Search on Macs, for pretty much everything, from the Finder to Mail, to the contents of documents and even photos, is connected to the broader Mac search; both use Spotlight.

If Spotlight has become corrupted then you can rebuild it’s search engine, as such:

• Open System Preferences > Spotlight
• Click on the Privacy tab
• Click on the + icon (bottom left of the window)
• Add the Macintosh HD to the list of locations to prevent Spotlight searching
• Close the System Preferences

Allow 15 minutes for this next step, during which the existing data in Spotlight will be removed.

Next step:

• Go back into System Preferences > Spotlight
• Click on the Privacy tab
• Remove the Macintosh HD from the list of locations
• Close the System Preferences

NOTE: Spotlight will rebuild it’s indexes, which will take a while, so allow time for this (could be up to a day).