Search not working on Outlook 16.79 on Mac Sonoma

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.

Hi Alex,

I have the same issue on multiple Macs. Having said that, there MUST be an issue with the search. I've actually had it a long time, but I never go around to dealing with it. I have to go to my Windows computer most of the time to search my email.

The results I get are not complete. for example, I have a to do email to myself. when I search To Do, I get way to many results especially because I search for the subject only. The results to not even have "To Do" in the subject.

Also, my settings, search option does not have a reindex option. I actually looked for that before writing. I've been in IT since 1985 FYI. I'm not the average used, but this is a problem I can't solve.

What other thoughts do you have?

Rob

Tried everything including getting a Mac engineer to check things over. Reverted to legacy. Microsoft please sort out the bugs

This is a follow-up to my own post of January 15, 2024, regarding how to restore search function to email in legacy Outlook for Mac running the most recent Sonoma OS.

The rebuilding process I described above appeared to be working . . . but then the very next day email search was back to its non-functional status.

I tried again -- with same partial success-then-no-success results.

In response to this later post from January 19:
>>I switched to the new outlook, and there the search works fine, I find specific mails back. So far I don't understand the "refuse" to new look and feel of outlook.>>

The deal-breaker for the new Outlook option, for me, was that it lost all the subject folders I had maintained for projects for more than 20 years. Admittedly, that's a lot of emails -- but what working professional doesn't have tons of emails over the course of a career? And how many of us have trusted Microsoft's Exchange servers to preserve them?

It's as though Microsoft thinks it's OK to come into my office and dump all the contents of my file cabinets in the floor and tell me, No problem, you can just use the Search function in New Outlook to find any email in this mess.

I invested a great deal of effort in organizing those file cabinets, and I want to keep them -- as well as the capability to continue searching and filing new messages.

A company with the enormous intellectual capacity of Microsoft should be able to solve this, not simply leave its loyal clients with a mess. Time to step up NOW, Microsoft.

In my case :

The legacy outlook has no "search" item in the preferences.

The new outlook has a "search" item in the preferences.

Search is indeed a drama in the legacy outlook. Emails I know I have received this week are impossible to find back searching on eg. name of sender.

I switched to the new outlook, and there the search works fine, I find specific mails back. So far I don't understand the "refuse" to new look and feel of outlook.

However, one thing I must admit, in the old version I could search into mails from +10 years back (Exchange server), in the new outlook, nothing to find back older than 2019. I am not capable enough to know who or what has caused this....