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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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3 Answers 3

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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 Feb 11, 2015 at 8:25
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    mine already had 'Conversion' selected. but I deselected and reselected it, and then it started working again. thanks
    – callum
    Aug 10, 2017 at 12:37
  • This also works for High Sierra.
    – 7heViking
    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? 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
    Apr 19, 2020 at 6:42
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    Same. Enabling Applications in System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Applications solved the issue! 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
    Apr 29, 2020 at 4:44
  • In 10.15.4 you also have to explicitly allow Calculator and Conversions
    – davemac
    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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