Spotlight not indexing/searching text WITHIN.ppt or .pptx in tiger

[tkjazzer]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

Hello,

Spotlight is not indexing / searching text within .ppt and .pptx files (and it never has for me).

My PDFs index great and I can quickly find which lecture handout had the word "methanol" in it, but I can't quickly find the .ppt and .pptx files that had powerpoint in it.

I read on macrumors.com that indexing works for some people. Why isn't mine working? What can I do to fix it?

 

[tkjazzer]

for me, spotlight will show a .ppt file ONLY if the searched word is in the filename.

tkjazzer

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Spotlight is not indexing / searching text within .ppt and .pptx files
(and it never has for me).

The mdimporter is actually provided through Apple by system updates.
It was working fine for me for ppt files, but wasn't up to date enough
to support pptx files.
Since I now run Tiger, I have no idea as to whether or not it has been
updated for Office 2008 files for Tiger as well.
What version is the file in /Library/Spotlight???

If the ppt files are not properly indexed, then you probably have a
Spotlight issue on your Mac. You might need to trigger a full
re-indexing of the drive (you can do it through the command line, but
I'm sure you can also find a feew freeware utiilties to do it for you on
Google or VersionTracker),


Corentin

 

[tkjazzer]

So, I put my HD and various other folders into the spotlight preferences, privacy not to index... then removed it to trigger indexing.

I then restarted and noticed spotlight was indexing.

However, the indexing finished quite quickly.

I noticed that my main folder was not indexed.

I checked the activity monitor for mdimport and it seems to have on and off activity with the .ppt files in that folder.

However, the files in that folder that are slowly coming online are only indexed by their filename - the text within the powerpoint slides is not.

for example, the first slide has the professor's first name, anthony... where no filename has his first name... and the file does not appear. the same file has the professors last name in the filename and when you type that... the file appears.

so it appears that spotlight didn't get everything when it first indexed after restart and has been slowly working in the background since.

I don't know why it just didn't get the index when it said it was goign to take 2 hours... (although it went much too fast for 2 hours)

I still can't figure out why the text inside the .ppt files is not indexed.

Do I have to open each individual .ppt so that OS Tiger 10.4.11 knows what the text is in each powerpoint?

I thank you in advance for any insight or tips or tricks,

 

[tkjazzer]

So it appears it is going to take days for mdimporter to stop working and finish indexing.

It is going at snail speed in the background, but it appears like the not indexing inside .ppt is still going to be a problem.

I have another random question about spotlight.

Before a folder shows up, does every file in the folder have to be indexed?

The one folder that it is indexing that will probably take days to finish... files inside the folder are now showing up but when I type the Name of the folder in to spotlight, it does not show up... odd.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

So it appears it is going to take days for mdimporter to stop working
and finish indexing.

It is going at snail speed in the background, but it appears like the
not indexing inside .ppt is still going to be a problem.

There are ways through the command line to froce-reindex a file or
folder and to visualize the Spotlight index for that file, but I would
like to stay away from these rather tedious methods.

Use VersionTracker to find Spotlight-related Utilities. I know some of
them ca help you check what actually gets indexed for a specific file.

Reindexing could take over nights, but several days seems a little
excessive.

I have another random question about spotlight.

Before a folder shows up, does every file in the folder have to be
indexed?

Nope. A folder only shows up for "name" based searches though.

The one folder that it is indexing that will probably take days to
finish... files inside the folder are now showing up but when I type the
Name of the folder in to spotlight, it does not show up... odd.

It would tell me that there is something screwy with Spotlight on your
Mac. Something is holding things up.
If I were you, I'd look in /Library/Spotlight and ~/Library/Spotlight to
make sure there is nothing there that could conflict (eg: 2 diffeernt
versions of the same mdimporter.
You can also check in Console.app if there is any trace of error with
Spotlight.

make sure you update everything that can be updated on your Mac (Old
versions of Stuffit for instance had awful mdimporters that were messing
up more or less everything.

Check the Spotlight preferences and uncheck everything that doesn't need
to be indexed.

Then you can consider disabling Spotlight and re-enabling it.

Finally you can play around in the Terminal with the mdutil
(enable-disable spotlight, force-reindex an entire drive...) and
mdimport (to force reindex files, check spotlight index for
files...)....
try
man mdimport
and
man mdutil

first to learn more about these commands,

Corentin

 

[tkjazzer]

just checked today and now that folder is showing up... giving it time worked for that...

but the rest of my stuff is screwy within the powerpoint files.

I will try to work through your suggestions one at a time. Thank you

 

[tkjazzer]

my microsoft office mdimporter icon does not have the "office O symbol" on it. Is that a problem?

 

[tkjazzer]

would deleting the mdimporter do anything? would Tiger then fix it and reinstall another?

I've also tried clearing my caches with the app MainMenu but that did not work.

I'm resisting learning terminal but will do if i have to... (haven't tried terminal solutions yet)

It is odd to me that it is only the powerpoint files that do it. word documents, pdfs work... just not ppt

 

[tkjazzer]

doubt i will be able to go through each app and update it. I just have too many. Unless there is an easier way of figuring out which apps are out of date.

 

[tkjazzer]

OK i keep catching mdimporter doing something in the activity monitor. Can anyone tell me what it is doing? I appears to be working with various .ppt files in the main .ppt folder. Could this be something?

/
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdimport
/System/Library/CoreServices/CharacterSets/CFUnicodeData-L.mapping
/System/Library/CoreServices/CharacterSets/CFCharacterSetBitmaps.bitmap
/System/Library/CoreServices/CharacterSets/CFUniCharPropertyDatabase.data
/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Office.mdimporter/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Office
/Library/Caches/com.apple.IntlDataCache.le.sbdl.501
/Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices-014501.csstore
/usr/share/icu/icudt32l.dat
/usr/lib/dyld
/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreText.framework/Versions/A/CoreText
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ATS.framework/Versions/A/ATS
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/CoreGraphics
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation
/usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib
/usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib
/usr/lib/libstdc++.6.0.4.dylib
/usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib
/usr/lib/libauto.dylib
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CarbonCore.framework/Versions/A/CarbonCore
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Metadata
/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
/System/Library/Frameworks/DiskArbitration.framework/Versions/A/DiskArbitration
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ColorSync.framework/Versions/A/ColorSync
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIServices.framework/Versions/A/HIServices
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/LaunchServices
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libJP2.dylib
/usr/lib/libxml2.2.dylib
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/DesktopServicesPriv
/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation
/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/SecurityHI.framework/Versions/A/SecurityHI
/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/OpenScripting.framework/Versions/A/OpenScripting
/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/HIToolbox
/dev/null
/dev/null
count=0, state=0x2
/tmp/com.apple.csseed.61
apple.shm.notification_center
/Library/Spotlight
/System/Library/Spotlight
/Users/****USERNAME****/Desktop/***FOLDER NAME***/***SUB FOLDER NAME****/.DS_Store
count=0, state=0x2
/Users/****USERNAME****/Desktop/***FOLDER NAME***/***SUB FOLDER NAME****/XXXXX(filename).ppt
/Users/****USERNAME****/Desktop/***FOLDER NAME***/***SUB FOLDER NAME****/XXXXX(filename).ppt.ppt

both files above (XXXXX) were the same files.

 

[tkjazzer]

Can this issue be solved by the Mac Geniuses at the Mac Stores? Do they charge?

I think my computer has the 3 year apple care but I don't really know what that entitles me to.

Thank you

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

OK i keep catching mdimporter doing something in the activity monitor.
Can anyone tell me what it is doing? I appears to be working with
various .ppt files in the main .ppt folder. Could this be something?

The log here doesn't tell me anything,
It looks like the only way to find out more is to use the command line
tools I previously mentioned. As I am away from home now, I can't really
give you more details about them though but using the "man" command
should provide you with plenty of details.

I don;t remember by heart how to use mdimport and mdutil, but the idea
would be to:
1) check the list of mdimporter actually recognized by the system
2) use the command on a file to see what has been indexed for it
3) force-reindex a file or folder to see if it corrects the problem for
the file or folder
4) force-reindex everything if 3 worked. It will run for some time....


Corentin


Out of memory, try:

mdimport -L
This should list the mdimporter recognized on your system

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Can this issue be solved by the Mac Geniuses at the Mac Stores? Do the
charge?

They woudl probably charge, and I don;t know whether they would do that
sort of thing for you,

Corentin

 

[tkjazzer]

<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=5302986&posted=1#post5302986>

I've done the terminal command for number 1 which is mdimport -L

I am now trying to find the command for step 2:
"2) use the command on a file to see what has been indexed for it"

thank you so much for your help so far. I really appreciate everything. I can't wait until my spotlight actually works properly.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Sorry, but I've been away for a few days.

<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=5302986&posted=1#post53029
86>

I've done the terminal command for number 1 which is mdimport -L

What did you get?? Do you see the proper Office mdimporter listed in the
output?? This command lists all recognize mdimporters.

I am now trying to find the command for step 2: "2) use the command on a
file to see what has been indexed for it"

lets' start over:

1) check the list of mdimporter actually recognized by the system

mdimport -L
You did this one already and from what I can see form the thread you
cited, it is recognized

2) use the command on a file to see what has been indexed for it

mdls <drag your file here>
This command should list basic information known about a file. Dragging
an Office document here should list a binch of properties. Do you get
anything??

If you want to see what words are actually indexed for a specific file,
you have to use this command instead:
mdimport -n -d2 <drag your file here>


3) force-reindex a file or folder to see if it corrects the problem for
the file or folder


mdimport <drag a file or folder here>

4) force-reindex everything if 3 worked. It will run for some time....


mdutil -E /
(you might need to authenticate for this one, I'm not sure... If nothing
happens, try:
sudo mdutil -E /
)



The Terminal fills-in paths to files through a simple drag and drop. As
I indicated for many of these commands, you can drag files or folders at
the end of the command to get the path to the file you are trying to
play with. Of course, don;t type in "<drag a file or folder here>", just
drag it


Corentin

 

[tkjazzer]

lets' start over:Ok, I am working on step 2.

2) use the command on a file to see what has been indexed for it

mdls
This command should list basic information known about a file. Dragging
an Office document here should list a binch of properties. Do you get
anything??

I first tried an office 2008 ppt file and got:

kMDItemAttributeChangeDate = 2008-04-16 10:39:04 -0700
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2008-03-11 00:34:12 -0700
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2008-04-16 10:38:43 -0700
kMDItemContentType = "com.microsoft.powerpoint.ppt"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
"com.microsoft.powerpoint.ppt",
"public.data",
"public.item",
"public.presentation",
"public.composite-content",
"public.content"
)
kMDItemDisplayName = "080311_0800_***removedinfo****_drug_induced_liver_slides08.ppt"
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2008-04-16 10:38:43 -0700
kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2008-03-11 00:34:12 -0700
kMDItemFSCreatorCode = 1347441715
kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSLabel = 0
kMDItemFSName = "080311_0800_***removedinfo****_drug_induced_liver_slides08.ppt"
kMDItemFSNodeCount = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 501
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501
kMDItemFSSize = 6161920
kMDItemFSTypeCode = 1397507128
kMDItemID = 816118
kMDItemKind = "Microsoft PowerPoint document"
kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2008-04-16 10:38:31 -0700
kMDItemUsedDates = (2008-03-11 00:35:26 -0700, 2008-04-15 17:00:00 -0700)

Then I dragged an office 2008 .doc file and got:

kMDItemAttributeChangeDate = 2008-04-07 18:05:07 -0700
kMDItemAuthors = ("***removedinfo****")
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2007-04-25 20:29:55 -0700
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2007-04-25 21:13:13 -0700
kMDItemContentType = "com.microsoft.word.doc"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = ("com.microsoft.word.doc", "public.data", "public.item")
kMDItemDisplayName = "curriculum rep email.doc"
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2007-04-25 21:13:13 -0700
kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2007-04-25 20:29:55 -0700
kMDItemFSCreatorCode = 1297307460
kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSLabel = 0
kMDItemFSName = "curriculum rep email.doc"
kMDItemFSNodeCount = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 501
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501
kMDItemFSSize = 23838
kMDItemFSTypeCode = 1463304782
kMDItemID = 17775
kMDItemKind = "Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 document"
kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2007-04-25 21:13:13 -0700
kMDItemTitle = "Hi,"
kMDItemUsedDates = (2007-04-25 21:13:13 -0700)

Then I dragged a acrobat 8 professional pdf and got:

kMDItemAttributeChangeDate = 2008-04-16 10:37:28 -0700
kMDItemAuthors = ("***removedinfo****")
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2008-04-16 10:35:49 -0700
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2008-04-16 10:35:50 -0700
kMDItemContentType = "com.adobe.pdf"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
"com.adobe.pdf",
"public.data",
"public.item",
"public.composite-content",
"public.content"
)
kMDItemCreator = "Acrobat PDFMaker 8.1 for Word"
kMDItemDisplayName = "080311_0800_***removedinfo****_drug_induced_liver_handout08.pdf"
kMDItemEncodingApplications = ("Acrobat Distiller 8.1.0 (Windows)")
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2008-04-16 10:35:50 -0700
kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2008-04-16 10:35:49 -0700
kMDItemFSCreatorCode

 

[tkjazzer]

NO WAY, THE POST ABOVE WAS SO MUCH LONGER.

i'm quite mad at the computer right now.

in summary, step 3 didn't work.

 

[tkjazzer]

will come back to this tomorrow or the next day and show you the results of what was indexed for step 2 showing the specific words indexed. so frustrating.

 

[tkjazzer]

step 3 didn't work for the .ppt that wasn't appearing fully indexed.