Search not working on Outlook 16.79 on Mac Sonoma

Search no longer works in my MS Outlook for Mac (v16.83). The above suggestion does not work due to instructions that don't apply to my version of MS Outlook.

When I try to follow the instructions to "go to Outlook > Preferences > Search > Indexing > Rebuild" I find there is no "Preferences" listed under the Outlook menu.

I will continue to search for a solution to this perplexing problem.

RKD

Thank you for posting! This fix worked for me where I found Spotlight was off (step 5). I turned it on, and waited for Spotlight indexing to complete.

I am running Ventura 13.5.2 and Outlook Legacy 16.78.

Had the same issue for over a year. Tried everything without success.

Saw this on another forum, tried it and now works perfectly!

Outlook Support:

I will be glad to assist you. With regards to the search issue, let's run a couple of commands on Terminal to manually initiate indexing and check if that helps:

Open Finder and go to Applications - Utilities - Terminal and type the following commands (Press Enter after typing each command).

sudo mdutil -a -i off

sudo mdutil -a -i on

Note: When prompted for a password, please type the Mac user password. This would be invisible. Please type the same and hit enter.

Once done, restart the mac computer and wait for about an hour and check for the behavior.

Please try and let us know the Outcome. Thank you.

Did you then remove the HD from Spotlight Privacy so it reindexed? You didn't leave it there, right? Also, did you do the quick switch to new outlook and back to legacy?

Some of us are stuck with the new outlook. The spotlight solution does not appear to work. My search results are incomplete and inaccurate. Searches conducted by entering someone's name and using the autofill feature in the search bar come back with partial results. Same thing is I use the person's email address.

I keep hoping each update will address this but Microsoft seems disinterested. Search in the New Outlook is completely useless and there seems to be no viable solution. It's a dreadfully buggy programme all around.