Outlook for Mac 2019 - Search not working :-(

Copper Contributor

Hi there

New contributor - I have just upgraded Office 2016 for Mac to Office 2019 for Mac.  The Spotlight Search option in Outlook no longer works - I get no results, even when I am looking at an email, and searching for a word or phrase or sender in that email ... I have downloaded the OfficeSearchRepair.app which is supposed to reindex and fix, but still not working.  I am running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 - any help appreciated - thank you.

111 Replies

Ok I reindexed as well.

But here is something really important I discovered. There are search options that open when you search. Make sure you have "All Mailboxes" or "All Items" selected. It seems like this selection dialog is not near as obvious as in Windows.

Screen Shot 2020-05-27 at 11.29.17 AM.png

@splasch 

Struggled with this issue for a customer on Catalina macOS 10.15.5 (19F101), Outlook Build 16.39 (20061000).

Tried all re-indexing steps, new Outlook Identity, new Mac User profile, removing and reinstall Office, moving profile folders out and back into default Group Containers directory, nothing worked.

Only fix that was able to get search working was to switch Outlook to "New Outlook" GUI (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/the-new-outlook-for-mac-6283be54-e74d-434e-babb-b70cefc77...). This immediately fixed search. User needed to acclimate to the layout, but that was manageable. 

Hope this helps.

@HannahMcAbbott 

 

This is exactly what led me here. I had outlook 16 on my previous Mac for the past 2-3 years and never had an issue with indexing. new Mac this week and no matter what I do, it wont utilize Spotlight's indexing.

 

I rebuilt the database in case it was corrupted in the migration, that didn't work. Finally had enough and totally deleted the O365 suite and all the supporting folders/files and reinstalled from scratch- same issue. If you were able to resolve it I would love to hear how. Outlook without search I've learned is very close to useless. 

@Intergrator 

 

hey thank you very much for sharing this. Was ready to pull my hair out, totally worked. Thanks a lot.

@Damien_1 

I had to call MS support and pay for help. It took 2 sessions to get someone who knew Macs and finally it was a fairly simple solution. But I don't know what they did. Call and ask for support even if you pay $40 or so it's worth it.  Joe

I was able to get it working by the solution suggested in this thread.

@Akshay_Mane  I am having same issue on  a MAC OS High Sierra (10.13.6) running Outlook for MAC (16.38).  I have tried all above fixes and still no outcome. All search and filtering functions in Outlook fail 100% in multiple MAC profiles.

Search works from within spotlight and terminal. There seems to be a communication mismatch between Outlook and the Spotlight function.

This is a restored build from Time machine after an HD failure.

I have been communicating with Outlook support over 3 months still with no outcome. I was hoping to avoid rebuilding OS form scratch.

Any suggestions would be grateful!!

Thanks, CAMGILLY

@Camgilly 

 

Either do what I outlined above or what kcourtney explained about new outlook.

Well I've now upgraded to Mojave 10.14.6 but I havent seen an improvement in the search functionality--is there something particualr that need to be done? @maxmueller_89 

@cbarrick1 Update is needed for Outlook and not for OS.

I think this is working now. But you have to also do the MacRumors fix to "rebuild the spotlight search index of Outlook" @maxmueller_89 

@cbarrick1I can confirm that this is working now--after upgrading to MacOS Mojave 10.14.6 you then need to reindex the message folders with spotlight as outlined here https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/rebuild-spotlight-search-index-on-mac/

 

I am running Outlook for Mac 16.39 (20071300)

 

. . . now if I could only get some help in creating a Smart Folder that has all items in both Sent and Inbox :\

I had the outlook indexing problem after I migrate to my new MacBook pro. (Mac OS 10.15.6 and Outlook 16.40) Almost two days I was going through blogs and trying many things like re-building spotlight index, re-install Outlook, install some Microsoft tools, re-create profile etc. etc.

 

After the long, frustrating hours I went to “Outlook – help – Contact support” option, first time it give me generic documents, second time   I was able to get in touch with a technical support.  They give me the following solution.  I did exactly as mention.  my problem resolved… Thanks to Microsoft support. (I am copying exact instructions, it may help someone frustrated like me.

 



While using the Search, please check if the search scope is set to “All mailboxes”. Also, check if you are able to search for the items using Mac Spotlight. If it works on the Spotlight search, then quit Outlook completely by click on Outlook Menu > Quit Outlook and then try the steps given below.

Please open Terminal from the Spotlight search and type in the below mdls commands:
sudo mdutil -E /

It would prompt for your Mac Password please enter it (when you type, the password field will not show anything. Just type the right password and hit Enter on the keyboard) and wait for it to complete and then give it some time. Once done, follow the steps given below to re-index, Outlook profile.

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
2. Click the Privacy tab.
3. In Finder:
a. On the Go menu click Go to Folder...
b. 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/
4. Drag the ‘Main Profile’ folder to the Privacy tab. Once added, remove the folder, and Spotlight will re-index the folder. Note: You must perform this step for any additional profile folders you may have.
See the following article from Apple to learn more: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716
5. After re-indexing is completed, launch Outlook and check.


@Akshay_Mane How do you know when the mac has finished indexing?

After uninstall, reinstall, removing accounts, adding and the removing main profile from spotlight search i still did not have a solution. I then noticed new emails were showing up in search, just not emails that were prior to the OS upgrade and restore.

 

I opened terminal.

CD to folder containing "main profile" i.e. 

/Users/<your user name>/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile.

I then used touch to update the access date on old mail. on the CLI I used:

find . -type f  -exec touch {} +

After this finished all my old mail began to appear in searches.

 

Hope this works for others.

@EdieEtouch is a command line tool to modify a file or folders access time. it makes the filesystem thing the file was modified, without actually changing it.

@schneik8080 

/Users/<your user name>/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile.

 

I dont have a file in my library called "Group Containers".

Need help please