Jan 12 2019 11:37 PM
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.
Jan 25 2019 02:33 PM
I have the same issue! has this been solved? My IT dept is suggesting I reimage my whole computer which I don't want to do.
Jan 25 2019 04:28 PM
Hi there Tonygee - I've had no feedback and no resolution - very disappointing indeed - if you find a solution, please let me know too ...
Feb 06 2019 01:25 AM
I have still the same problem with Outlook, my Mac and the new update of Mojave
Mar 04 2019 01:29 AM
I have the same issue after using Time Machine. I got a new Macbook Pro 2019, used Time Machine and on the new Macbook the search doesn't work anymore. Both OS are Mojave .. also tried the OfficeSearchRepair.app but no results so far. This is frustrating ...
I also deleted the whole email account and added it again but nothing ...
Mar 04 2019 01:29 AM
Mar 15 2019 01:46 AM
Apr 30 2019 12:13 AM
@splasch This has been an issue in macOS for years. It seems Microsoft are too busy redesigning their app icons right now, to bother with such trivialities as a non-functioning search.
Fixing this is obviously on the too hard/expensive pile and appears to be staying there, indefinitely.
I personally think they will only start to do something about this when enough people start asking for their money back on the product, as the inability to be able to search emails would easily be construed as making the product not fit for purpose.
Apr 30 2019 12:14 AM
@Intergrator That's for rebuilding Spotlight search indexing on a particular folder, not within Outlook.
May 12 2019 11:50 AM
Yep - exactly the same happened to me. Bought a new Mac, migrated using TimeMachine, and now Search in Outlook 365 has stopped working. I've tried everything on this page
Nothing works.
This is very frustrating. If you find out how to fix it I'd be most grateful. Everything still working on my MacMini no problem.
Jun 10 2019 12:01 PM
This didn't work. I upgraded to 10.14.5 and same problem persists and is even worse.
MS needs to fix this and FAST!
Jun 10 2019 01:58 PM
Jun 11 2019 08:37 AM - last edited on Jan 13 2020 10:58 AM by Eric Starker
Jun 11 2019 08:37 AM - last edited on Jan 13 2020 10:58 AM by Eric Starker
Hey,
Try this any one of the approach mentioned below works for you on your Mac.
In this approach, open any of the applications offered by MS Office like Outlook, Word or Excel to troubleshoot “Mac Outlook 2019 search not working” error
From the top menu bar, click the Help menu and select the Check for Updates option.
If the above workarounds did not help you to fix Outlook 2019 Mac search not working issue, then try to run Microsoft Outlook Search Troubleshooter. For that, first you need to close the Outlook 2019 application, which is working on Mac OS and run Outlook Search Repair Troubleshooter. This will allow to fix the issue after which you can find the desired result quickly.
We all are aware that Mac Outlook uses OS X Spotlight to search the data from the mailbox. If in case the Spotlight index itself is damaged, then a user might encounter an error message i.e., Mac Outlook 2019 search not working. Under such instance, a user must re-index the Mac Outlook 2019 search database. To implement the same, follow the step-by-step process mentioned below,
mdimport -g "/Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app/Contents/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Outlook Spotlight Importer.mdimporter" -d1 /Users//Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook\ 15\ Profiles/Main\ Profile
sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight* sudo rm -rf /.metadata_never_index
sudo mdutil -i on / sudo mdutil -E
Regards,
Akshay
Office 365 Admin | O365CloudExperts
Jul 16 2019 05:51 PM
Due to some changes in macOS Mojave, the OutlookSearchRepair tool no longer works in 10.14 and higher. If you are on macOS Mojave (10.14), you can follow the steps below to reindex Spotlight for Outlook for Mac.
Choose Apple menu, then System Preferences, and then Spotlight.
Select the Privacy tab.
In Finder:
On the Go menu, select Go to Folder...
Copy and paste the following location into the "Go to the folder:" dialog box and select Go:
~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/
Drag the "Main Profile" folder to the Privacy tab. Once added, remove the folder, and Spotlight will re-index the folder.
You must perform this step for any additional profile folders you have.
See the following article from Apple to learn more: How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac.
Jul 17 2019 11:13 AM
I have a few clients with Office 2016 (7/16/2019 release) on Mac Mojave 10.14.5 who still cannot search. These clients find no results when searching in Outlook. I have rebuilt the spotlight index a few times. In addition I have tested the search from within Outlook AND from Mojave. The search box from the OS finds all the e-mails as expected. It's as if the spotlight index is not connecting to Outlook.
Tonight I will try to re-move the account and delete the folder in question then re-add the account. If that doesn't work I will completely wipe Office and all of it's preference files and re-install and rebuild the account.
Anyone else having this problem?
Jul 20 2019 01:52 AM
Jul 28 2019 08:12 PM
I have been having this exact same issue. It showed up after I upgraded to a new MacBook Pro and used a time machine backup to restore. I tried re-indexing outlook, tried rebuilding the Outlook main identity, ensured both Mojave and Outlook were the latest version (running Outlook 2019), and nothing worked. Today I wiped the entire hard drive of the new MacBookPro and re-installed a fresh version of OSX 10.14.6 as well as a fresh version of Outlook 2019 (version 16.27). I then downloaded mail directly from the Outlook/Exchange server after setting up the accounts and had the same problem, search still not working. So I went and re-indexed the Group Containers folder in library again and still nothing. This is a big problem and I'm at a loss as to how to fix it.
Jul 29 2019 03:06 PM
Same EXACT problem. Tried everything and still cannot search from the latest version of Outlook 365 on upgraded MacBook Pro running Mojave 10.14.5
Jul 30 2019 07:53 AM
Same problem here - Outlook 365 on Mojave 10.14.5 Macbook Pro. Search via Spotlight finds all Mails, search in Outlook always gives "no results". I hope this problem will get fixed soon!
Jul 30 2019 09:43 AM
I just found a fix to this issue on page https://www.repairwin.com/fix-outlook-for-mac-search-not-working-no-results/
The TIP in Method 6 worked for me:
Here is an alternative method to re-build the Outlook 2016 Database in MAC:
1. Go to the following location:
- ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile/Data
2. Move the Outlook.sqlite file to your desktop. (This will force Outlook to detect an issue and to do an auto rebuild).
3. When the Rebuild is completed, open Outlook and perform a search.
4. If the search is working then delete the 'Outlook.sqlite' file from your desktop.
Rebuild took about 1 hour, but now everything works fine.