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Sometimes, when composing an email message, the words appear in a separate "Spotlight" window, as if I had asked Spotlight to search for them. Very frustrating.

jacksemail

This question is being posted by me on my husband's behalf. He uses Thunderbird, but is less adept than I am, so I'm giving it a try. My question, above, pretty much covers what's happening. As he is typing the email message he wishes to send, all of a sudden, the words begin appearing in a Spotlight search bar which just pops up without being knowlingly engaged by him. What he's typing no longer appears in the body of the email, so he loses what he'd typed, sometimes a couple of sentences. For someone who is tentative about computers, it's pretty frustrating for him. (And me, by extension! ;-) Thanks for any help!

This question is being posted by me on my husband's behalf. He uses Thunderbird, but is less adept than I am, so I'm giving it a try. My question, above, pretty much covers what's happening. As he is typing the email message he wishes to send, all of a sudden, the words begin appearing in a Spotlight search bar which just pops up without being knowlingly engaged by him. What he's typing no longer appears in the body of the email, so he loses what he'd typed, sometimes a couple of sentences. For someone who is tentative about computers, it's pretty frustrating for him. (And me, by extension! ;-) Thanks for any help!

All Replies (1)

Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's OS X. It has been integrated with Thunderbird in the same way as Windows OS search.

Somehow he is selecting to use the search. This may be a key combination he is accidentally using.

Try doing the following:

  • Thunderbird > Preferences > Advanced > 'General' tab

Under system integration

  • Uncheck the check box: 'Allow Spotlight to search messages'
  • click on 'OK'

Exit Thunderbird and wait a short while for background processes to complete. start Thunderbird.