Search in outlook 2016 shared mailbox is not working

useless

Richard_McConnell 

Hello,

I cannot believe this is still an issue in 2019.

Same result in my org.

Unbelievable Microsoft 

i'm having the same issue office 2016. PA having full access to GM but whenever she trying to search from his mailbox only we didn’t get any results if current folder she is getting results from her and his mailbox. any help ?

Richard_McConnell 

I am seeing the same behavior you are.  This seems to still match what is documented in this article for Outlook 2013+, https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Outlook-Global-Customer-Service/Understanding-Search-Scopes-in-Microsoft-Outlook/ba-p/428841.  If I get any updates about when this might change I will post back.  For the time being the table in that article should match what you are seeing. 

Gabe_Bratton 

Hi, we are using office 365 / Exchange online, all in the cloud, no hybrid / on-prem servers.

We have several users who have access to shared mailboxes in addition to their personal mailbox. In Outlook, if they are in their personal Inbox, and search for a user or keyword, and select All Outlook Items, it will find results within their personal mailbox, but not any of the Shared Mailboxes.

How can we search for results in all mailboxes, without performing a separate search in each mailbox.

Users have Full Access permissions for shared mailboxes.  I have set shared mailboxes up by going to Account Settings / click on primary mailbox / change / more settings / advanced / add, and tried with [ ] Use Cached Exchange mode / Download shared folders checked and unchecked.

I have also tried without manually adding the shared mailboxes as described above, but just waiting for the mail folders to appear in Outlook after adding Full Access to the shared mailbox in Exchange Admin.

Thanks!

HartmannM 

So the problem is the search scope features.

Even when I am using the browse feature in the search options, I am not able to use it in the shared contacts / mailboxes. 
I am highly surprised that this issue is still present and has not been solved yet.

How is your management staff able to find contacts or emails in their directors/CEOs mailbox, if the
search scope has been lacking those features?

Thank you all for your assistance.

Gabe_Bratton 

Our issues are on premise.

We are using the automapping feature now in Office 2016, as we did with Office 2010.
Users have been able to search for contacts in the contact tab of the shared mailbox (with full access).

-- since our upgrade this does not work as before, the search comes out empty without results.

Also we have users that are using shared contacts in the contact tab.
Users have also been able to search for contacts.

-- since the upgrade the search comes out empty without results.

HartmannM 

Is the shared mailbox on premise or are you using O365 shared mailboxes?  If its on premise the search scopes would work as explained in this blog topic, https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Outlook-Global-Customer-Service/Understanding-Search-Scopes-in-Microsoft-Outlook/ba-p/428841.  

I was not clear if you are using automapped mailboxes or if you were adding them as additional mailboxes in the profile.  

What specifically is the issue?  

Gabe_Bratton 

Well, this will not work if you have accounts, that have been granted with "full access" to your AD-user, only that you are able to find in the "additional mailbox/account" features within your e-mail account.

If you are using the "full access" permissions, that has to be set on the exchange-server. There, you will not be able to change the "cache mode" for any of the additional mailboxes.

So, for us - this is more than frustrating - having a new Outlook that is causing more issues than before.

Especially using Outlook in an corporate environment, this feature is mostlikely used with management and VIP staff.

Do you guys have any other ideas .. (Microsoft team?)
Your help is highly appreciated.

Gabe_Bratton 

Thanks for the update. I will look into the workaround for those that need it.

Ryan_Nicolson The fix that was implemented is only going to be in the subscription SKUs of Office so its only for the service.  We escalated that issue for MSI but due to complexities with the service the decision was to just fix it there.  If you need to workaround it you can set the DisableServerAssistedSearch registry key to use local search, https://support.office.com/en-us/article/troubleshooting-outlook-search-issues-2556b11f-f4d8-46be-b0a7-de33a3f4f066#bkmk_disablesearch.

Gabe_Bratton 

Has there been any update for exchange hosted clients? We are still seeing the issue here. Has there been any progress or will this only be fixed for clients that are hosted in O365?

Gabe_Bratton 

Hi

I have several Shared Mailboxes and unable to search, found they are not even listed as a choice in the index pull down menu.

Sadly only the online archive is available. 

When will this fix come?

vkatruk 

Are you using Office 365 subscription or Office 2016 volume license/perpetual?  We are checking into perpetual/MSI version is not working against Office 365.  Its possible whatever that issue is might also apply to Exchange 2016.  Just in case the issue might be different please open a Pro/Prem support case for us to investigate it further.  I'll post back what we find with the perpetual/MSI not working with O365 investigation once we have that.  

In the meantime you might try using the DisableServerAssistedSearch registry key to use local search in case that could be a workaround,  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Outlook-Global-Customer-Service/How-Outlook-2016-utilizes-Exchange-Server-2016-FAST-Search/ba-p/381195.  Look this article over anyway to compare what you are finding with the different search scopes.

Gabe_Bratton 

Hi Gabe!

We have same issue with Exchange 2016 on our side. The problem is not solved, not one of the ways. What about investigate the problem for this case? Will the fix for Exchange servers be made?

vkatruk 

There is no KB for this issue since it was a service side fix.  The issue is fixed for Office Subscription.  We are seeing that the service search fix is not working for perpetual/volume license Outlook and we will be asking the Search Team to investigate it.  If you are using Office Subscription and still see this scenario not working please open a support case from the portal to investigate it further.  

Gabe_Bratton 

Hi! Where we can find this fix for installing it? Is it fix for exchange servers? What number of KB or Rollup? Because we still have a problem and cant resolve it. Thanks.

Gabe_Bratton 

Thanks for advising of this fix. Search is now working well in Shared Mailbox when shared folders are marked to be downloaded.

Gabe_Bratton 

Excellent, thanks for the replies guys thought this was a client side fix not tenant side. will check it and see what results we see..

Cheers

Phil

Gabe_Bratton 

Excellent, thanks for the replies guys thought this was a client side fix not tenant side...will check it and see what results we see..

Cheers

Phil

in-stal 

I have tested the fix on my test tenant and I can see the fix is working.  Double check this is the same issue your users are having.  With this specific issue the shared mailbox was added as an additional account in the profile.  You would see the error below "Something went wrong and your search couldn't be completed".  If you click the link to look on your computer local search would return results.  If you are seeing this error the fix might not be out fully to all tenants yet.  It was mostly WW by the time I posted yesterday though.

Phil1966 

Phil,

There is no specific KB for this issue.  It was a service side fix.  Normally we document issues in public update KBs for client side fixes.  

in-stalsame here, doesn't seem to work for my users yet anyway.

Having same issue with several customer tenants. Looking for any documentation or KB as well. Thanks.