Finder not working after upgrade to sequoia

I did the “fix” since Apple refused to fix it for the Sequoia update in lieu of garbage AI features, but note that you may need to force quit and relaunch finder. Post-terminal-fix, I couldn't add colored tags to anything (error -36), which I heavily rely upon (in addition to folders) for organization, but that was fixed after I relaunched.

While I’m glad my searches now work again, they do seem to be loading significantly slower now. Is there any word on a proper system fix? I’ve had macs for over 7 years now and I’ve never had this problem.

Hi

Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.

The more of us flag this to Apple the better.

They have forgotten we are the CUSTOMER and if it wasn't for us they wouldn't have a business.??

Let's hope APPLE fix this ASAP as it has been going on for 2 months now.

Also, let's hope APPLE is a massive contributor to the people of LA fires, as its cash holding is bigger than that of some countries.

Update: The “fix” does not seem to apply to Finder pop-ups like Upload windows (say when needing to upload something online, or even uploading via Settings>Wallpaper) - those windows still are unsearchable even with exact file names

(This is an update to what I posted of my results a few days ago, how the “fix” worked but had some side effects)

Ended up downloading free version of Find Any File (used it for about a month). It worked great before I decided out of nowhere to try Finder again. No updates. No other attempts to fix it. Suddenly working again out of nowhere. No idea what happened. None of my attempts fixed it. I guess my MacBook air didn't like a rogue app doing its job for me.

I did the “fix” over a week ago and I still can’t search from within pop-up windows (e.g. whenever i want to find and upload something to a site). Any solution to this? It’s really frustrating. I wonder if recreating the issue requires the use of tags, which i use heavily for organization within folders. I still don’t understand why finder has worked fine for so many years but now requires the use of the terminal to be fixed instead of a fix being rolled out. If this thread doesnt turn up anything I may have to call support on the phone as much as I’d rather not.

I am also having the same issue after upgrading Sequoia. Using FINDER, results with one word works fine. Searching for two words in FINDER results in 0 files. Searching for a file with two consecutive words at the beginning of the file name works. Searching for two words contained in the file name, no results. Following are the fixes I've tried:

• tried adding / deleting the documents folder (all my files are in this folder) in the Spotlight settings.
• Rebooted... no change
• Spent an hour online with an Apple tech and he had me redo what I had already done. Plus, we reindexed the Spotlight index in safe mode (over 2 hours). FINDER still not working correctly
• I deleted the com.apple.finder.plist file and rebooted. FINDER still not working correctly.
• Using terminal I enterred the sudo mdutil -Ea command and rebooted. FINDER still not working correctly.

ANYONE have any idea how to fix?

That's correct; there is STILL no FIX.

WHY???

Sequoia 15.3 Update: It's been like this since Sequoia was launched in late 2024

SO MANY USERS effected

It's a fundamental function of Apple System software.

After countless phone calls, 3 Apple cases reports & posts.

Apple still can't prioritise their dedicated customer base.  

Continuing Poor  Customer Service 

Bad customer service

I upgraded to Sequoia 15.3.2 last week and it's been a disaster. The first problem I experienced was my external drives not ejecting. Now one has been contaminated--hopefully I can retrieve the files from BackBlaze. The second problem that just emerged today is Finder and Trash are not working properly. Finder freezes and won't reboot unless I reboot my laptop. Trash won't open when the Finder freezes. Copying files or trying to delete files can set off a weird Finder/Trash freeze. I don't know what to do.

Thanks for this very efficient solution!

Thank you! It worked for me.

This seems to have worked for me

Because the search doesn't work, I can't even find "terminal" to run it

This worked for me. Thank you! I have been struggling with this issue for months.