big surspotlight
In previous versions of macOS, Spotlight would show two columns, one with results and the other with a preview of the selected result.
In macOS Big Sur Spotlight's default view is one column. In order for me to see the right hand column I have to click the chevron or press return. How can I make this two-column view default, like it was in previous releases?
I face the same problem. I overcame it by excluding Xcode Server Builder.app from Spotlight search results.
Locate Xcode Server Builder.app by navigating to /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Applications directory. Now, go to System Preferences → Spotlight → Privacy tab. Drag and drop Xcode Server Builder.app from the Finder window into the list under Privacy tab.
Now, the Xcode Server Builder.app will no longer appear in the Spotlight search results. This should take care of accidentally launching it instead of Xcode.app.
In case you still need to launch Xcode Server Builder.app on an infrequent basis, you can either drag and drop the app into Dock to create a shortcut, or press and hold Command + Option and drag the app icon to any convenient location to create a shortcut link to the app.
I can confirm this is a real issue since Big Sur. I did talk with Apple Tech Support, she agreed it is a known issue. She told me to put problem in Feedback Assistance which I did a while back. I have not come up with any work around other then just searching for numbers to left of the decimal point as you mentioned.
In addition, various text and text strings are not found as well. Really want Apple to fix this asap.
Best Answer
Not exactly a permanent fix that you can set by default. But when you search in spotlight, you can just press tab after typing your search, and it will pop up the column preview. You don't have to select any of the search results to enable column view, just press tab after typing your search in spotlight