Local files disappeared in search section

[SandyNL]

Plan

Premium

Country

Netherlands

Device

(iPhone 11, Samsung Galaxy 9, Macbook 2019)

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

In the seach section the local files disappeared in the new spotify version. In the search section you'll find only spotify numbers.

[Ivan]

Hey @SandyNL, 

Help's here!

Could you confirm whether this persists after running a clean reinstall of the Spotify app on your device? This will update the app to the latest version and remove corrupted data from previous installations. 

If you see no difference after a clean reinstall, send us a screenshot of the tab where you observe these issues. Just attach the image to your next response to us by using the Insert Photos option in the post editor. This way we can take a closer look at the issue. 

Let us know how you get on! We'll be here in case you need any further help with this. 

[SandyNL]

Hi Ivan,

I did a clean reinstall but the local files still disappeared. If I want to put a song from my local files to a playlist I must search this file in the library. In the old version Spotify numbers and the local files appeared in the search section.

[Ivan]

Hey @SandyNL, 

Thanks for getting back to us with the screenshot. 

If the clean reinstall makes no difference for you next thing you can try is checking your hosts file for entries that need to be deleted. Follow the steps described here on how you can do that.  

In case this still persists, have a look at this thread in our Community Blog, dedicated to reports from users that experience different issues after the latest update. Here you can get in touch with our Desktop team and discuss the topic with other users. 

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any questions. 

[SamuraiPenguinZ]

Hello. Sorry for resurrecting a thread 2 months old, but this was the only one I could find which covered this topic. I'm experiencing the same issue as @SandyNL after installing Spotify on a freshly formatted drive. This is a fresh, up-to-date client, so I doubt reinstalliing would fix the issue. The solution suggested by the moderator involving the hosts file didn't work either.

[CarlosE]

Hi there @SamuraiPenguinZ,

Thanks for reaching out.

This has already been reported and the right folks are currently working on it. We can't commit to a timeframe for when this will be fixed, but in the meantime, make sure to keep the app updated.

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

Cheers 🙂

[sebishmaster]

Hmm now we have October (4 month later) and I cannot search or browse local files anymore too on Android. Samsung S10 and simple update, no reinstalI. I am very afraid of Spotify finally removing the support for local files.

Please publish a statement how and why the local files section AND search could be removed 'by accident'. And how this can last month. If this is in purpose, publish it, so I can start moving my playlists somewhere else..

[Sourcethree]

I'm having this problem as well.

I don't know if this is part of what caused it, or just a coincidence, but about a year ago I got a new Mac and before migrating my data I moved all my files that were on my old Mac onto the iCloud. About a year later I realized that process seemed to break the links to my local files on my mobile Spotify (desktop still seemed fine). Once I added my iCloud as a Local Files 'Source', then my mobile could again play these songs.

But my point is I wonder if moving the location of these files / songs made them undiscoverable in the normal search (but I can find them now if I do the extra step of searching in my Local Files folder). Don't know if this is possible but maybe the regular search isn't properly updating to include the new source location? Or maybe the old files are still somewhere in Spotify's data vault and they're conflicting with the new source data somehow so that neither are showing up anymore in the initial regular Spotify search? Just throwing those ideas out there in case it triggers someone else to figure out what's happening.