Search not working on Outlook 16.79 on Mac Sonoma

This worked for me, although on my version of Sequoia I have.

System Settings > Spotlight

Scroll down and click Search Privacy

Click the + icon

Select Macintosh HD - then click Choose

Accept the warning by clicking OK

Click Done - then click Search Privacy again

Then select Macintosh HD

Click the - icon

Click Done

NB Close Outlook first

I am on Mac Sonoma V14.3.1 and Outlook for Mac 16.3.3 and there is no such thing as a "Preferences" menu nor a "Search" menu. Under Settings there is no way to re-index the Search. Can you please review this and provide instructions that align with the actual OS and app version? My Outlook search window in my Inbox cannot find ANY emails from people who I regularly receive messages from and it is very frustrating, to the point where I am considering dumping Outlook. Thanks for your help!

Hi, David

Good day!

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to assist you.

According to your description, I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the search function in Outlook for Mac. Here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:

1. Check for updates: Make sure that you have the latest version of Outlook for Mac installed. To do this, open Outlook and go to Help > Check for Updates.
2. Rebuild the search index: Sometimes the search index can become corrupted, which can cause issues with search. To rebuild the search index, go to Outlook > Preferences > Search > Indexing > Rebuild.
3. Check your search settings: Make sure that your search settings are configured correctly. Go to Outlook > Preferences > Search and make sure that the correct folders are selected for search.

In addition, please give it a shot by creating a new profile and see if it can make any differences - Manage profiles or identities in Outlook for Mac - Microsoft Support.

Note: Please be kindly to backup your important data in case of losing it.

Thanks for your attempts and looking forward to your new updates.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Alex | Microsoft Community Moderator.

SOLVED thanks to reading this thread: I had the same issue, currently running Outlook for Mac in legacy mode. Issue started after updating to Sonoma v14.3.

Settings > Siri & Spotlight > scroll to bottom > Spotlight Privacy > + > iMac > Macintosh HD > Choose

At this point I tried to remove but got the message an error had occurred. I restarted then was able to remove Macintosh HD from the privacy window, select done and all working again.

If you cannot find the path "Outlook > Preferences > Search" you're probably using Outlook in "Outlook Legacy" mode (instead of the "New Outlook"). So, the step 3 described in the solution by AlexChen is not available. 3. Check your search settings: Make sure that your search settings are configured correctly. Go to Outlook > Preferences > Search and make sure that the correct folders are selected for search.

In my case (Ventura/Outlook 2016) the following steps fixed the issue:

Step 1) Type the following command in your terminal: sudo mdutil -a -i off sudo mdutil -a -i on

Step 2) Re-Index your HDD:

• Open System settings and select Siri and Spotlight.
• Scroll down and click the Spotlight Privacy.- From the Finder menu select "Go > Computer".- Drag the Macintosh HD to the Privacy tab and wait for some time.- From the Privacy window, select the HD and then click the minus (-) button near the bottom left of the window.

Step 3) The strangest one:

From Outlook do this: Enable && Disable "New Outlook" Feature

I know, I know... step 3) seems like an absurd step (activate the option and then deactivate it immediately afterwards) but thanks to what seems like a nice function of the new outlook, step 3) is mandatory for the success of the procedure

That's it.

I use only the "Outlook Legacy" (the "New Outlook" is still an immature product for my needs).

So in step 3, I switched from 'Outlook Legacy' to 'New Outlook' and then switched back immediately from 'New Outlook' to 'Outlook Legacy'.

I have no idea how step 3 played a role in solving the problem. In any case, it is part of the procedure I followed (I don't know if skipping it would lead to the same results).