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Monterey 12.1 update broke my Outlook 365 search function

I have the EXACT same problem with the current version of Outlook for Mac (16.56) after upgrading to the current version of MacOS Monterey 12.1 on my 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB. Outlook email searches yield ZERO results.

Microsoft "Support" said to reindex:
  1. my Outlook User Profile folders in Spotlight = FAIL
  2. Spotlight on my entire computer = FAIL
  3. restart my computer after reindexing it = FAIL
  4. switching to New Outlook = FAIL
Switching to New Outlook uncovered ANOTHER Outlook bug: Gmail accounts may not be authorized after going through the multiple Google Gmail and Microsoft security windows due to a Safari "browser issue". OUCH.

New Outlook also STILL don't allow me to Edit the "Subject" field which we've used a part of our company's accounting workflow for YEARS to add the:
  • amount of charges
  • which credit card was used
  • what accounting category to assign
Microsoft OneDrive ARM also has indexing issues... so this just isn't an Outlook problem.

Microsoft REALLY needs to do better. There is NO reason Microsoft should have thrown Office for Mac users like me "under the bus" since Monterey Beta had these issues.

Microsoft needs to FIX their Outlook for Mac indexing bug NOW.
 
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MTBnBeer said:
Microsoft OneDrive ARM also has indexing issues... so this just isn't an Outlook problem.

Microsoft REALLY needs to do better. There is NO reason Microsoft should have thrown Office for Mac users like me "under the bus" since Monterey Beta had these issues.
Click to expand...
I've noticed that in addition to the Outlook search issue, that trying to look up files in my personal or work OneDrive folders are "missing" in Spotlight (tried with native Spotlight and Alfred). The folders just aren't found, which is a real annoyance, to say the least. I haven't upgraded to the ARM version because I tend not to run beta versions of Microsoft's apps after a "slow" release candidate a while back broke key features in their apps that I needed for work.

So whatever was "broken" via the upgrade process is impacting all Microsoft products, which points to the fact that they. were likely using the same code everywhere so that once it broke in one app they all broke.
 
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Spotlight works fine; Outlook works; Search in Outlook = Spotlight does not work; seems to be a security issue (Monterey does not allow outlook to access its spotlight)
So: A task for Microsoft, or better Apple (best: both)
 
These are the steps i got from Microsoft support, anybody tried these? its not working for me.

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Outlook Support. My name is Sherjil. I will answer your query to the best of my knowledge.
Please be advised that this is an offline chat system, it can take some time for us to get back to you.

Please follow the steps below and let me know if it helps:

1. In the Finder, on the Go menu click Go to Folder...
a. Copy and paste the following location into the "Go to the folder:" dialog box and click Go: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile/Data/Messages/
2. Open one of the folders under Messages folder, right click / Control click on one the emails, select 'Get Info'.
3. Expand 'Open with' and select 'Other' in the dropdown.
4. In the Finder application, choose 'Microsoft Outlook'.
5. Check the box that says 'Always open with'.
6. Select 'Add', and then choose 'Change All'.
7. Select Continue when asked “Are you sure you want to change all similar documents to open with the application “Microsoft Outlook”.

After performing the above steps, please repeat the steps below:

1. Open the Apple menu.
2. Select System Preferences, and then choose Spotlight.
3. Select the Privacy tab.
4. In Finder:

a) On the Go menu choose Computer.

5. Drag the ‘Macintosh HD’ to the Privacy tab. Once added, wait for a couple of minutes and remove it and Spotlight will re-index the complete Hard drive which will take sometime.
 
Another Solution:

Open Finder and go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal and type the following commands (Press Enter after typing each command).

sudo mdutil -a -i off

sudo mdutil -a -i on

If the issue persists, let us re-index the entire Hard Drive once again, following the steps below and check if that helps.

Note: Please quit Outlook completely and do not launch it until the re-indexing completes.

1. Open System Preferences and select the Spotlight.
2. Click the Privacy tab.
3. Click on Go - Computer.
4. Drag the Macintosh HD to the Privacy tab and wait for some time.
5. From the Privacy window, select the HD and then click the minus (-) button near the bottom left of the window.

Please follow the steps given in the link to perform a hard drive re-index.

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

If you get unexpected results when searching your Mac, rebuilding the Spotlight index might help.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

Note: The fourth step in the link talks about selecting the folder, but instead please select the entire Hard drive.

Depending on the amount of data on your computer, the Mac HD can take time to re-index. I would request you to wait for it to complete. Click on the Spotlight option at the top-right corner of the screen to get the text field for Spotlight. If the re-indexing is still in process, you will see a small message just below that text field. If you do not see any message there, it means that the re-indexing is complete.
 
Collecting Incident ID:

Please try performing 3 recent search's on the Outlook application and then collect the Incident ID by clicking on Help menu(Top menu bar) - Collect Diagnostics.
Share the Incident ID with us. Thank you.
 
Another solution to try:

Please follow the steps below and let me know if it helps:


1. In the Finder, on the Go menu click Go to Folder...
a. Copy and paste the following location into the "Go to the folder:" dialog box and click Go: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile/Data/Messages/
2. Open one of the folders under Messages folder, right click / Control click on one the emails, select 'Get Info'.
3. Expand 'Open with' and select 'Other' in the dropdown.
4. In the Finder application, choose 'Microsoft Outlook'.
5. Check the box that says 'Always open with'.
6. Select 'Add', and then choose 'Change All'.
7. Select Continue when asked “Are you sure you want to change all similar documents to open with the application “Microsoft Outlook”.

After performing the above steps, please repeat the steps below:

1. Open the Apple menu.
2. Select System Preferences, and then choose Spotlight.
3. Select the Privacy tab.
4. In Finder:

a) On the Go menu choose Computer.

5. Drag the ‘Macintosh HD’ to the Privacy tab. Once added, wait for a couple of minutes and remove it and Spotlight will re-index the complete Hard drive which will take sometime.
 
Update from MS support team:

Please note the Classic Outlook relies on Spotlight to perform search and hence the search is affected after the Mac OS 12.1 release by Apple. We've received numerous reports regarding the search issue and it has been reported to Apple by the concerned team.
 
bharathvn said:
Update from MS support team:

Please note the Classic Outlook relies on Spotlight to perform search and hence the search is affected after the Mac OS 12.1 release by Apple. We've received numerous reports regarding the search issue and it has been reported to Apple by the concerned team.
Click to expand...
Have any of these solutions helped you, so far?
 
As stated several times in this thread. None of these measures help. There is no solution available. Waiting for Apple/Microsoft to get things right.
 
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bharathvn said:
Update from MS support team:

Please note the Classic Outlook relies on Spotlight to perform search and hence the search is affected after the Mac OS 12.1 release by Apple. We've received numerous reports regarding the search issue and it has been reported to Apple by the concerned team.
Click to expand...

If Microsoft reported it to Apple, one should not expect a solution from Microsoft.
 
I have exactly the same problem (I can no longer do searches in Outlook for Office 365) and have spent some time with Microsoft support trying to fix the issue. I deleted the profile and started again, reindexed the messages, all to no avail. Microsoft told me that it appears to be an Apple problem introduced by the update from 12.0.1 to 12.1, so we have to wait for a fix from Apple. Funnily I can search messages prior to a certain date on one of my machines, but, on others, searching produces no results. So it looks as if this is down to Apple/Microsoft to fix. This is important to me as I have to be able to search emails for my work. I reverted to using my 15" Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 with Windows 11 and Outlook where it works perfectly. Web access in Safari also works, but is less convenient. My brand new 16" MacBook Pro is now idle when I am working. It is surprising how the loss of the ability to search emails is a hindrance to performing my job.
 
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A very simple question- have the spotlight files moved? They used to be at the root of the disk. They are not there on my 12.1 MBP
 
I am using Outlook for Mac v 16.56 and have had the search problem since upgrading to Monterey 12.1 - no issues using 12.0.1. Since then I have been corresponding with Microsoft technical team on a daily basis performing functions they requested and providing them data from my computer. I received this final message from Microsoft this AM:
-----
Thank you for the time. I would like to inform you that we have reported the issue to the Apple team as the search function broke after macOS 12.1 update. As the concerned team is working with Apple to try and figure out what could be causing the issue. For time being we would suggest you to search for the emails Manually.

Appreciate your patience and co-operation.

Thanks!

December 29, 2021, 6:57 am

R
-----
I think that says it all.
 
UPDATE: i responded to the information Microsoft provided and they responded a few minutes ago with this additional information:
---

Thank you for the response. I do understand the concern, and we are looking to fix the issue at the earliest. As of now we do not have an ETA as to when the issue can be fixed, hence we would suggest you to keep the Outlook and Mac updated as and when the issue gets fixed, the same will be rolled out as an update.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Thanks!

December 29, 2021, 8:09 am

R
 
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I can no longer search in Outlook. Outlook and OSX are the latest version


Hello Thank you for contacting Microsoft Outlook support. My name is Ahmed. I would be happy to help you with this issue today. Please note that this is an offline chat system, it may take some time to get back to you. I am currently reviewing your request. Please allow us to get back to you with an update at some point. Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation. Thank you very much.
I have additionally installed another mail program eM Client in this program it goes
I have already licensed the database as well as the user
www.heise.de

Microsoft Outlook: macOS-Update stört Suchfunktion

Nach Aktualisierung des Apple-Betriebssystems auf macOS 12.1 funktioniert die E-Mail-Suche in Outlook für Mac nicht länger. Es gibt Workarounds.
www.heise.de www.heise.de
I found this on the net but it did not help me.
Thank you for your patience. As I see with the above shared ticket information, I see that your Mac OS has been updated to version 12.1. Which is causing the problem with performing the search since "Classic Outlook" uses the Mac OS Spotlight search. Let's re-index the entire hard drive of your iOS 12, follow the steps below and see if this helps. Note: Please quit Outlook completely and don't start it until the re-indexing is finished. 1. open System Preferences and select Spotlight. 2. click on the Privacy tab. 3. click Go - Computer [ Library ] 4. drag the Macintosh HD to the Privacy tab and wait for some time. 5. select the HD in the Privacy window, and then click the minus (-) button at the bottom left of the window. Please follow the steps given in the link to reindex the hard drive. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716 Let us know if this helps.

I have already done all this, but I will do it one more time.
Thanks for your patience, Dave. Please follow the steps below and see if that helps. 1. please drag and drop an email to the desktop. Right click on the file you dragged to the desktop and select "Get Information". 2. Now click on the 'Open with' drop-down menu 3. Select the drop-down option and click on 'Other' 4. Now a new window will open and then select 'Microsoft Outlook' from the list (If you don't find it there, select 'All Applications' instead of 'Recommended'). Click 'Add' 5. You will then be redirected to the previous page, select "Change all" and click Next. After you have done this, please re-index and try searching. To re-index, 1. select 'Apple' - 'System Preferences' and click on 'Spotlight'. 2. click on the Privacy tab. 3. in the Finder: on. In the Go to menu, click Go to Folder.... b. Copy and paste the following location into the Go to Folder: dialog box and click Go to: ~/Library/Group Container/UBF8T346G9. Office/Outlook/Outlook 15-Profiles/ 4. Drag the Main Profile folder to the Privacy tab. Remove the folder from Privacy after adding it, and Spotlight will index the folder again. Note: You will need to perform this step for any additional profile folders you may have.

Awaiting your reply, thank you.

Everything was already correct
I have indexed the directory again error is still there
Thanks for your patience Dave. Please try to run 3 recent searches in the Outlook application and then collect the Incident ID by clicking on the Help menu (top menu bar) >> Collect Diagnosis. Let us know what the Incident ID is. Also, open Spotlight and search for Terminal. In Terminal, please run the following commands in Terminal and once you are done, re-index the Outlook profile and see if that helps. sudo mdutil -a -i off sudo mdutil -a -i on Let me know how it goes.
Thank you very much for your patience. As I informed at the very beginning, this problem occurred after the Mac OS update to version 12. However, the above behavior is identified as a workaround, you can navigate to "New Outlook" and the search should work. To navigate to the new interface, simply click the "New Outlook" button in the upper right corner of the Outlook window. You can quickly switch between the new Outlook for Mac and the current version to compare the differences. Note - If you don't see the new Outlook switch then, let's click Outlook in the top menu and select Exit Outlook, wait some time for the application to close, and restart Outlook. Repeat the same step a few times and check if you see the new Outlook switch button. Thank you.


The new Outlook switch does not exist, it should be next to the question mark


Thank you for your reply, If you don't see the new Outlook toggle then click Outlook in the top menu and select Exit Outlook, wait some time until the application is closed and restart Outlook. Repeat the same step a few times and check if you see the new Outlook switch button. Thank you.

Restarted Outlook 10 X the Outlook switch did not show up.

Thank you very much for your patience. I apologize for the delay in replying, as I see with the above ticket information, I see that you have pop account configured in Outlook and when you switch to "New Outlook", you lose all data as in "On my computer, in "New Outlook" is not supported. I ask you to contact "Apple Support" and downgrade Mac OS or wait for an update.
Downgrading Mac OS is technically not possible. I have already contacted Apple who say Microsoft is to blame they have not updated Outlook to our 12.1. The current Outlookvwesin runs together with an old operating system Catalina without errors. Now I sit all user / customer between the chairs Microsoft says Apple and Apple says Microsoft. Apple supports but only with the new operating system if at all

Thank you very much for your reply. I apologize for the delay in replying. The problem with search only occurred after updating Mac OS to version 12.1. As "Classic Outlook" Spotlight to search. This is why I suggested contacting Apple Support for further downgrade assistance or more details on what is going on in the backend.

Thanks for the link I already knew that. It doesn't get me anywhere here that other people in the world have the same problem. I don't think Apple is the problem here. I installed a program eMClient and exported all the mails from Outlook and imported them into EMClient. Here you can search and everything works


What does it tell me that there is a problem here and it is being passed back and forth between Microsoft and Apple?
 
I have a MacBook Air with latest Monterey 12.1 (nothing newer available) using Microsoft Outlook for Mac vers 16.55 and can't see anything in search from today going back 3 months.

Have tried reindexing Spotlight search with all libraries no effect. This is no way to run a railroad. Seems like a Microsoft issue more than Apple?
Can't go to new outlook because need exchange server and icloud support! This is crazy!!!!!
 
The only solution I have found that works is simply to search Outlook on the web.

Short of that the app is completely useless when it comes to searching post Monterey 12.1.

I even did a complete fresh install. Don't bother, it doesn't work.
 
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