Mail: search, smart inboxes broken

[Theophil1971]

**UPDATE**
Fixed with 10.15 update on 10/15/2019


Upgraded to Catalina, and now Mail doesn't seem to index anything. When I try to search, nothing happens. Nothing at all. When I click on a smart-inbox - nothing. The "Flagged" button is greyed out, so I can't even use it at all.
Indexing problem? Any ideas how to fix it?
I've made sure that Spotlight is indexing mail and messages (in System Properties/Spotlight).
I've rebuilt all the mailboxes.
Nothing seems to work.
Help! Thanks!

 

[paul_b]

Exact same problem on my iMac after installing Catalina and the subsequent patch... I've run through the same fixes too: i.e. deleted Envelope index, Envelope index-shm, Envelope index-wal—then forced reindexing. Also, double checked all Spotlight prefs to ensure nothing was excluded, and finally tried the 'Rebuild' command via Mail. Nothing works. Point of interest: I have not updated my Macbook to Catalina and Mail works great... Still looking for solutions, and hoping the next patch from Apple will resolve?

 

[adrianlondon]

Assuming you're connected to an IMAP account: delete the account and re-add it.

 

[paul_b]

Yes, IMAP accounts. Deleted the account, re-added it... search function still does not work. Thanks for the idea though

 

[adrianlondon]

Shame. I had issues with one of my accounts, and deleting it and re-adding it caused Mail to download everything when I went into each folder, and search is now working ok.

 

[MariozPOC]

I had the same problem: I solved rebooting in safe mode and after in the normal way

 

[paul_b]

Shout out to MariozPOC: rebooting in safe mode did the trick. Thank you for the suggestion, genuinely appreciated! Some detail: after booting up in safe mode I was able to do one search with indexed results, but after that the problem persisted. However, after doing a normal restart after the safe mode reboot, all was good... weird, but I'll take it! Anyway, again, thanks a ton for the suggestion.

 

[haralds]

I ended up resetting Spotlight. But the problem comes back. Will try Safe Mode.

 

[paul_b]

Yes, I tried resetting Spotlight as well, with no results. The safe mode reboot worked after I did a normal start up though.

 

[MariozPOC]

Yes, I wrote in my original post you must boot in safe mode AND after in normal way to set up the matter. I am glad to help if I can ?

 

[paul_b]

?Yes, exactly! Everything works great based on your suggestion. Thanks again

 

[paul_b]

** UPDATE **
Sad to report the same issue with Mail not being able to search/indexing any emails persists (even after the safe reboot). Tried to reinstall of Catalina (over two hours) only to get a message at the end that read, 'The operation couldn't be completed. PKDownloadError error 8). I've read different interpretations of this online, but the bottom line is that I regret upgrading to Catalina. Anyway, I guess it's either a clean install or waiting for a patch from Apple...

 

[Ifti]

Same issue here - search in mail doesn't seem to do anything at all.
Most annoying!

 

[Alhagar]

Not fixed for me. Spotlight also very slow

 

[haralds]

I did the Safe boot and it worked for a little. Now broken again. Clearly a bug.
Resetting SpotLight does not fix it.

 

[paul_b]

** UPDATE 10/26/19 **
Reinstalled Catalina this morning. This was the third time. First installed caused the Mail/Search issue. Second installing failed (after a 2+hour attempt). This third install was quick (under 40 minutes start to finish). I used the Command+R at restart and choose the Reinstall OS option. The result, so far, is that the search function in Mail seems to be working. Anyway, it's worth a shot if you are having trouble too. Postscript: as always, backup everything.

 

[paul_b]

** UPDATE 10/28/19 **
One way I've found that a user can initiate the Mail indexing/search problem is by plugging in a USB device. The Lightning connectors do not seem to initiate it. The USB instantly causes Mail to lose it's ability to search. Anyone else noticing this?