Spotlight Index, Alfred, and SMB mounts

[BigLaser]

Hi all,

 

I'm working on indexing SMB network mounts with Spotlight. The only thread I've found related to this is linked here, but is over a decade old.

 

By default, Spotlight does not index SMB mounts. This is unfortunate for us Alfred fans. How can I go about forcing spotlight to index SMB mounts? I know this is technically an Apple question, but this community is the best group of folks I know that would know where to start with such a question.

 

 

[sepulchra]

Someone who is smarter than me will have to weight in but I'm pretty sure spotlight can only index a network volume once it is mounted and you have have to force it to index that volume every time it is re-mounted. 

[Vero]

@BigLaser As @sepulchra says, Spotlight can only index a network drive when it's mounted, and is likely to need to be reindexed every time on connection. It then gets trickier if other people use the network drive between the times where you connect to it, as Spotlight's previous index will be incorrect.

 

If you simply want to access the drive (as opposed to searching), you can use Alfred's File Navigation to browse it quickly and navigate in and out of folders.

[BigLaser]

Thank you for the responses. I'm surprised that Spotlight has to reindex a mount every time it connects. It sounds like it saves the index, though. So only diffs would need to be processed. Interesting...

 

I am open to any ideas or workarounds surrounding this topic. I will definitely try the Alfred File Navigator. My IT department is unhelpful with this request, so I'd like to just brute force it on my own somehow.

[sepulchra]

my understanding is because spotlight stores a local file on each volume. I would imagine re-indexing constantly would be rather tedious .

 

[BigLaser]

Here's where I'm confused, and I'm not sure where the answer is. IT says that Spotlight does not work for an SMB share. macOS uses a proprietary hidden file to perform such indexing. Spotlight searches can only be performed when the files are stored locally on the machine. Seems to be something that is no longer an option since Ventura.

I would expect the Alfred team and community here to know best. I'm wondering if my IT is incorrect.