777 · Dec 21, 2008, 03:31 PM

That's indeed odd.

I have noticed some "weird" behavior of Spotlight at times, but was never able top track it down.
It just doesn't seem as reliable as one might think it is.

Search and Spotlight is definitely something I'd like to see improved in Snow Leopard.

-t

Big Mac · Dec 21, 2008, 03:51 PM

Macworld said to wait a couple of days for the index to complete because they said that even when Spotlight allows for use the index isn't necessarily complete. Still no go. I'd love to know why.

Chuckit · Dec 21, 2008, 05:06 PM

Is this 10.4 or 10.5?

Big Mac · Dec 21, 2008, 09:25 PM

Leopard 10.5.5. Nothing else out of the normal to report.

Chuckit · Dec 21, 2008, 10:46 PM

Out of curiosity, what happens if you add/remove the Users Manuals folder itself in the Privacy tab? Does it appear to get indexed?

Big Mac · Dec 21, 2008, 11:13 PM

Tried it, and it didn't seem to help. Maybe I need to leave it there for a few minutes and then remove it.

Hal Itosis · Dec 21, 2008, 11:35 PM

Are these manuals in PDF, or some other format?

Big Mac · Dec 22, 2008, 12:02 AM

PDF. But aside from that, Spotlight should find the folder itself.

TETENAL · Dec 22, 2008, 12:36 AM

In Terminal type mdls and a space and drag a file and/or the folder behind. Then press return. What does it say is the metadata?

You can then try mdimport -d2 and a space and drag a file behind to reindex just this file manually. Does that work and what does it say? If it works try that same command with the whole folder.

Big Mac · Dec 22, 2008, 12:40 AM

Thank you for the help. mdls says the following:

Code:
kMDItemContentType         = ""
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2007-12-15 10:26:43 -0800
kMDItemFSCreationDate      = 2007-12-15 10:26:43 -0800
kMDItemFSCreatorCode       = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags       = 1024
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon     = 1
kMDItemFSInvisible         = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery      = 0
kMDItemFSLabel             = 0
kMDItemFSName              = "User Manuals"
kMDItemFSNodeCount         = 7
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID      = 
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID       = 
kMDItemFSSize              = (null)
kMDItemFSTypeCode          = ""

Wow, the second command really did the trick. mdimport spit out a whole bunch of output including lines saying it was fixing incorrect attributes, and now searches work perfectly. Thank you so much. I should have known how to do that. I wonder what was wrong.

TETENAL · Dec 22, 2008, 12:46 AM

It's great to hear your problem is fixed!

Big Mac · Dec 22, 2008, 12:50 AM

TETENAL owns.

Cold Warrior · Dec 22, 2008, 10:01 AM

Damn TETENAL, you just completely pwn3d Spotlight.