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After the latest OS X update to 10.10.2, Spotlight built-in calculator stopped working. I tried to disable/enable it in settings and reboot, but nothing helped.

Am I the only one who is fighting this? Any ideas?

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  • Have you tried this command in terminal? defaults write com.apple.spotlight CalculationEnabled YES Source: Spotlight doesn't solve math equations any more
    – user387876
    Commented Jan 31, 2015 at 21:16
  • @Tyler, this does not change anything.
    – nvartolomei
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 9:45

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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I was having the same problem as you do and I notice that the problem was that I have conversion disabled on System Preferentes

So I went to System Preferences > Spotlight, enabled it and it solved my problem.

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    oh, apple, apple. this solves my problem. why then there is Calculator checkbox? xD
    – nvartolomei
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 8:25
  • 5
    mine already had 'Conversion' selected. but I deselected and reselected it, and then it started working again. thanks
    – callum
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 12:37
  • This also works for High Sierra.
    – 7heViking
    Commented Jun 14, 2018 at 8:50
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I have done the way suggested by @portella 5 years ago, but it does not solve my problem. I am using macOS Catalina (ver 10.15.14), and so it is newer than that where the suggestion worked. I guess that the issue in Catalina comes from a different cause.

After trial and error, which is just checking-in and checking-out boxes in preferences of Spotlight, I found that at least for my case, enabling "Applications" works, somehow. I guess that because in this version, calculator is recognized as one of applications, using calculator in spotlight requires permission of using applications.

In short, for macOS Catalina, enabling System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Applications may solve the issue.

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    Where does one do this?
    – music2myear
    Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 5:57
  • Welcome to Super User! While this may answer the question, it would be a better answer if you could provide some explanation why it does so.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 6:42
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    Same. Enabling Applications in System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Applications solved the issue!
    – Ilya Karnaukhov
    Commented Apr 28, 2020 at 15:10
  • Sorry! I neglected the clarity of the explanation. I have added some description. Also I used phrase of @IlyaKarnaukhov. Since this and his post are essentially same, should both be merged?
    – smr
    Commented Apr 29, 2020 at 4:44
  • In 10.15.4 you also have to explicitly allow Calculator and Conversions
    – davemac
    Commented May 19, 2020 at 0:21
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Enabling Applications in System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Applications solved the issue for me.

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The manual way is you tell Spotlight to exclude your drive—which erases the index—and then removing it from exclusion tells Spotlight to go ahead and index it again.

go to System Preferences > Siri & Spotlight > Spotlight Privacy

add Macintosh HD (or whatever drive you want to reindex)

click Done

immediately return to that dialogue and remove Macintosh HD

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