Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac

If you get unexpected results when searching your Mac, rebuilding the Spotlight index might help.

Before rebuilding the Spotlight index

• Follow the steps for when Spotlight returns unexpected results.

• Learn what to do if you can't find email messages in Mail.

Rebuild the Spotlight index

To rebuild the Spotlight index for a disk or folder, turn Spotlight indexing off and back on for that item, based on the version of macOS that you're using:

macOS Ventura 13 or later

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Settings.

2. In the sidebar, click Spotlight (or Siri & Spotlight).

3. Scroll down on the right and click the Search Privacy (or Spotlight Privacy) button.

4. Drag the disk (such as Macintosh HD) or folder that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the disk or folder to add.*

   

5. Wait a few seconds. From the same list of locations, select the disk or folder that you just added, then click the remove button (–) to remove it from the list so that it can be reindexed.

6. Click Done, then quit System Settings. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed.

Earlier versions of macOS

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.

2. Click the Privacy tab.

3. Drag the disk or folder that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the disk or folder to add.*

   

4. Wait a few seconds. From the same list of locations, select the disk or folder that you just added, then click the remove button (–) to remove it from the list so that it can be reindexed.

5. Quit System Preferences. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed.