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How can I reduce the impact of spotlight indexing by pushing the priority down?

Spotlight is both useful and annoying. When I build code on my mac, I may generate 1000s of new files. I can tell spotlight that my home dir is off limits but what I'd rather do is to tell spotlight that its processes have the lowest priority possible to ensure their indexing doesn't impact my user experience or blood pressure.

So, anyone know how to set default priority for mdworker processes or is that a silly question as even with low priority the IO impact would be roughly the same?

Peter Kahn
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  • You could exclude the folder where those files are created from Spotlight indexing: Open System Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy and add the folder or folders (see https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25486?locale=en_US for more information). Would that be a viable solution? – jaume Aug 21 '18 at 18:05

1 Answers1

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See https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/265751/263848.

Spotlight indexes in the background and should not impact performance significantly. If you are experiencing serious issues, you may have a bigger issue at hand.

Are you sure it doesn't occur when spotlight indexing is off?

I would suggest trying basic troubleshooting steps. Maybe a reinstall.

user7886229
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