Outlook for Mac 2019 - Search not working :-(

[splasch]

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.

[#2]

@anneu620Thank you!  This solved my problem after trying everything above.

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.

[#3]

I connected with MS support and here is the reply I got that worked for me MAC 2019 Stand alone Office.

Hi, thank you for contacting Outlook for Mac support. My name is Chaithra and I will be assisting you today. Please note this is an Offline support and the responses will be delayed.

Before proceeding, I would like to keep you informed that Outlook for Mac does not have its own search engine, rather it take the help of spotlight to search. So, let’s try re-indexing the spotlight search and check if the search works fine.

Referring to your concern, please follow the below steps and run the provided command:

1. Restart the computer and log into the user.

2. Make sure Outlook is quit after the restart.

3. Launch Terminal found within the Applications folder.

4. Make sure the user you are logged in as is an administrative user. If not you can use the "su" terminal command to switch to an admin user.

5. In Terminal type the following.

sudo mdutil -E /

(Note: The volume name must be changed to the name of your startup volume.)

It will prompt for your Mac password. Please enter it and wait for it to complete. You will see 'Indexing enabled' message. Once this is done, re-index the Outlook data folder once again and check if it resolves the issue. Please, Quit Outlook completely by click on Outlook Menu -- Quit Outlook and then try these steps:

1. Choose Apple menu -- System Preferences -- Spotlight -- Privacy.

2. In Finder menu under the Go menu click "Go to Folder...". Copy and paste the following location dialog box and click Go:

"~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/"

3. Drag the ‘Main Profile’ or if you have created any profile and made a default profile folder to the Privacy tab. Wait 5 seconds then remove the folder, and Spotlight will re-index the folder.

4. Launch Outlook and perform a search. Wait for at least 10 minutes as the search results should start to slowly appear as each email in the profile is indexed. Note there is no status indication for the re-indexing. The re-index will just silently finish in the background.

Let me know if this helps.

Thanks!

[#4]

@ShamitKhemka this is a great solution to resolve my problem. 

[#5]

Microsoft Support JUST told me it is a known issue with the last and current slow beta release (I am on 16.56 (21121100)):

Thanks for reporting this to us, Scott. We have a known issue with the search function in Classic Outlook and we are looking at the possibility of relating your issue to the report we have sent.

[#6]

Dont work, the microsoft teams now de bug and work to fix

[#7]

@Nkubikarg 

How can I confirm this? Because suddenly I have this problem too. I tried every suggestion in the thread. The most result I got is that Outlook gives results again *while* rebuilding its index, but as soon as the outlook.sqlite file no longer changes/updates it comes up with zero results again. Btw, searching with spotlight directly in Finder does actually return the results I want. Quite frustrating.

[#8]

The problem appears after upgrading the xOS to Monterrey 12.1, I check the problem is an authorization for outlook to index spotlight file. the only way to fix it is wait for the patch from Apple.

[#9]

@Nkubikarg 

Unfortunately, the update to Monterrey 12.1 has also affected me :(
Unfortunately we have to wait. It's funny that it doesn't occur with the new Outlook version.

[#10]

@kenmedia1340Search is fixed in the latest slow release of Outlook for Mac:

[#11]

Just installed Version16.57 (22011101), but the issue has not been fixed yet.

[#12]

This release resolved for me. Thanks!

[#13]

I don't see an update. MS AutoUpdate says there is no update.
Where can I download version 16.57?