Monterey 12.1 update broke my Outlook 365 search function

[n-evo]

Aside for the issue with Outlook I'm not experiencing any issues with 12.1 tbh.

 

[petrhlavac]

This Outlook indexing bug aside (sounds like both Apple and Microsoft dropped the ball here), I truly regret 'upgrading' to 12.1 - not only did it NOT fix a majority of the most glaring bugs, but it actually introduced more. How the hell do you break more stuff in a .1 release?! After weeks/months of betas, THIS is what they released? Monterey is the buggiest OS Apple has ever released, second only to Big Sur. This really tells you something about Apple as of late. This is the first .1 release that feels buggier than the initial release.

What I have found when going through different forums that this bug was reported by some users during Beta testing => I can`t understand how they could release this version with this critical bug. I expect that MS has a lot of Office 365 users on Mac platform and this destroys the reputation both to MS and Apple (I mean at affected users).

 

[SMGreenfield]

Hello guys,
Yesterday I updated my MBP to Monterey 12.1 and it was a terrible idea. Now my Outlook 365 search function is not working and it affected my performance at work. Now I need to open Outlook in Chrome in order to search emails.

I experienced the same, and spent WEEKS communicating with Office 365 support AND Outlook support. While Support knew nothing about the issue, I stumbled into the cause and SOLUTION while doing a screen sharing session with a Support tech:

I, too, wanted to use “Old Outlook” UI. But you cannot with Monterey. The ONLY solution is to throw the “New Outlook” switch in the window’s upper right and switch to the new UI. You CANNOT use the “Old Outlook” UI.

I’m bummed because I’m not loving the new UI, but that instantly restored email search results within Outlook. I’ve gotten used to the new UI and there’s some good (like Focus mode) and bad (default fonts way to big).

I told several Microsoft support techs they need to write a FAQ about this, but apparently they haven’t.

 

[mj_]

I experienced the same, and spent WEEKS communicating with Office 365 support AND Outlook support.

macOS 12.1, the update that caused this problem in the first place, was released three days ago. How did you manage to spend WEEKS talking to Microsoft?

And no, you absolutely do not have to use the New Outlook with macOS Monterey 12.0 or 12.0.1. The Old Outlook works perfectly fine. It's the recently released 12.1 update breaks things, not Monterey per se.

 

[dagget]

I experienced the same, and spent WEEKS communicating with Office 365 support AND Outlook support. While Support knew nothing about the issue, I stumbled into the cause and SOLUTION while doing a screen sharing session with a Support tech:

I, too, wanted to use “Old Outlook” UI. But you cannot with Monterey. The ONLY solution is to throw the “New Outlook” switch in the window’s upper right and switch to the new UI. You CANNOT use the “Old Outlook” UI.

I’m bummed because I’m not loving the new UI, but that instantly restored email search results within Outlook. I’ve gotten used to the new UI and there’s some good (like Focus mode) and bad (default fonts way to big).

I told several Microsoft support techs they need to write a FAQ about this, but apparently they haven’t.

Problem is, that you cannot use the „new“ Outlook with e.g. Exchange Server 2016.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

macOS 12.1, the update that caused this problem in the first place, was released three days ago. How did you manage to spend WEEKS talking to Microsoft?

And no, you absolutely do not have to use the New Outlook with Monterey. The Old Outlook works perfectly fine. It's the recently released 12.1 update breaks things, not Monterey per se.

Agreed... I'm finding the same buggy issues with the "New Outlook" as I did a month ago. The search is "working" in New Outlook but it's not crossing over into my archives. I did a new install when I received my M1 and the only items showing up in the searches are emails since the install. Older emails do not....

 

[petrhlavac]

Problem is, that you cannot use the „new“ Outlook with e.g. Exchange Server 2016.

Yes that`s right. And the 2nd point is, that the "old" Outlook was working fine with Monterey 12.0.1 (incl. search). It was broken by the upgrade to Monterey 12.1

 

[yawarkhalid]

I experienced the same, and spent WEEKS communicating with Office 365 support AND Outlook support. While Support knew nothing about the issue, I stumbled into the cause and SOLUTION while doing a screen sharing session with a Support tech:

I, too, wanted to use “Old Outlook” UI. But you cannot with Monterey. The ONLY solution is to throw the “New Outlook” switch in the window’s upper right and switch to the new UI. You CANNOT use the “Old Outlook” UI.

I’m bummed because I’m not loving the new UI, but that instantly restored email search results within Outlook. I’ve gotten used to the new UI and there’s some good (like Focus mode) and bad (default fonts way to big).

I told several Microsoft support techs they need to write a FAQ about this, but apparently they haven’t.

Hi. I've been trying to use 'new outlook' but it seems that the new outlook doesn't sync emails past the last ten days from Gmail. Are you experiencing a similar issue? I can't seem to find any support regarding the new outlook for mac online.

 

[yawarkhalid]

Not sure if this helps, but I've had a similar behavior recently when switching from my 2017 to a 2020 iMac and migrating my data (both systems on 12.0.1). Outlook search simply refused to work. Reindexing didn't help at all, and the only thing that did was to instruct Spotlight to reimport all files claimed by the Outlook plugin (see below) and then reindexing the entire disk. Not just my Outlook profile folder or user folder but the entire "Macintosh HD".



I will definitely hold off my updates to 12.1 now as I rely heavily on Outlook and its search and need to make sure it works first.

Has anyone who has already updated to 12.1 tried reindexing the entire Macintosh HD? That's what the support agent is suggesting. Don't want to go through the trouble and leave my entire Spotlight useless.

 

[montythebrave]

I experienced the same, and spent WEEKS communicating with Office 365 support AND Outlook support. While Support knew nothing about the issue, I stumbled into the cause and SOLUTION while doing a screen sharing session with a Support tech:

I, too, wanted to use “Old Outlook” UI. But you cannot with Monterey. The ONLY solution is to throw the “New Outlook” switch in the window’s upper right and switch to the new UI. You CANNOT use the “Old Outlook” UI.

I’m bummed because I’m not loving the new UI, but that instantly restored email search results within Outlook. I’ve gotten used to the new UI and there’s some good (like Focus mode) and bad (default fonts way to big).

I told several Microsoft support techs they need to write a FAQ about this, but apparently they haven’t.

I dont have any switches to switch to the new version however I changed the update channel to “beta” and it installed the new version but gave me an error because for some reason my POP account is not supported…. Eh? So i changed it back.

Has anyone who has already updated to 12.1 tried reindexing the entire Macintosh HD? That's what the support agent is suggesting. Don't want to go through the trouble and leave my entire Spotlight useless.

Yeah iv tried this twice, didnt work.

If you force it to reindex just your emails, whilst its indexing your search actually works but as soon as it completes the indexing it completely breaks again.

 

[fjfuente]

MBP M1 13, Outlook 16.56. Monterey 12.1

mismo problema, pero a veces funciona con letras, no con numeros.

saludo,

 

[petrhlavac]

Has anyone who has already updated to 12.1 tried reindexing the entire Macintosh HD? That's what the support agent is suggesting. Don't want to go through the trouble and leave my entire Spotlight useless.

Yes I did it - no success.

 

[SMGreenfield]

macOS 12.1, the update that caused this problem in the first place, was released three days ago. How did you manage to spend WEEKS talking to Microsoft?

And no, you absolutely do not have to use the New Outlook with macOS Monterey 12.0 or 12.0.1. The Old Outlook works perfectly fine. It's the recently released 12.1 update breaks things, not Monterey per se.

I’ve been an Apple Certified Developer since 1986 — I know what I’m talking about.

I and my business partner had the EXACT same issue on two new M1 Pro Macs, which shipped with Monterey 12.0. I had this exact issue with 12.0 — for weeks before 12.1 shipped. Perhaps it is the confluence between Apple Silicon (M1) AND Monterey 12.x — I’m not running Monterey on my Intel Macs at the moment.

ALSO: I CAN toggle back and forth between New Outlook and Old Outlook (by throwing that switch in the UI). Even after I got search to work in New Outlook, the moment I switch back to Old Outlook, search breaks again.

 

[CoastalOR]

Does anybody know if you can switch to new Outlook and then back to old Outlook without losing emails saved on the computer in the old Outlook?

When I hit the switch to go to new Outlook I get a warning that folders/files stored in Outlook on my computer can't be migrated. I Cancel the switch and do not proceed to the new Outlook for fear of losing all of my old emails stored on the computer.

BTW: I have a 2021 M1 Pro that came with 12.0 and migrated my data & files to it & Outlook search worked fine. Later I updated to 12.0.1 and still had no problem with search. I'm concerned about upgrading to 12.1 and losing search in Outlook.

 

[mj_]

I’ve been an Apple Certified Developer since 1986 — I know what I’m talking about.

I don't have any fancy Apple certifications that I feel the need to shove in people's faces without them asking for it but I do have a MacBook Air M1 and a 2020 iMac and I also know what I'm talking about. Both my Macs are running macOS Monterey 12.0.1, and on both of them my Outlook search works perfectly fine in the classic Outlook (aka "old" Outlook). The only time my search stopped working was when I migrated my profile from the 2017 iMac to the 2020 iMac, both running macOS 12.0.1, but I was able to get it working again by performing the steps listed above.

 

[youme]

ALSO: I CAN toggle back and forth between New Outlook and Old Outlook (by throwing that switch in the UI). Even after I got search to work in New Outlook, the moment I switch back to Old Outlook, search breaks again.

There is nothing fixed when you switch to New Outlook or broken again when you turn back to Classic Outlook. The New Outlook doesn't rely on Spotlight anymore. It is Microsoft's own development, hence completely independent.

 

[petrhlavac]

I don't have any fancy Apple certifications that I feel the need to shove in people's faces without them asking for it but I do have a MacBook Air M1 and a 2020 iMac and I also know what I'm talking about. Both my Macs are running macOS Monterey 12.0.1, and on both of them my Outlook search works perfectly fine in the classic Outlook (aka "old" Outlook). The only time my search stopped working was when I migrated my profile from the 2017 iMac to the 2020 iMac, both running macOS 12.0.1, but I was able to get it working again by performing the steps listed above.

And same situation at me - Outlook was running petfectly on my MBP with M1 Pro (2021) on Monterey 12.0.1. Outlook search was broken after the upgrade to 12.1.

 

[SMGreenfield]

I don't have any fancy Apple certifications that I feel the need to shove in people's faces without them asking for it but I do have a MacBook Air M1 and a 2020 iMac and I also know what I'm talking about. Both my Macs are running macOS Monterey 12.0.1, and on both of them my Outlook search works perfectly fine in the classic Outlook (aka "old" Outlook). The only time my search stopped working was when I migrated my profile from the 2017 iMac to the 2020 iMac, both running macOS 12.0.1, but I was able to get it working again by performing the steps listed above.

It sounds like there may be separate issues that cause the same results. I migrated my profile over from a Mac running Mojave. However, I went through EVERY step described above, including with Microsoft Support on screen sharing. I even completely removed the Office365 account, and re-added it! FOR ME and my business partner NOTHING, except toggling into New Outlook UI resolved the issue.

 

[youme]

Outlook for Mac and search have always been a struggle, for me for years now. I was always able to bring it back, sometimes for no obvious reason. However, with 12.1 it's definitely a "killed function". I sincerely hope that someone at MS and Apple is doing root cause analysis just now.

 

[SMGreenfield]

There is nothing fixed when you switch to New Outlook or broken again when you turn back to Classic Outlook. The New Outlook doesn't rely on Spotlight anymore. It is Microsoft's own development, hence completely independent.

I’m not so sure about that: why does every Microsoft Support Tech (and their support documents) recommend rebuilding the Spotlight index?

It is interesting to note that even when my search was broken in Monterey 12.0, it was only broken in the Outlook app itself: on line, in the web interface, search worked perfectly. Similarly, I could always search emails using Spotlight.

 

[yawarkhalid]

Does anybody know if you can switch to new Outlook and then back to old Outlook without losing emails saved on the computer in the old Outlook?

When I hit the switch to go to new Outlook I get a warning that folders/files stored in Outlook on my computer can't be migrated. I Cancel the switch and do not proceed to the new Outlook for fear of losing all of my old emails stored on the computer.

BTW: I have a 2021 M1 Pro that came with 12.0 and migrated my data & files to it & Outlook search worked fine. Later I updated to 12.0.1 and still had no problem with search. I'm concerned about upgrading to 12.1 and losing search in Outlook.

Yup. You don't lose the emails saved in your computer on 'old' outlook. You can switch back any time. I did, tried 'new' outlook, was pretty useless for my search dependant workflow then I switched back deleting everything in the 'new' outlook. Now I'm just using webmail client. 😂

 

[ssmed]

I’m not so sure about that: why does every Microsoft Support Tech (and their support documents) recommend rebuilding the Spotlight index?

It is interesting to note that even when my search was broken in Monterey 12.0, it was only broken in the Outlook app itself: on line, in the web interface, search worked perfectly. Similarly, I could always search emails using Spotlight.

There has been a long standing problem with spotlight being used internally by MS Outlook and this has become a default first response to search problems. The new Outlook uses a different mechanism, but is not suitable for many people.

Mine was working in 12.01, but is not in 12.1

 

[youme]

Yepp ... re-indexing is their standard storybook. I was originally referred to this procedure as well, but it seems support slowly realizes the scale of this issue. They just requested an incident ID which I created, according to their wish, after doing three different searches. I was asked for patience. Seems they are digging.

 

[MediaFotografie]

Same for me, have been using Outlook on Mac since 2015, up to 12.01 without problems on Intel and then on M1; since 12.1 no more search.

We should also try to make this issue highly visible in the media - for example MacRumors

 

[fjfuente]

maybe 12.2 solve it?

anybody try it?