Did February 2017 Office 365 update break Outlook Search?

Hi Mickey,

Thanks for the updates.

I have used a POP account on the same version Outlook as yours to do tests but cannot reproduce the issue. I have done some research and found the Allow service to interact with desktop option may cause the issue. Please refer to the following article to disable the Allow service to interact with desktop option on the Windows Search service and see if the issue can be fixed.

Windows Search service setting results in no matches found in Outlook.

If the issue still persists, please run the following two tools and see if the issue can be fixed.

1. Download Microsoft Office Configuration Analyzer Tool 2.2 and see if the issue can be fixed using the tool.
2. Run the Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA) tool and see if the issue can be resolved (Please note, you need to use the Office 365 for Business account to run this tool).

If the issue still persists, we need the results after running two tools above for investigation. For privacy concern, please provide the results via private message.

Thanks,

Aaron

You may consider this a report that search is also broken in Office 365 Home.

I'm not about to fool around with "support" for this. I'm reverting to 7668.2074 from 7870.2024. Please note that y'all broke it in February (2020), and March (2024) didn't fix it. 

Yes, I've done the troubleshooting with indexing, and no, it didn't help. Neither did an online repair. It's not the PST file. It's you.

I sincerely hope that the next update solves the problem because this is just a bloody nuisance.

There is now an update from Version 1702 (Build 7870.2020) to Version 1702 (Build 7870.2024) but that doesn't fix the problem.

Based on your description, the issue may be related to specific client side. To troubleshoot it, please firstly try the steps below and see if the issue can be fixed.

1. How to fix Outlook Search problem.

The URL you gave in the boilerplate text you pasted in as quoted above was the one I listed in my original post as not having helped.

I've swapped in an old Outlook pst file and the problem is still there, suggesting the problem is in the software, not the data.  The fact that it occurs on both Windows 10 computers tested and started at the same time after an Office update suggests that the problem is with the Office update.

Based on past experience, I'd suspect that the problem occurs for people syncing with iCloud.  Two such problems have been:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice\_outlook-mso\_win10/after-anniversary-update-outlook-cant-find-icloud/8f127bbd-35f1-49d8-a250-5835608090fa  (fixed)

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice\_outlook-mso\_win10/icloud-kills-touch-scrolling-for-outlook-messages/3f085788-c0a4-446e-a3e9-85522d055adf  (not fixed)

Please test the Outlook + iCloud configuration quickly so this problem doesn't go months or years with no fix, as with those listed above.  These recurrent iCloud problems have been a key factor in why people should beware of Office 365, and the fact that one remains unfixed after several years reflects badly on Microsoft, Apple, or both.

In response to the other questions:

1. May I know if the email account you provided via private message is the affected account? Did you configure it onto Outlook via POP?  All accounts are POP, and all messages using all accounts are affected.  The address with 4 characters before the domain name is a forwarder to one of those accounts.  The onmicrosoft account has never been functional; it was created in the original registration in which Microsoft tried to get us to switch our email to using Microsoft servers, but we never did that.  We don't use Microsoft servers at all.
2. I noticed “I use iCloud to sync with an iPhone. That has screwed up Outlook in the past”, could you please share more details about this?  See above.
3. In the Outlook client, navigate to File > Office Account, please let us know the detailed version of your Outlook.  Microsoft Office 365 Business Version 1702 (Build 7870.2020)
4. Can you manually search out those items in your Inbox? No search in any folder works.
5. Some screenshots of the symptom.  There is not much to show.  It says "Searching..." and then seconds later says "No results".

In the private messages a phone number was requested and provided.  That may be a more efficient means of figuring out the cause of this problem.  I'm willing to wait a few days as you work on this problem, but it has been a major inconvenience to have Outlook search broken on all my computers and the alternate strategy is to revert to the January configuration and try to help others from being snared by this problem.