Outlook 16.23.1 not searching correctly on Mojave 10.14.4

Anonymous
2019-04-04T21:28:30+00:00

I've had intermittent problems where the search function in Outlook on my Mac would stop working. In the past, I had a reliable fix that I found somewhere online; I ran the following in Terminal:

mdimport -g ‘/Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app/Contents/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Outlook Spotlight Importer.mdimporter’ -d1 ‘/Users/USERNAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile’

... where USERNAME was the home directory name on my Mac. This took a while to run, but worked like a charm every time.

But I recently upgraded to Mac OS 10.14.4 (Mojave), and apparently this command is no longer supported in Terminal. Now when I try to run it, I get the error:

'-g' no longer supported. Importers may only be tested by installing them.

To be honest, I don't really know what the "-g" parameter means. Any ideas on how to resolve? I'm a bit out of my depth here and don't want to do something that makes things worse.

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For home

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

51 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  2. Anonymous
    2019-04-04T23:32:56+00:00

    Hi yobelow,

    Thanks for posting in our forum. For your problem, I suggest toy try using the Outlook Search Repair tool to repair search issues in Outlook for Mac. For example, when search returns no results for items that do exist in your mailbox, or you get older data when you have newer items.

    If the issue persists, for Outlook mac issue, we have a dedicated in-app support channel. You can click on Contact Support feature on the Help menu to find them and get targeted help.

    Best Regards,

    Huni

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2019-04-05T01:22:57+00:00

    Huni - I downloaded and ran the Outlook Search Repair tool you provided a link for above. When it opens, there's just a blank window, with no menu options available to do anything. Is this what's supposed to happen?

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-06T03:25:46+00:00

    Hi yobelow,

    In this situation, you can try following the Step 7 of the article below to re-build the Spotlight index and see if it helps:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2741535/outlook-for-mac-search-returns-no-results-and-task-items-are-not-displ

    Best Regards,

    Huni

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2019-04-06T04:22:37+00:00

    Huni - step 7 of the link you provided suggests that I do precisely what my original question is about. Namely, that when I run the mdimport -g command in Mac OS 10.14.4 (Mojave), I get an error that the "-g" parameter is no longer supported. Specifically ...

    '-g' no longer supported. Importers may only be tested by installing them.

    This was the question I initially posed.

    Was this answer helpful?

    6 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments