How to fix search issues in old outlook for MacBook Air

I was having this same exact problem, tried all the "fixes" I could find and nothing worked. Finally I stumbled onto one that did. Go to settings --> Siri & Spotlight --> Spotlight Privacy. Probably there is nothing there. I clicked the + button and added the entire Macintosh HD (hard drive). It will warn you if you are sure. Do it. Reboot the computer. Go back to Spotlight Privacy and remove the hard drive. It took about an hour for my computer to reindex, but now Outlook Search works great!

I've had this same problem and used the solution you reference with a slight modification. Go to Spotlight Privacy as you've described but instead of adding the entire HD, press cmd+shift+g and go to ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T******.Office/ from here find and select Outlook and press Choose. Press Done, then re-enter Spotlight Privacy and remove the Outlook entry. Spotlight should begin re-indexing Outlook in the background. Back in Outlook try a search, be patient, and items should begin appearing. As a side note, after Office or OS upgrades I've had to redo this procedure.

This solved my problem. Just need to be patient and wait after for 30 minutes then all starts searching again. Thnx Timm

Hi everyone,

I've been experiencing search issues with Outlook Version 16.85.2 (Legacy, as the new Outlook has font issues) on macOS Sonoma. I was able to fully resolve these problems by contacting Microsoft and using the following commands in the terminal:

sudo mdutil -a -i off
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo mdutil -a -i on

These commands will reindex your entire Mac, which may take a few minutes to a few hours depending on your files and system specifications.

I hope this helps anyone facing similar issues with Outlook search.

Thanks

Hi

I also the same problem. I went to Settings - Siri Spotlight and unchecked the box Email and Messages and now it works fine. The way it was solved by Timmfrommaricopa did not solve it for me.

I also hate the new outlook btw.

Amazing thank you, that worked perfectly

Thank you so much! GREAT, it worked! I've spent hours trying to find a solution! Nothing worked before. I had a problem with Outlook search after migrating from my old Mac to a new Mac. I'm on MacBook Air, 15-inch, M2, 2023, Sonoma 14.1 (23B74), Outlook 16.78.2. Tried this on 30 Oct.

You said "It took about an hour for my computer to reindex" During the reindexing process, did you see anything on the screen like "indexing" or something like that? I did the same as advised but seeing nothing on the screen, so I'm not sure if Outlook is indexing or not. The final result is my Outlook is not able to search email. Your solution does not work for me.

FINALLY!

Putting the main profile folder in the spotlight box wasn’t cutting it when I was having this issue when restoring to a new MBP M3 2023 from a Time Machine backup with legacy outlook. Reindexing this way worked great. Tim for the win! I’ve had so much anxiety over this about to travel for a major event!

Outlook is a Microsoft product. Contact Microsoft for support: Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support.

Many thanks. This solution worked perfectly

Thank you LostVirginian. This is the solution that worked for me.