I have the same issue with the Search function. When I search for a word and then select and open a document in the list of search results, the word may not be highlighted, or highlighted only once, when in fact the term appears multiple times in the document. I know I can use ctrl-F to search through the document, but I am puzzled and want to know why the highlight is so unpredictable. I have tried searching for ‘exact phrase’, ‘all words’, or ‘any word’ to see if it makes a difference, but it is unpredictable.
This is a problem you are seeing in the Mac version (the thread)? I just ask because you mentioned “Ctrl+F” which would be more of a Windows thing, but sometimes people use that to mean Cmd-F.
Either way, we’d probably need a little more information on your setup to see what is going on. The project search settings that are being used, and perhaps a demonstration against the Interactive Tutorial in the Help menu, so we can all be using the same source material.
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oh oops I came to this thread by a search… shall I post the same query in the Windows forum?
No worries! I appreciate the attempt to find existing issues. I’ve split it off for you to a new thread, and as it sounds like a bug, flagged it as such.
The earlier point still stands, I do not recall seeing highlights stop working, so if you could share a bit of your setup that could help us find what is wrong in the software (or maybe settings, but I can’t think of anything that would cause this on purpose).
My Search highlights have not been working properly for a long time through recent updates, so I assumed it was something in the settings. But when I hunt around in Search settings trying to find what it is, I don’t see likely reasons. I have Version: 3.1.6.0 (2862669) 64-bit - 02 Sep 2025. In Search settings I have “All”, “All words”, and “Search in [both] Included and Excluded Documents” checked. Is there somewhere else I should look? This recent example may give a clue: If I search for Rumayth (a placename) I get a highlight on “Rumayth/Ramtha” but not on “ar-Rumayth” in the same document.
Thank you for the example! This sounds like a bug with the spellcheck underline obscuring the search highlight (when it extends beyond the highlighted text). The term is still matched in the document, and you can click into the text and use F3 to jump to each instance even though it isn’t highlighted, but to make the highlights appear you can either disable the setting to Check spelling as you type (in the Corrections tab of File ▸ Options, under the Spelling settings) or right-click an instance of “ar-Rumayth” and choose “Learn Spelling” to add it to your personal dictionary, so the spellcheck will no longer flag it.
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Well that seems to have worked! Search highlights are now picking up all instances of “Rumayth”, which is also odd as it is a foreign word which should trigger the spellcheck in all its forms. I hope that’s the end of the problem. Surprised that a spellcheck underline would hide a search highlight. Thanks!
Glad that did it! Yes, the spellcheck underline overriding the highlight is certainly not optimal and we do have it logged as a bug; but in the meantime it’s good to have a workaround. I believe the problem triggers when the spellcheck underline begins before the search term match (maybe also related to punctuation or the operator, it’s a bit weird), so “ar-Rumayth” wasn’t working since the underline started with the “ar-” but “Rumayth” alone worked.
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