I can't seem to get the search function in the Apple Mail to work properly. When I search any mailbox using the search field in the upper right corner of the window, there are no results. I used all kinds of search terms and selecting the "From, To, Subject, Mailbox, Attachment, and Entire Message" options and nothing appears. I can't identify the setting to correct this.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Mail Search Option Not Working
- Thread starter Pixelmage
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Please delete your Envelope Indexes. For this, first you need to quit Mail, then delete any Envelope Indexes in your user Library/Mail/V2/MailData. Deleting the Envelope Indexes will force Mail to rebuild its database, and then hopefully it will search properly again. (Mail will ask you to "import" your messages," but it's just rebuilding its database.)
Are you sure?
Perhaps he should add his hdd to spotlight privacy and remove it after a while.
Mail fail - Search Not Working.
Anyone try this? Does it work Ok with x10.9 - and does it generate any other problems? Thanks.
Anyone try this? Does it work Ok with x10.9 - and does it generate any other problems? Thanks.
I can't guarantee this will fix the OP's problem, but deleting those envelope files will reindex Mail and won't hurt anything else. You can read about it here.
I have done it in Mavs.
Found a possible fix here
I have been have problems with mail and found the following forum topic.
Might be of help.
http://osxdaily.com/2013/08/01/rebuild-mailbox-reindex-messages-mail-mac-os-x/
I have been have problems with mail and found the following forum topic.
Might be of help.
http://osxdaily.com/2013/08/01/rebuild-mailbox-reindex-messages-mail-mac-os-x/
For what it's worth, I was experiencing this same issue, and rebuilding the mail database or deleting envelopes did not help-- but I did find a solution. (Using Yosemite 10.10)
I went to System Preferences > Spotlight | Search Results and made sure # 12, "Mail and messages" was clicked, and then went to the "Privacy" tab and made sure that Spotlight was able to search my mail folders. I had a broad sweeping rule in there that disallowed it from indexing pretty much everything.
FYI
I went to System Preferences > Spotlight | Search Results and made sure # 12, "Mail and messages" was clicked, and then went to the "Privacy" tab and made sure that Spotlight was able to search my mail folders. I had a broad sweeping rule in there that disallowed it from indexing pretty much everything.
FYI
Same here: I had no search results (within Mac Mail rather than Spotlight) at all.
Checked my Spotlight / privacy settings and realised that ~Library was excluded (it must have been me that did it!). I unchecked it and ta-da! results reappearing in Mac Mail ... so if you have been as dim as I then this is a quicker solution rather than rebuilding the indexes mentioned above.
(makes sense since I imagine the indexes are sitting within the ~Library folder hierarchy)
Checked my Spotlight / privacy settings and realised that ~Library was excluded (it must have been me that did it!). I unchecked it and ta-da! results reappearing in Mac Mail ... so if you have been as dim as I then this is a quicker solution rather than rebuilding the indexes mentioned above.
(makes sense since I imagine the indexes are sitting within the ~Library folder hierarchy)
Worked.
The deleting of envelopes was easy and worked perfectly for me. Did copy the envelopes just in case.
There was over 25000 mail that were indexed according to the relaunch and it took maybe one hour to finish both the indexing and importing of the mail folders and accounts.
Thank you guys!
The deleting of envelopes was easy and worked perfectly for me. Did copy the envelopes just in case.
There was over 25000 mail that were indexed according to the relaunch and it took maybe one hour to finish both the indexing and importing of the mail folders and accounts.
Thank you guys!
Deleting the 3 envelope files worked for me also. In my case, Spotlight Search worked fine, but searching within Apple Mail retrieved only 10% of the correct messages (excluded messages appx 1-18 months old). Browsing in Finder, I was not able to find the ~/Library/Mail/V4/MailData folder where the 3 envelope files reside. But typing that path into Finder....Go...Go to Folder brought me right there.
I am running MacOS Sierra 10.12.1. Judging from the date range of the unsearchable messages, I wonder if possibly the problem arose because I had upgraded from 10.8 to 10.11 skipping the intermediate OS X versions.
No only the envelope files
[doublepost=1483107388][/doublepost]No only the envelope files