OneDrive search not working

In my case, I sync all my data with OneDrive, including things like template paths (Office) and project files (Scrivener). Moving all of that to a different directory would have a major impact on the applications using those paths. And my experience with OneDrive resync is that it takes days to resync everything, and OneDrive will attempt to resync everything after a move as described. So the only way I'd dare do this would be while keeping the sync with my local system disabled, and after the move-index-move, I still expect that OneDrive will attempt a full local resync.

My OneDrive currently holds 29GB, and I had zero problems.

The procedure doesn't affect the data in any way, either on your computer or on OneDrive. All it does is alter the way it is indexed by OneDrive.

When you move a file to another directory on the same disk, that file isn't rewritten. The index simply changes to reflect the file's new location. The beauty of this workaround is that it requires only a few seconds of work on your part to change the indexing for every file in your directory. Once OneDrive rebuilds your index, it takes you just a few more seconds to return everything to normal.

In any case, assuming you have your data properly backed up, I don't see the risk.

It worked for me. It worked for Dennis. But, everyone is free to try it or not try it.

This may be a workable workaround for a small dataset, but with 30GB, including the contents of my NAS, I'm not so sure this is feasible, and shudder to think of the impact it might have. (OP)

Yay, great to hear it worked for you too, Dennis! Whoop whoop!

I edited my post to say that you might have to wait longer than a few minutes.

I shared the workaround with the Microsoft support team, and they said they'd pass it along to the team working on the search problem.

EDIT:

IT WORKED!!!!!!!!! ALL I HAD TO DO WAS WAIT HALF A DAY!!!!!

After I moved all directories into the ALL folder, I thought it will be done in minutes, I check and checked the search still wasn't working half an hour in, at that point I gave up already, I came back half a day later the search is back!!!!! on the web and on my android phone!!!! THANKS SO MUCH SCOTT YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER

Sorry I hate to report after moving all my files into the new ALL folder my search still hasn't come back

I did it over my desktop can it be a problem?

HEY, EVERYBODY: HERE'S THE SOLUTION!

Thanks, Glenn. It worked for me too, though my procedure is a bit different. (I have a bunch of directories in my OneDrive.)

Here's what I did:

1. Created a new folder named ALL in my OneDrive directory.
2. Moved all of my other directories into the ALL folder.
3. Waited a few minutes, and then tried searching for various files using my iPad's OneDrive app.
4. Once it was clear that all of my files and directories were searchable, I moved everything back out of the ALL folder and into the main OneDrive folder.

Before I performed this workaround, my OneDrive apps were able to find new files, or files that had been moved or renamed—but nothing else. None of my other files or directories would generate search results.

With my workaround, I effectively moved ALL of my files and directories to a new location (and then moved them back). In the process, the index was fixed.