How-to

Recents or Search Shows Nothing? When Spotlight Isn’t Finding Your Files

Updated October 8, 2026

Recents and searching this Mac in ComfortFiles are answers from Spotlight, the search built into macOS. Once in a while Spotlight loses track of your home folder and answers every question about it with nothing — then Recents is empty, a search of this Mac finds nothing, and Finder’s Recents is empty too. Your files are fine.

When that happens, ComfortFiles says so instead of showing an empty list: a card reading “Spotlight isn’t finding your files”, with what to do and a Try Again button. The steps below are the same, in order of effort.

1. Restart your Mac

The easiest fix, and the one that works most often: Spotlight restarts with the Mac. When the Mac is back, open Recents again.

2. Or restart only Spotlight

If you would rather not restart the whole Mac, you can restart just the Spotlight service from Terminal (Applications ▸ Utilities ▸ Terminal):

sudo killall mds

Type your Mac’s password when asked — nothing appears as you type, that is normal. macOS starts Spotlight again at once, and nothing is lost. Give it a minute, then press Try Again on the card in ComfortFiles.

3. Still empty? Rebuild the search index

This makes macOS throw its index away and build a new one:

  1. Open System Settings.
  2. Open Spotlight in the sidebar (on macOS 13 and 14 it is Siri & Spotlight).
  3. Click Search Privacy… (on macOS 13 and 14: Spotlight Privacy…).
  4. Click + and add Macintosh HD (your Mac’s disk), or drag it into the list.
  5. Select it in the list and click − to remove it again.

Removing the disk from the list is what starts the rebuild. On a full disk it takes a while — up to a few hours — and searches are incomplete until it finishes.

4. Check what Spotlight is told to skip

The same Search Privacy list holds the places you have asked Spotlight to ignore. If your home folder, or the whole disk, is in it on purpose, Spotlight will not search it — and Recents cannot list it. Remove it from the list if you want Recents back.

Frequently asked questions

Is something wrong with ComfortFiles or with my files?

No. Your files are where they were. Recents and a search of this Mac are answers from Spotlight, the search service built into macOS, and Finder asks the same service — which is why Finder’s Recents is empty at the same time.

Does restarting Spotlight delete anything?

No. Restarting the Mac, or the Spotlight service, only restarts the program that answers searches. Rebuilding the index throws away the old index and builds a new one; your files are not touched.

Why does a search inside one folder still work?

A search of a single folder by name, kind, date or size is answered by reading that folder directly, so it does not depend on Spotlight. Searching the whole Mac, and searching by the words inside files, does.