Monterey 12.1 update broke my Outlook 365 search function

[srolfeca]

I can't switch to New Outlook, because I have non-Exchange local folders, containing years of vital business correspondence. I went through the whole re-indexing business in order to fix the Search function under Big Sur.

I just moved Outlook over to a brand-new Monterey M1 Pro 16" MacBook from a Big Sur M1 13" MacBook Pro, and now Search is broken in Outlook again. I'm on MacOS 12.1 (21C52) and Outlook 16.57 (2011101).

So much for Outlook 16.57 fixing the problem.

I don't like all this talk about a new data file format, and I'll be damned if I'm going to update to Outlook 16.58 until I have some assurance that I won't lose access to all that correspondence history.

I'll also need assurance that this new memory leak won't slow down my brand-new, extremely expensive laptop.

 

[Ph33zy]

I recently updated to the 2nd update of 16.58 advanced beta hoping it would fix the memory leak but now I can’t drag emails to file them into my folders. Is this happening to anyone else? Need to switch to New Outlook to accomplish this.

 

[petrhlavac]

I recently updated to the 2nd update of 16.58 advanced beta hoping it would fix the memory leak but now I can’t drag emails to file them into my folders. Is this happening to anyone else? Need to switch to New Outlook to accomplish this.

I think you can downgrade easily to already released 16.57 which solves the broken search as well. I did it recently - was on the Beta 16.58 (due to the broken search in 16.56) and downgraded easily to 16.57. Just moved Outlook 16.58 from the application folder to the bin and installed 16.57.

 

[Ph33zy]

I think you can downgrade easily to already released 16.57 which solves the broken search as well. I did it recently - was on the Beta 16.58 (due to the broken search in 16.56) and downgraded easily to 16.57. Just moved Outlook 16.58 from the application folder to the bin and installed 16.57.

I have 400GB of local folder and 16.58 changed the file structure so not an easy downgrade for me. I did do any export into an .olm file but don’t have enough room to reimport so I’m stuck at the moment…

 

[Ph33zy]

and just like that 16.58.22012401 just got updated and fixed the drag/drop issue.

 

[notgonna]

beta 16.58 build xxxx2401 released

Outlook for Mac - Release notes for Beta Channel builds (microsoft.com)

January 10 and 12, 2022 release​

Version: 16.58 (22010904) & 16.58 (22011201)​

Fixes:

• Mail: Fixed an issue where To, Cc, and Bcc fields in the message composer window in old Outlook are showing scroll bars.
• Mail: Fixed an issue where Reply/Forward buttons are grayed out when opening a .eml attachment from an email.
• Reminder: Fixed an issue where Snooze meeting reminder button stopped working.
• UI: Fixed a UI where text in Give Feedback is cut off in French language.
• UI: Fixed an issue where New Outlook toggle was missing.
• New or improved features:
• New Outlook now offers an option to allow users to download pictures from the internet in emails only from contacts.

January 3 and 5, 2022 release
Version: 16.58 (22010302) & 16.58 (22010406)
Fixes:

• Search: Fixed a search issue in old Outlook that got introduced after installing macOS Monterey 12.1 update.

 

[scottsavi]

Has anyone done anything different other than just running the update?

My search will still not work even though I am running 16.58 and have even removed the exchange account, restarted the app and then added the settings again.

Really annoying issue.

Thanks

Scott

 

[mikeusry]

Has anyone done anything different other than just running the update?

My search will still not work even though I am running 16.58 and have even removed the exchange account, restarted the app and then added the settings again.

Really annoying issue.

Thanks

Scott

Same results for me, using my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016). I have had open case with Microsoft using Help > Contact Support option on OUTLOOK, and they have told me that the reason my 16.58 isn't working is that my MacBook Pro Spotlight is not working. I don't use Spotlight that much and rather use the functions in the programs (Finder, Excel, outlook, mail) to locate items accordingly. My last inquiry / debate with Microsoft resulted in them saying that only once spotlight can find my emails, calendar or contacts will they be able to assist me further on OUTLOOK search problems, and mind you this is after 3 weeks of pinging back and forth with their "non live chat support option".

Yesterday, I called Apple, and after 3 hours of them not being able to determine why Spotlight can't see those emails they opened an escalated item for resolution and set up an appointment for Thursday to check in again. While they agree that there is some issue for spotlight on my MacBook, they are very concerned that Microsoft would tell me that their OUTLOOK search depends on Spotlight success. Nevertheless with no support solution otherwise, I am in queue for a resolution. Until then, I have loaded my Exchange account into the native Apple Mail application to search for my emails to use for searching and then OUTLOOK to manually find them for a reply/forward, etc.

Curious if anyone else who's OUTLOOK Search for email, contacts and mail successfully also can use Spotlight to see their OUTLOOK emails.

 

[petrhlavac]

Same results for me, using my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016). I have had open case with Microsoft using Help > Contact Support option on OUTLOOK, and they have told me that the reason my 16.58 isn't working is that my MacBook Pro Spotlight is not working. I don't use Spotlight that much and rather use the functions in the programs (Finder, Excel, outlook, mail) to locate items accordingly. My last inquiry / debate with Microsoft resulted in them saying that only once spotlight can find my emails, calendar or contacts will they be able to assist me further on OUTLOOK search problems, and mind you this is after 3 weeks of pinging back and forth with their "non live chat support option".

Yesterday, I called Apple, and after 3 hours of them not being able to determine why Spotlight can't see those emails they opened an escalated item for resolution and set up an appointment for Thursday to check in again. While they agree that there is some issue for spotlight on my MacBook, they are very concerned that Microsoft would tell me that their OUTLOOK search depends on Spotlight success. Nevertheless with no support solution otherwise, I am in queue for a resolution. Until then, I have loaded my Exchange account into the native Apple Mail application to search for my emails to use for searching and then OUTLOOK to manually find them for a reply/forward, etc.

Curious if anyone else who's OUTLOOK Search for email, contacts and mail successfully also can use Spotlight to see their OUTLOOK emails.

But probably MS is right, because "old" Outlook search functionality relies on Spotlight search, so if the Spotlight is not working correctly than Outlook search will not work. "New" Outlook has its own search engine so it is not using Spotlight.

 

[ssmed]

But probably MS is right, because "old" Outlook search functionality relies on Spotlight search, so if the Spotlight is not working correctly than Outlook search will not work. "New" Outlook has its own search engine so it is not using Spotlight.

The bad thing about this is not that MS have their own search engine now – the spotlight solution has caused problems for years, or that there is a new Outlook - albeit with some reduced functionality, but that half the working world with on premises exchange servers can't use the new version. What were they thinking!

 

[chrfr]

In addition to fixing this in Outlook 16.57, the enterprise release notes for macOS 12.2 also list that 12.2 includes a fix for Outlook search, so for those of you still having problems with search, you may want to update your computer.

 

[petrhlavac]

The bad thing about this is not that MS have their own search engine now – the spotlight solution has caused problems for years, or that there is a new Outlook - albeit with some reduced functionality, but that half the working world with on premises exchange servers can't use the new version. What were they thinking!

 

[petrhlavac]

Did anybody try to install the new Monterey 12.2 ? I am a little bit worried to do it after my experience with 12.1 and broken search issue in Outlook.

 

[scvandenbraak]

I just tried updating to 12.2 and this fixed it for me. I'm using this in combination with Outlook for Mac 16.55, because 16.56 en 16.57 have a bug regarding embedded images. If you're writing an e-mail, save it in meanwhile and then send it, it will remove the contents of your embedded images. You can see this in your Sent Items. At least with Exchange accounts, not sure about IMAP. So I downgraded to 16.55, because my outgoing spamfilter on Exchanges blocked my emails because of 0Kb-sized embedded images. It didn't like that.

 

[n-evo]

I haven't experienced any memory leaks on macOS v12.1 and the latest Outlook version from the App Store. Running it on a 2021 MacBook Pro with M1 Pro.

 

[ssmed]

Did anybody try to install the new Monterey 12.2 ? I am a little bit worried to do it after my experience with 12.1 and broken search issue in Outlook.

I have worked all day in a variety of applications - old and new outlook without problems.
'' Safari seems a bit snappier " ;-) ;-)

 

[mikeusry]

My MacBook Spotlight and OUTLOOK Fix

I successfully completed efforts today with Apple support and wanted to share to hopefully assist those others where search functions in OUTLOOK [Version 16.57 (22011101) for me] in my 365 Exchange Account didn’t still work. Below in BOLD are the keystrokes I performed which at a high level were terminal+commands, reboot, terminal+commands, reindex and fixed.

First launch of Terminal:

Last Login: Thur Jan 27 12:22:17 on console
mike@MikesMacBookPro ~ % sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
Password: <ENTER YOUR USER ACCOUNT PASSWORD>
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist: service already loaded
Load failed: 37: Operation already in progress
mike@MikesMacBookPro ~ %

Note that the commands for the first terminal concerned Apple support, but since it was 'already running', he pressed on providing assistance.

REBOOT MacBook
log back into user account
launch terminal again.

Second Launch of Terminal:

Last login: Thu Jan 27 12:43:47 on console
mike@MikesMacBookPro ~ % sudo mdutil -Eai off
Password: <ENTER YOUR USER ACCOUNT PASSWORD>
/:
2022-01-27 12:46:16.099 mdutil[635:7102] mdutil disabling Spotlight: / -> kMDConfigSearchLevelFSSearchOnly
Indexing disabled.
/System/Volumes/Data:
2022-01-27 12:46:16.366 mdutil[635:7102] mdutil disabling Spotlight: /System/Volumes/Data -> kMDConfigSearchLevelFSSearchOnly
Indexing disabled.
mike@MikesMacBookPro ~ % sudo mdutil -Eai on
/:
Indexing enabled.
/System/Volumes/Data:
Indexing enabled.
mike@MikesMacBookPro ~ % mdutil -as
/:
Indexing enabled.
/System/Volumes/Data:
Indexing enabled.
mike@MikesMacBookPro ~ %


At this point, the MacBook was reindexing and it took 49 minutes longer than reindexing via efforts (drag and drop in Spotlight/Privacy, or other terminal commands) to rebuild the index. I was asked to launch spotlight and type in the letter A so that the progress of the reindexing bar could be observed. Once indexing was completed, I was able to find files, contacts, emails, etc via Spotlight.

When I relaunched OUTLOOK Version 16.57 (22011101) and searching for emails, contacts and calendar entries all WORKED! I asked what might have caused this issue (user, software update, etc.) as I had recently reloaded Monterey from a fresh build as well as a fresh user account and nothing worked, and Apple support said they didn’t have any indication on the Case escalation as to why this condition would have occurred. So I saved these commands if/when it happens again!

Hopefully this works for those who like myself until this afternoon couldn’t use OUTLOOK search functions.
BTW - I am not a MacBook expert, just passing along what worked for me so I apologize if you have questions that I can't answer.

 

[Rackmani]

This has been fixed! Yay!

 

[Rcooper331]

I'm on Outlook 16.58 & Monterey 12.2 - still does not work. Using MS support via Outlook. V slow to resopnd - try this, try that - appears that there is no progress since Dec - any options out there - please let me know. Yes i can use new outlook but Flag function that i use is not fully implemented.

 

[Lihp8270]

I can't switch to New Outlook, because I have non-Exchange local folders, containing years of vital business correspondence. I went through the whole re-indexing business in order to fix the Search function under Big Sur.

I just moved Outlook over to a brand-new Monterey M1 Pro 16" MacBook from a Big Sur M1 13" MacBook Pro, and now Search is broken in Outlook again. I'm on MacOS 12.1 (21C52) and Outlook 16.57 (2011101).

So much for Outlook 16.57 fixing the problem.

I don't like all this talk about a new data file format, and I'll be damned if I'm going to update to Outlook 16.58 until I have some assurance that I won't lose access to all that correspondence history.

I'll also need assurance that this new memory leak won't slow down my brand-new, extremely expensive laptop.

You have backups to go back to though.

 

[ssmed]

I'm on Outlook 16.58 & Monterey 12.2 - still does not work. Using MS support via Outlook. V slow to resopnd - try this, try that - appears that there is no progress since Dec - any options out there - please let me know. Yes i can use new outlook but Flag function that i use is not fully implemented.

This is odd, we are good on all our installations now.
I would re-index spotlight completely, but have no other insight.

 

[petrhlavac]

I'm on Outlook 16.58 & Monterey 12.2 - still does not work. Using MS support via Outlook. V slow to resopnd - try this, try that - appears that there is no progress since Dec - any options out there - please let me know. Yes i can use new outlook but Flag function that i use is not fully implemented.

Hard to say, where is the root case of your troubles. But the search was fixed in beta 16.58 and it is also fixed in officially released 16.57. I was running smoothly those combinations - Monterey 12.1 + beta 16.58, Monterey 12.1 + 16.57. Currently i use Monterey 12.2 + Outlook 16.57. All that with Exchange email account.

 

[makra]

Hard to say, where is the root case of your troubles. But the search was fixed in beta 16.58 and it is also fixed in officially released 16.57. I was running smoothly those combinations - Monterey 12.1 + beta 16.58, Monterey 12.1 + 16.57. Currently i use Monterey 12.2 + Outlook 16.57. All that with Exchange email account.

Some people warned against going back to 16.57 after beta 16.58 because of database issues. Did you simply delete beta 16.58 and install 16.57? I'm still waiting for the official 16.58 release.

 

[petrhlavac]

Some people warned against going back to 16.57 after beta 16.58 because of database issues. Did you simply delete beta 16.58 and install 16.57? I'm still waiting for the official 16.58 release.

I did not have any issues. I was on 12.1 + beta 15.58. Just deleted the Outlook beta 16.58 (moved to bin) and installed 16.57. Nothing else.

 

[petrhlavac]

I did not have any issues. I was on 12.1 + beta 15.58. Just deleted the Outlook beta 16.58 (moved to bin) and installed 16.57. Nothing else.

sorry was on beta 16.58