Outlook for Mac not showing search results

[Snake57]

I've recently ported all files from an old Macbook air (2011) to a new Macbook Air M1 (2020)
I use Outlook as the e-mail client, however the issue is that there are no search results when using the search function.

I'm absolutely certain the search terms I have tried are in e-mails, and I've tried leaving it for a few days in case it required some indexing.

It is possible to find the e-mails using the spotlight search, unfortunately this solution isn't great.

I would really appreciate any help on what I could try to fix this.

 

[Ray2]

Probably need to reindex Outlook. Not sure where it is on a Mac. Try prefs or whatever MS calls it. Used to be in there somewhere. Happens to Spotlight as well. For some reason these search indexes don’t always survive a computer change.

 

[Snake57]

Probably need to reindex Outlook. Not sure where it is on a Mac. Try prefs or whatever MS calls it. Used to be in there somewhere. Happens to Spotlight as well. For some reason these search indexes don’t always survive a computer change.

Hello Ray

Thank you so much for trying to help.

I definitely believe you are on the right path.

I‘ve tried following the suggested solutions in this thread

Redirecting

I‘ve changed the profile in the Outlook Profile Manager to having no spaces and changed the folder name in „Outlook 15 profiles“ to the same name.

I‘ve tried moving the „MainProfile“ folder to the desktop and back again.

I‘ve tried adding the „Outlook 15 profiles“ folder to the Spotlight privacy tab and removing it again.
This resulted in „mds“ and „mds_stores in the activity monitor to use a lot of available CPU resources for a few minutes (from what I can tell that means Spotlight was reindexing the files).

At one point this all resulted in a few e-mails popping up very slowly one after one when searching.
However unfortunately after restarting Outlook this doesn‘t happen anymore either.

To be quite frank I‘m at a complete loss.
At the moment I am hoping it‘s just not done indexing yet, but based on the activity it seems to have finished the process“

I really hope that a solution can be found.

 

[Ray2]

In Windows Outlook I’m pretty sure there used to be a function in settings to reindex search.

 

[Snake57]

In Windows Outlook I’m pretty sure there used to be a function in settings to reindex search.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find this feature on Mac, from what I can tell I have done the equivalent of this by adding it to the Spotlight privacy exclusions and removing it again.

 

[Snake57]

In my desperation I have now attempted to update to MacOS Ventura and have updated my Outlook as well.

Outlook then automatically chose the new and (frankly horrible) UI where the search works. (Switching back to the old UI breaks the search again, great!)
The problem is that it is not able to transfer the folders with my old e-mails to the new UI, meaning I am only able to search for e-mails that are currently synced to my IMAP.
So even trying to get used to the new UI doesn‘t help me.

This is not a solution and frankly a massive pain in the rear.

I really don‘t know what else to try at this point.

 

[DataChris]

MS Outlook has had these search problems in the past (as it's an endlessly broken buggy app). But the search issue has just returned for me as well (after MacoOS 13 Ventura update). I'm assuming it's some kind of Indexing, Spotlight, Privacy Settings issue BUT there's no clear setting to change (to grant) access to Outlook for search. Such a nightmare when you are visibly looking at the email but Outlook can not find it (or all the others you're searching for).

 

[Snake57]

MS Outlook has had these search problems in the past (as it's an endlessly broken buggy app). But the search issue has just returned for me as well (after MacoOS 13 Ventura update). I'm assuming it's some kind of Indexing, Spotlight, Privacy Settings issue BUT there's no clear setting to change (to grant) access to Outlook for search. Such a nightmare when you are visibly looking at the email but Outlook can not find it (or all the others you're searching for).

It's absolutely unbelievable to me that such basic functionality just flat out doesn't work.
I guess all I can do in that case is look for another e-mail client, any suggestions? (Preferably as close as possible to the Outlook UI?)
(I've tried Thunderbird, but frankly that was even worse to deal with than the current Outlook situation)

Thank you for input, it's at least good to know that it doesn't make any more sense to throw more energy at this specific problem at the moment.
I've been staring at the exact same problem you are describing for way too long… Search a term in the e-mail that you literally have open, aaaaand nothing.

 

[notgonna]

For previous how to fix notes, see this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-results.2347609/?post=31389850#post-31389850

With macOS 13 Ventura, there may be a new issue or old issue has returned. I'm waiting until 13.2, or so.

Download and re-install one of the latest builds https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

For an alternative app, check out eM Client: https://www.emclient.com/ The last I tried it, ver 9.0.xx, it was a work in progress. I paid for the Pro version.It did a good job of importing from Outlook (I may have used Outlooks export, and then imported that file from within eM Client.) Release notes: https://www.emclient.com/release-history?os=mac

I returned to Outlook after I got search working.

 

[notgonna]

See: https://support.microsoft.com/hr-hr...l-builds-d6347358-5613-433e-a49e-a9a0e8e0462a

Outlook Beta the local folders On My Computer now available New Mac Outlook build 16.68.22112202

November 28 and 30, 2022 release
Version : 16.69 (22112702) & 16.69 (22112905)

New or improved features:

We are excited to announce that in the Beta channel, the local folders aka On My Computer is now available in the New Mac Outlook. This feature is available from build 16.68.22112202 (16.68.1122.0) and newer. You can start the local data migration either from File > Import On My Computer data or by accessing the On My Computer folder and clicking on Import Now button. We would love for you to try Local data migration and share your experience with us. Please report any issues and feedback via Help > Contact Support. Note: Local PDLs will be available when we support PDL in the app.

Richer flagging – We are now added support for Mark as Complete, Flag for Followup and Flag Reminders.

Added support to allow expanding of the O365 groups in the To, CC and BCC line.

 

[notgonna]

Report of Outlook search working again with Ventura beta 10

 

[JonaM]

This combined with the fact you have to set your email accounts up again from scratch when it moves you from the old to the new design made me take the jump to Apple Mail client. Hadn't realised till I started using Apple Mail quite how poor the Outlook search was even when it was 'working'