How to fix Outlook search issues in Mac OS Latest versions

Lets see how to  fix Outlook search issues in Mac OS Latest versions. Mac Users often face some issues when searching for emails in the Outlook. The displayed results for your search might not be the one you are expecting. These issues can be fixed with some tips and we will discuss them below.

Cause: The Selected Search Option

When you click on the Search Option to search for an email on outlook, Outlook will be searching for the mail in the currently selected mail folder. If the mail you are looking for is in a different folder, it won`t appear in the search results.

Fix:

1. Click in the Search box in Outlook
2. Click on `Search` Menu in the top left
3. Select `All Emails`

Now outlook will be searching all email folders in your mailbox for your query.

Cause: Corrupted Spotlight Index

macOS has a feature named Spotlight. Spotlight indexes the data on your mac to speed up search. At times these search indexes created by Spotlight gets corrupted, resulting in error in search.

Fix:

1. Open System Preferences> Spotlight > Privacy.
2. Click “+” and add the following folder: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook 15 profiles/Main profile/
3. Select the same entry in System Preferences and click the “-” button.
4. Close System Preferences.

The above process adds Outlook data folder to the exclusion list for searching, and hence removes the index from the Spotlight. So Spotlight is forced to re-index the Outlook folder.

Cause: Spotlight Crash

If Spotlight crashes on macOS it may result in an error in search results.

Fix:

Restarting the device will solve the issue. You can also try switching off the spotlight and turning it on again to fix the issue.

Spotlight can be restarted with the following method

1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
2. Enter the following entering your password when prompted:

sudo mdutil -a -I off

1. Enter:

sudo mdutil -a -I on

The issues with the Outlook Search on macOS can be fixed with any or all of the above-mentioned fixes, keeping you out of trouble the next time you are searching for an important mail.