So for the past few days I have been unable to search in Outlook 2016, version has been updated to latest and still unable to search, just shows no results. Id bit of searching around and could not really find an answer until this morning. A few people are mentioning this on other sites and didn't really see any solutions here so I thought I would help out. Have tried dropping the group containers into spotlight privacy and then remove it in the hope it would re-index.
Had even tried re-indexing the entire computer. None of these worked. Found this website: Just be aware though, when I went through finder to navigate into the outlook.app/contents. Finder locked up, so had to enter file path through terminal not just drag and drop into a terminal window Hope it helps:). Ok, the only thing that worked for me was a complete user account rebuild. All the above options did not work.
If you recently created a new Outlook Profile in Outlook 2016 for Mac, or a new Identity in Outlook for Mac 2011, added a new account, or if you recently imported new data from a source such as a PST or OLM file, Spotlight indexing may not be complete.
Unfortunately, I could not replicate the problem and have not been able to since. Obviously, it was a problem somewhere in this users specific account. I couldn't tell you where. I can say that this was a new user which had only been using Outlook for 2 weeks before he noticed. Other computers that were imaged and setup did NOT have this issue. Interestingly enough, I have had other friends who use Casper tell me that spotlight search was not working SPORADICALLY on their images.
I have ran across this randomly as well. I'm not sure if it's related, but it could be. The user account re-creation fixing this makes this confusing, though. Is there a user specific spotlight file that configures searching in the user account? This is going to be annoying but I'd like to know if anyone has this problem on their machines currently. This problem has sporadically cropped up in my environment still. I do not know what is causing it but I do have a solution that has worked 100% of the time when it does happen.
The following commands do fix it, as posted by someone else in another thread. I believe the key line may be the neverindexmetadata line.
(haven't been able to replicate the problem enough to narrow things down). Sudo mdutil -i off / sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight. sudo rm -rf /.metadataneverindex REBOOT the computer NOW sudo mdutil -i on / sudo mdutil –E.
Hello all, I really hate how stupid this work around is, but it worked for me. In finder navigate to: /Users/'user'/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/ - Open System Preferences, Spotlight, Privacy.
Drag the Directory 'Main Profile' into the 'Prevent Spotlight from searching these locations' pane. Quit then re-open System Preferences - Go back t the Privacy pane in Spotlight - Remove the 'Main Profile' Directory from the 'Prevent Spotlight from searching these locations' pane. That should kick Spotlight into action re-indexing the directory, you can check this by opening your spotlight search and typing in 'indexing'.
Verify that the Outlook Profile/Identity is stored at the default location. First of all, make sure that the Outlook 2016 for Mac Profile or the Outlook for Mac 2011 Identity data is stored under the correct default location and has no special characters on its name. If the Profile or Identity name contains a special character, then follow the steps in this to change the name:. Outlook 2016 for Mac default Profile Location:. /Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile.
Outlook for Mac 2011 default Identity location:. /Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/Main Identity Method 2. Install all Microsoft Updates.
Open any Office application such as Word, Excel, or Outlook. On the top menu, go to Help Check for Updates. Important: If you don't see the 'Check for Updates' option on the Help menu, then download and run the latest version of the Microsoft Auto-Update tool from. (After running the tool, the ' Check for Updates' option will be available). Run the Outlook 2016 Search Troubleshooter. The next method to fix the 'No Results' search issue in Outlook 2016 for MAC, is to run the Microsoft Outlook Search Troubleshooter. Close Outlook 2016 for MAC.
Run the tool from MS. Move Messages to another Outlook folder.
Open Outlook. Create a new folder inside Outlook (e.g. Inbox-New) 3.
Select and move all messages to the new created folder. When the moving is done, move back your messages to the original folder. (This process will force Outlook to re-index the emails and they start to appear in the results).
Once you done delete the temporary folder. Re-Index Hard Drive in Spotlight. Open the System Preferences and click on Spotlight. Make sure that Mail Messages is checked under the Search Results tab 3.
Then click the Privacy tab. Make Sure that the Outlook Profile (or Identity) folder or one of its parent folders is not added to the Privacy tab. (If so, then remove them, skip the rest steps and try to find something using the Outlook search).
Then Drag and drop the hard drive icon from the desktop into Spotlight. (This will remove the current index) 6. Finally highlight the hard drive you just added and click the minus button to remove it. (This will force Spotlight to create a new index) 7. Wait until Spotlight indexing your drive. After indexing restart your computer. Try to use the Outlook search.
If the problem persists: a. Delete (or move to desktop and delete them later) the following files from the User’s Library/Preferences folder:. com.microsoft.Outlook.SyncServicesPreferences.plist. com.microsoft.SyncservicesAgent.plist b. Then delete (or move to desktop) from the User's Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2011 folder, the file OfficeSync Prefs c. Restart your MAC.
Try to perform a search in Outlook. Re-index the Outlook for MAC Search Database.
Outlook for Mac uses OS X Spotlight to search your mailbox. If the Spotlight Index is corrupted then the Outlook search may display 'No results'. At this case you have to re-indexing the Outlook 2016 for Mac search database. To do that:.
Outlook 2016 for MAC: – To re-index the Search database in Outlook for Mac 2016 1. Go to Finder Applications Utilities Terminal. Type ' mdimport -L'.
IMPORTANT: If you see more than one instance of 'Microsoft Outlook Spotlight Importer.mdimporter' delete the Outlook application that you are NOT using, empty it from the Trash, again restart your Mac, and go back to Step 1. Without closing the 'terminal' window, open Outlook and try the search function. If you receive results when searching then the problem is resolved. If the Outlook search displays again 'No results' then continue below: 5. In Terminal, re-index your Outlook database using the following command and substituting your own user name for. 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.
Note in the command above, the path after '-g' is the default path where your Outlook is installed. The path after '-d1' is the default path to your profile. You'll have to substitute your actual paths if you have renamed your profile or installed Outlook in a different location. Re-indexing will take some time to complete. Once the process is complete, quit and re-launch Outlook. TIP: 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.sqllite file to your desktop. (This will force Outlook to detect an issue and to do an auto rebuild). When the Rebuild is completed, open Outlook and perform a search. If the search is working then delete the 'Outlook.sqllite' file from your desktop. Outlook for Mac 2011: – To re-index the Search database in Outlook for Mac 2011 1. Hold down the Option key, and then click the Outlook for Mac 2011 icon.
(or go to Applications Microsoft Office 2011 Office Microsoft Database Utility). Highlight your Identity Click Rebuild. FIX Spotlight Permissions & Rebuild Spotlight Index using Terminal. The final method to resolve the 'No Results' issue when performing a search in Outlook 2011 or 2016 for Mac, is to fix the Spotlight permissions in Outlook 2011 database and then to rebuild the Spotlight database, by following the steps below:. Outlook for Mac 2016 1. Open Terminal from Applications Utilities.
Give the following commands in order (Press Enter after typing each command). sudo mdutil -i off /. sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight.
sudo rm -rf /.metadataneverindex 3. Reboot your computer. After restart, open Terminal again and type these commands in order:.
sudo mdutil -i on /. sudo mdutil -E 3. Now wait until Spotlight reindex your entire drive. You can monitor the process if you click at Spotlight Search icon at the upper-right corner. When the indexing is completed (100%) then proceed and try the Outlook search. Outlook for Mac 2011.
Open Terminal from Applications Utilities. Give the following commands in order (Press Enter after typing each command). sudo chown root:wheel '/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011'.
sudo chmod 755 '/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011'. sudo mdutil -a -i off. sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100. sudo mdutil -a -i on 3.
Now wait until Spotlight reindex your entire drive. You can monitor the process if you click at Spotlight Search icon at the upper-right corner. When the indexing is completed (100%) then proceed and try the Outlook search.
Completely Remove and Reinstall Office for MAC. Backup Outlook Data (copy Outlook Identity or Profile to another location. Your Desktop). Completely or 3. Re-install Office for MAC.
Open Outlook for MAC and use the Import command to import the Outlook data from the backup location. Follow the steps is above to reindex the Outlook search database. Try the Outlook search function. Did it work for you? Please leave a comment in the comment section below or even better: like and share this blog post in the social networks to help spread the word about this solution.