Search in outlook 2016 shared mailbox is not working

[Ernesto Iblon]

Hi , since we are using Outlook 2016 , the search inside shared mailbox is not working.

Also users are not able to activate subfolder search on shared mailbox.

Is there any solution?

[#2]

@rob_dev 

In Outlook click File, Add Account.  Put in the address of the shared mailbox.  When you get prompted for credentials look for "User other account" or similar wording.  After you click that put in your primary email address and password that has permissions to the shared mailbox.

[#3]

Hello,
I have the same problem (search did not work on shared mailbox in Outlook Microsoft 365 MSO (16.0.12827.20200)).
I tried the solution on this thread.
I also tried the solution on this page : https://support.office.com/en-us/article/troubleshooting-outlook-search-issues-2556b11f-f4d8-46be-b0...

But when I add the shared mailbox and it download the data in the .ost file.

Sometime it work and sometime I have an error on the shared mailbox : (in french : "impossible de développer le dossier echec de l'opération du client") 

Transalte : Impossible to develop the folder. faillure of the client's operation.

I have tried in cache mode and wihtout cache mode.

Without cache mode, the search juste keep going and do nothing.

I have tried to create the register key :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\search
DWORD: DisableServerAssistedSearch
Value 1

For this one : 16.0\outlook\search

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\search
DWORD: DisableServerAssistedSearch
Value: 1

I had not the folder : 16.0\outlook\search created. Should I create it and test ?

Thank you for your time.

[#4]

@joriswengerixionch 

If it’s not supposed to be in French, it’s an issue that I’ve run across. Sometimes there is some confusion when you have installed Office when the computer came with a demo version. Uninstall all versions of office (you’ll probably need a third party uninstaller such as Revo Uninstaller, since most of the installations will fail), then reboot and install again. This should fix the language confusion issue.

[#5]

@jlutzwright 

Hello, the software is suppossed to be in french in this case. Thank you for your solution.

[#6]

@Gabe Bratton 

We are running multiple on-prem servers and have encountered this issue many times by now, with different results everywhere.

Is there a timeline for the fix yet since it has been a while?

[#7]

Couldn't agree more. This is a microsoft mail client with microsoft exchange server and it's too difficult for them to index the mail I see when I log in? They need to up their game.

[#8]

Thanks for helping out on this issue. I am still surprised a basic search doesn't include subfolders for shared mailboxes that are connected in Outlook via the default process (AutoMapped + download shared folders turned on). Also after raising a support ticket at Microsoft, the engineer acknowledged this is a 'known issue'. 

Workaround A) provided is to disable 'download shared folders'. This way subfolders are included in the search result. I keep my fingers crossed Outlook keeps performing and won't stop responding when heavy used. 

Workaround B) Otherwise I have to apply the other successfully tested workaround, but would have a higher impact on our users: 

1. cmdlet: Remove-MailboxPermission -Identity <shared mailbox> -User <user> -AccessRights FullAccess 
2. Remove shared mailbox connection from at users Outlook. (be patient until it disappears)  
3. cmdlet Add-MailboxPermission -Identity <shared mailbox> -User <user> -AccessRights FullAccess -AutoMapping $false
4. Wait a while and Start users Outlook and connect mailbox via new account, but be sure to choose 'login with other account' and using the users credentials and MFA. 
5. Restart Outlook and WAIT after the folder/client error when trying to open the shared mailbox. 
6. Keep fingers crossed after a while the shared mailbox magically opens up ;)

Hopefully this will help others, since it took me a whole day to believe this is true.. 

If you are reading this, please vote on the UserVoice because I am shocked it currently only has 40 votes.. https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/322590-outlook-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/3692...

[#9]

@Eddy_Veldboer 

I tried workaround A and disabled 'download shared folders' and it worked. thanks.

[#10]

@Eddy_Veldboer agreed, we have about 400 shared mailboxes used by around 1000 people all over the globe, and we just standardized on automounting all shared mailboxes, caching shared content, and not allowing users to add mailboxes to their MAPI profile outside of automounting.  We're still onprem and planning a move to the cloud and wanted to have a predictable, supportable experience.

Now we're being inundated with complaints about searching being broken, and turns out deploying what's been noted as the 'best practice' breaks a very simple, critical function.  It's frustrating that the server has a fully built out index of the database sitting there and the clients don't just reach on and use it.

I've voted on the topic as well, any idea what something has to get to for it to have any traction or attention?

[#11]

Almost 3 years later. Is it fixed yet?

[#12]

@filipkohout I don't think so.

[#13]

So half a year later, still an issue.....

[#14]

I just had a never-ending supportcase with MS. All they did was doing some log-collecting and things I found by googling for my error. Nothing new here.
I referenced this thread (and some others) - the reply was: "This behavior is intended". So all my other 290 PCs seem to be faulty, not the few systems not working. MS at its best.

I think we have to use the shared mailboxes w/o cachemode. A solution from MS is not available.

[#15]

Any movement on this one? We have granted users "Full Mailbox Access" to other user's mailboxes and shared mailbox and they cannot be searched. I've tried the other workarounds etc to no avail.

[#16]

Hello together,

I've found a solution that works for us.

With the installed O365 version 2103 (Build 13901.20462) 32bit and Outlook Version 16.0.13929.20296 from the Monthly Channel we've had the same issues like you have. The search in the shared mailboxes doesn't find something in the subfolders.

But as soon as I've installed the 64bit office version 2008 (Build 13127.21506) and Outlook version 16.0.13127.21452 from the semi annual channel the issue was fixed. Even in the online archive of the shared mailboxes we're able to search in the inbox and subfolders.

I've created a new config xml file for the Office Deployment Toolkit with using "https://config.office.com/deploymentsettings", activated the option for uninstalling previously installed office versions AND upgrading to the new architecture (from 32 to 64bit)  and reinstalled office with running "setup.exe /configure configuration.xml" on cmd.

This was tested on 3 clients and an outlook instance on a terminal server.

 

Here's the config.xml:

<Configuration ID="d0f3cb44-4bdf-4bd0-9726-3034e2b16aea">
<Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="SemiAnnual" Version="16.0.13127.21506" MigrateArch="TRUE">
<Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
<Language ID="de-de" />
<Language ID="en-us" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Lync" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Publisher" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Teams" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Bing" />
</Product>
<Product ID="LanguagePack">
<Language ID="de-de" />
<Language ID="en-us" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Bing" />
</Product>
</Add>
<Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="0" />
<Property Name="SCLCacheOverride" Value="0" />
<Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="0" />
<Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="TRUE" />
<Property Name="DeviceBasedLicensing" Value="0" />
<Updates Enabled="TRUE" />
<RemoveMSI />
<AppSettings>
<User Key="software\microsoft\office\16.0\excel\options" Name="defaultformat" Value="51" Type="REG_DWORD" App="excel16" Id="L_SaveExcelfilesas" />
<User Key="software\microsoft\office\16.0\powerpoint\options" Name="defaultformat" Value="27" Type="REG_DWORD" App="ppt16" Id="L_SavePowerPointfilesas" />
<User Key="software\microsoft\office\16.0\word\options" Name="defaultformat" Value="" Type="REG_SZ" App="word16" Id="L_SaveWordfilesas" />
</AppSettings>
<Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
</Configuration>

Hope that helps you out a little bit.

Greetings from Germany,

Michael

[#17]

@msteinmu Our Office and Outlook versions are newer than yours yet search is not working for 50%+ of our users - Outlook for instance is 2102 (13801.20360).

Turning off cached mode fixes it in most cases but then we have applications and plug in which require cached mode to be turned on so this is not a viable nor reliable solution.

[#18]

@msteinmu sadly doesn't help - am an end-user with no access or sway of deployment in my company.

This needs to be acknowledged by Microsft and fix deployed top-down.

[#19]

@nicbeament 

Same problem here.

We're a small company with around 4 users where a shared mailbox is very important for all our work. This includes searching this mailbox to quickly find the right mail(s).

It must be a client issue, because search is working perfectly on the webmail in the shared mailbox.

We have tried everything. Well over 50 threads and guides as been read and followed without any solution (including "Troubleshooting Outlook search issues" of course)

I probably forgot some actions here, but from the top of my head all these actions have been tried:

• Add the shared mailbox as separate account. Both as M365 type and Exchange type. This will result in an additional .ost file (2gb+) in the AppData folder.
• Different combinations of the account settings and HOW to add the additional mailbox ("open additional mailbox" in the advanced tab or not (gets added automatically in some cases)). Closing the mailbox manually by rightclick from within outlook in the case it was auto-added on start) and then adding it again. Marking "download shared folders" nor not.
• Debugging Windows Search and the indexing operations. Including rebuilding the index (and also changing special indexing options for specific files/types). When choosing the program "Outlook" as object to index about 50,000 things were indexed, but still wasn't searchable in Outlook.
• All the different cache options (from disabled to 1 months)
• Completely wiped the profile from Control Panel->Mail and created a new one, with a new account and going with all the default options. Nope.
• Increase the time that Outlook waits for Exchange to provide search results before falling back to use local search (ServerAssistedSearchTimeout)
• All the combination of where to search (click inbox or the whole post box in left pane, and the scope "all outlook objects", "current postbox", "current folder" etc)

In some scenarios, the shared mailbox is added with its name visible (e.g. Support). In others cases, the email address is shown instead (e.g. support@ourcompany.com). Not sure which should be "correct".

In some scenarios, the search animation just keeps circling forever. Unsure if something is trying to search at all. In other scenarios, the search just returns "No results" or similar. Sometimes a clickable link below ("More om server" i think) doesn't work either.

On one of our computers, the current status is that search results are shown from SENT ITEMS only, regardless of on which mailbox is clicked, or scope chosen for the search.

This whole thing has now taken such time to debug and gather information about to try to solve it, that we are seriously considering switching to a completely different e-mail solution.

Now we have a completely new computer (W10) with latest Outlook Version 2108 (Build 14326.20404). Is there a detailed step-by-step guide to follow to get search working properly in a shared mailbox? Like, every single step and every single option to follow it 100% ? Nothing is done yet on computer  except installed office.

Any help greatly appreciated, but I think only a software update can properly solve this.

[#20]

Has this been resolved? I am manually adding Shared Mailbox accounts as other profiles in Outlook in Order for Mailbox managers to setup Search Folders in their shared mailboxes for their teams. Adding the account in the users profile does not allow this and neither does running it in noncached mode. There has to be a fix for this because adding additional profiles to Outlook is not the ideal situation.

[#21]

Still broken as a far as I am aware.