The Apple macOS Blog

Spotlight is a handy and powerful search tool built right into every version of macOS. Spotlight helps you quickly and easily find a variety of items on your computer. Unfortunately sometimes it's indexing process can get stuck or consume too much CPU power. In today's article I answer the commonly asked:

What do I do When Spotlight Indexing Is Stuck or Overloading my Mac's CPU?

The most common issues with Spotlight indexing are Spotlight Indexing Stuck and High CPU Usage.

Spotlight Not Indexing or Stuck
Sometimes Spotlight looks to be 'stuck' during indexing. This means it shows no progress for an extended period, or some of your files just aren't showing up in search results.

High CPU Usage
In other cases Spotlight indexing might cause excessive CPU usage leading to your Mac feeling sluggish and generally slowing down. This usually happens after upgrading macOS (instead of a fresh, clean install)

Let's Resolve These Spotlight Indexing Issues!

Now that we understand the 2 most common spotlight issues, let's talk about how to systemaically work through to resolve them.

First, check Spotlight's status and progress

• Open System Preferences → Spotlight → Privacy.
• Here, you can see if specific folders are being excluded from indexing; remove any folder if you'd like to see it;s contents show up in Spotlight results.

Mac's Spotlight Preferences

Now restart Spotlight's indexing

• Open the Terminal from Applications → Utilities and type sudo mdutil -E / then hit enter on your keyboard to reset and restart the Spotlight indexing process.
• You will need to enter your password after hitting enter — this is your Mac's password you use when you turn it on, not Apple ID or iCloud etc.

Monitor Spotlight CPU Usage

• Open Activity Monitor (use Finder to open Applications → Utilities → Activity Monitor.app) to check if CPU usage decreases after resetting Spotlight.

Activity Monitor with Spotlight highlighted

Exclude Specific Folders

To prevent future overloads, think about excluding folders with large files or files that very frequently change. You do this by clicking Spotlight Privacy in Spotlight Preferences.

Avoiding Issues in Future

A good rule of thumb to prevent any future issues is to:

• Regularly update macOS to ensure you always have the latest fixes and enhancements to Spotlight and all other built-in tools.
• Keep an eye on the folders included in Spotlight's indexing.

Spotlight is a handy part of macOS but occasional indexing issues can be a nuisance. Today I've shown you how to resolve them, but in general keeping your Mac tidy and uncluttered is the best way to avoid problems. Consider easy=to-use maintainance tools like iBoostUp to keep your Mac happy and running good as new no matter what files you throw at it!

❤️ Maria