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Mail.app search stopped working

Hi everyone,


since the upgrade from Catalina to Big Sur, Mail.app search within email messages stopped working for me.


Here's what's happening:


  • If I type a search term into the upper right input field, the word "Searching..." appears at the bottom of the column where the mail topics are displayed, but it never returns any search results
  • There's no auto-completion of the search term anymore - I seem to remember that in Catalina, I got suggestions for mail addresses when I started typing and a dropdown with options like "To", "From" and "Whole Text" or something like that. That's not happening anymore.
  • I don't see mail messages as results in Spotlight search anymore


Here's what I tried / checked:


  • Made sure the Mail folder is included in Spotlight
  • Rebuilt the Spotlight index as described in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716, once for my Mail folder only, then for my complete account
  • Used the "Mailbox -> Rebuild" option in Mail.app for all mailboxes
  • Deleted the configured mail accounts and set them up from scratch (deleting ~/Library/Mail in between)
  • Arbitrary combinations of the above points


If anybody has an idea what else to try, please let me know.


Thanks,

Marc


MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 7, 2021 1:48 AM

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4 replies

Apr 7, 2021 7:57 PM in response to M643

Hello Marc,


Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities. We understand that you're having an issue when searching within the Mail app on your Mac. You've completed some great steps so far too! Check out the following guide to see if the tips and steps help: If searching doesn’t find the right emails in Mail on Mac


Also be sure your Mac is updated with the most current software version of macOS 11.2.3 as updating can resolve odd issues: How to update the software on your Mac


Keep us posted.


Take care.

Apr 10, 2021 1:39 AM in response to TammyW_03

Hi Tammy,


I just wanted to let you know I contacted Support and chatted to a guy named Dustin for a while. He recommended to try resetting NVRAM and SMC, which fixed the problem - search is working again :)


For everyone who might run into the same issue, here are the relevant links:


https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201295


https://support.apple.com/kb/HT204063


Thanks again for your help!


Marc




Apr 8, 2021 1:34 AM in response to TammyW_03

Hi Tammy,


thanks for your reply. I just tried the "Choose Mailbox > Synchronise > [account]" from the link you sent, but unfortunately that doesn't make any difference either.


Like I said, I already tried pretty much everything I could think of to convince Spotlight to play nice, but no luck.


I set up a test folder with a few mails in it to experiment, when I start a search for a term that is definitely present in some mails it looks like this:


The three dots after "Searching" just keep blinking, but nothing else happens. Here are some screenshots from other settings that might be relevant:


The mail account shown here is from Microsoft365, but I have the exact same problem with a GMail account. If you have an idea what else I could try, please let me know.



Thanks,

Marc


Mail.app search stopped working

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