I cannot move mail from my Outlook 365 search results list to any folder.

Roch, Nicolas 41

Hi,

I seriously need help :
Since the beginning of the week, I cannot move any mail from a search results list to a folder (to sort them out of the main mail received list) on Outlook 365 Web application.
I'm usually use Chrome browser, but I also tried on Firefox, Edge Chromium and it's only working on the old version of Edge (the one with a logo quite similar to IE, the same "e" but darker) but this is too slow and not convenient for me.

I also tried to install a new Chrome version, still not working.

The thing is that was working before ... I realy wonder what's the problem cause I've made no changes on my laptop.

Could you please help me ?

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards

Nicolas

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,621 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-11-25T02:51:22.433+00:00

Hi @Roch, Nicolas ,

Welcome to our forum!

Please kindly understand under Outlook tag, we mainly focus on general issues about Outlook desktop client. Considering that your issue may be more related to Outlook 365 Web application, I would add "office-exchange-online-itpro" tag under your post to solve it better.

Thanks for your understanding and hope your issue would be resolved soon.
Chris McLean 11 Reputation points

2021-11-25T03:22:54.227+00:00

I can't help in getting this resolved but I just wanted to add that we have seen the same issue occurring recently across multiple accounts and tenants.

It was originally raised by a client, and has been confirmed as occurring on one of our internal accounts as well. The issue isn't occurring for everybody, with some accounts continuing to work as expected while others experience the issue.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-11-25T09:01:54.627+00:00

Hi @Roch, Nicolas ，

May I know how did you try to move a mail from the search results? By directly dragging and dropping it to the dedicated folder, choose the message and click the "Move to" button on the ribbon or right click the message and choose "Move"?

I tried checking it using my Microsoft 365 account in Chrome(Version 94.0.4606.61) and Edge Chromium (Version 96.0.1054.29), mails in search results list can be moved to another folder as expected using any of the methods mentioned above.

Given this, please try to clear the cache and cookies of the affected browsers and see if there would be any improvement. Moreover, from the experience shared earlier by @Chris McLean , seems that the issue may occur across multiple accounts and tenants, so if the issue persists, I'd suggest trying to contact your Exchange administrator as well for further help, and the administrator can open a tickect via the admin portal for further technical support.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-11-25T09:04:21.533+00:00

@Chris McLean ,

Thanks for sharing your experience with us! So are your clients still affected by this issue? If this is the case, it's also recommended to try open a support ticked via the admin center for further assistance:
Chris McLean 11 Reputation points

2021-11-26T01:20:26.367+00:00

Thank you, we have logged a ticket for this and are working through the issue.
Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-11-26T08:42:45.337+00:00

Hi everyone and first, many thanks a lot for your concerns.

I tried both : by drag-and-dropping, choosing an option in the visualisation frame when you select some mails and also right-clicking and choosing "moving..." in the right-click menu. Nothing works.

I've tried to re-install Chrome (96.0.4664.45 version and only bookmarks have been saved and restored) and cleaned cookies and cache, same issue.
One of fellow worker has tried to log in with his session on my computer to launch his outlook 365 account on my impacted browsers but same issue.
I've tested on another computer on Brave and this is working... ?!

Could it be something like a folder with some office365 datas on my professional laptop wich could be corrupted or bugged ?

I really hope this could be solved.

Kind regards
Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-11-26T10:04:26.62+00:00

Hi @Roch, Nicolas ，

As per your concern about the corrupted folder on the affected machine, personally I think it's unlikely to be the cause for it as per my understanding, when accessing mailbox via OWA, mailbox data is timely synced to the server side, also this cannot explain why it works for the old Edge on the same machine.

I've tested on another computer on Brave and this is working... ?!

Is the version of Chrome the same as the problematic machine(96.0.4664.45)?
Have you tried opening the browser in private mode and see if there would be any difference?

By the way, if you have Outlook installed on the machine, I'd suggest checking if it works there. If there's no issue, using Outlook client could be an alternative at this time.
Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-11-26T10:27:04.483+00:00

Maybe the Old Edge might not check on this local folder or file, but don't bother, it was a jump out idea.

Anyway, this is not working in private mode and chrome version on the other computer is the same.

I'll try on the client, but this is not an alternative cause It's too slow, really !
Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-11-26T10:37:31.49+00:00

Not working on the client ?!

I'm seriously astonished ! Really strange don't you think ?
RicardoM 1 Reputation point

2021-11-26T14:49:21.977+00:00

I also noticed the same issue.

I always used this feature to organize my inbox.

From inbox, select one message, then click "show all messages from this sender", and then selected them all and move them to the right folder using the ability to input a part of the name of the target folder that would inmediately bring it as opposed to Outlool desktop in which you have to select the folder from the tree making this operation very tedious.

Suddenly it stopped working. It won't move them. It does from the inbox but not from the search results list.

Tried in different computers, using Chrome or Edge..., it does not work anymore... It was the one and only reason I would use the Web version over the desktop...
Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-11-29T07:36:00.453+00:00

Hi @Roch, Nicolas ，

Not working on the client

Does it work on the other machine you mentioned earlier?
How about in Outlook safe mode(Exist Outlook, press Win+R, type"outlook /safe", press Enter.)?

And do you happen to have any add-ins or extensions added in the browsers which have the issue? If yes, try temporarily disabling them and see how it goes.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-11-29T07:44:30.293+00:00

Hi @RicardoM ,

May I know when did this issue start to occur?

By the way, for the situation you mentioned above, personally I'd suggest creating an Inbox rule in either OWA or the Outlook desktop client to automatically move all messages sent from a specific user to a certain folder.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-11-29T07:51:36.493+00:00

Thanks @Chris McLean for the response. And should you get any additional information from the ticket, would be appreciated if you can post back to share in the community: )
Michael L 1 Reputation point

2021-11-29T08:13:58.19+00:00

Hi everyone,

We've got the same issue in our organization.
Some users can't move email from a search result since wednesday.
It's working for me, but not for my fellow worker.
We tried on the same computer, it's working for me but, not for him...

I'm following this thread hoping someone finds a solution.
Kind regards
RicardoM 1 Reputation point

2021-11-29T08:27:44.733+00:00

I noticed it just last week but I cannot be sure when it started because I don't do this daily. I cannot use what you suggest because rules make messages disappear and what I am doing is organizing my archive after I have seen the messages.
RicardoM 1 Reputation point

2021-11-29T08:36:44.6+00:00

Some more information: It does delete from search results but it does not move to a folder using any of the three possible methods: 1) Move option in the top bar 2) Move option in pre read panel when multiple messages are selected or 3) Quick action move icon on the any one message

My guess is the issue is on the user interface because it doesn't do anything, as if you were clicking on any blank area of the screen, there is no interaction with the back end...
Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-11-29T14:02:41.63+00:00

Hi @Yuki Sun-MSFT ,

You're right, it's not working anymore on my desktop, on the Brave browser it has been working earlier.

I've no add-on on my browsers and that's working in safe mode on the Client (but that's not an option for me to use it : it's way too slow and not convenient at all).

Thanks for your concerns and for your searches.

I'hope we'll find the solution.
Fr. Ken Trutle 6 Reputation points

2021-11-29T19:54:19.433+00:00

I am experiencing exactly the same problem as described in excellent detail by Nicolas throughout this post; as he noted, I also just noticed this problem maybe beginning last week or so and is affecting any number of my separate Outlook accounts that I access online (i.e. OWA access); this same issue also affecting various Outlook OWA accounts my wife uses for work/personal, so I must assume this is a very wide-spread problem that Microsoft is going to want to address fairly quickly. This is a major problem in terms of how I use my Outlook - I don't want to begin using desktop client version of Outlook, I want unfettered working access via OWA. Good luck tech team - I'll be following this thread closely thru to hoped for resolution..
SJ 11 Reputation points

2021-11-30T15:14:14.617+00:00

I agree with RicardoM-2373. The response that Microsoft gave suggesting to use rules to work around this issue is not helpful. That would make messages disappear from the inbox. I am organizing my messages after I have seen them in my inbox and the work is done on them. THEN I move them out of my inbox into an archived folder. This cannot happen until after I have seen the messages and worked on the issues. PLEASE - MICROSOFT - fix this problem. I opened a ticket with you on Friday, but, you closed my ticket with no resolution. I need resolution.
JK 1 Reputation point

2021-11-30T20:23:25.213+00:00

I am also having this exact same issue since maybe a week or so ago and this is a good summary of the issue and the lack of any possible workaround.
Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-12-01T00:00:46.607+00:00

@StayAwayFromGrimace hopefully gave us good news bellow !
Tarquin B Whiskerface II 6 Reputation points

2021-12-01T10:18:27.96+00:00

Yep, I've just noticed the same thing having been away a few days and needing to flush my inbox. I've had the pain of identifying conversations/alerts/auto-responses and deleting each one individually. In a way I'm glad it's not just me so hopefully someone at O365 will take note and resolve.
Tarquin B Whiskerface II 6 Reputation points

2021-12-01T17:31:43.997+00:00
Hi @Roch, Nicolas ,
I experienced this problem too and am glad you raised it. I found a slight workaround in the meantime using Categories.

Assign any emails that appear as a result of a search to a new Category, giving it an appropriate name (eg "SearchResults")

Then, add that new Category as a Favourite so that you can view all emails in that new category (in web version of Outlook 365 you cannot view emails in a category unless you add it as a Favourite)

Click on that new Category. This shows your emails from the search result.

You can then do whatever you need to do to them as you would have done in the search result, eg, move to Archive.

Finally, remove that new Category from those emails.

Voila!

Accepted answer

Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-12-06T07:16:08.317+00:00

Hi @Roch, Nicolas and all others who have been impacted by this issue,

According to the update for EX300301 in the Microsoft 365 admin center, this known issue has been restored so please have a check on your end and see if everything is going well now.

More details:

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
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2 people found this answer helpful.
SJ 11 Reputation points

2021-12-06T12:18:39.413+00:00

Thank You YukiSun. It is fixed for me. Thank you for the email letting me know of the fix. I attempted to "verify answer" as you requested in your email, but, I do not seem to have the link to do that. Hopefully others will see my comment here and know that there is a fix in place now. I appreciate you communicating with me. Thanks.

Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-12-07T01:16:40.243+00:00

Hi @SJ ，

Glad to know that it fixed for you as well! Regarding the "Accept Answer" button, currently it's only available to the original poster of a thread, so nerver mind : ) Have a nice one!

Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-12-08T10:14:34.517+00:00

@Yuki Sun-MSFT ,

Yes, that's solved for me.
Greeeeeat thanks to all who helped for this issue !

It also solved for me a design issue : I have retrieved the blue headder with main buttons (Profil, Settings, notifications, ... etc) :
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5 additional answers

StayAwayFromGrimace 31 Reputation points

2021-11-30T20:49:31.74+00:00

Yep. Same here for our tenant. I only have one user complaining so far, but it's the same thing: can't move messages that are listed from a search into sub folders using outlook.com.

I just checked the Service health page in Microsoft 365 admin center and it's listed there as a known issue. Microsoft is aware of the problem.

November 29, 2021 6:48 PM

Title: Can't move items after search

User Impact: Users may be unable to move items after search results within Exchange Online.

More info: The problem doesn’t occur when conversation view is enabled. As such, we recommended enabled conversation view as a workaround until the issue has been addressed.

Current status: A fix has been validated and has begun deployment. We're tracking the deployment and anticipate that it'll complete by Friday, December 3, 2021.

Scope of impact: Impact is specific users who are served through the affected infrastructure.

Root cause: A recently deployed update to improve service performance introduced a code problem that's resulting in impact.

Next update by: Friday, December 3, 2021, 7:00 PM (12/4/2021, 1:00 AM UTC)
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1 person found this answer helpful.
SJ 11 Reputation points

2021-11-30T20:58:05.067+00:00

Thank you for sharing this. I am growing more and more frustrated because Microsoft keeps emailing me updates that do not tell me anything about when the problem will actually be solved. That conversation view work around is no good for me. It will move ALL of your emails in that conversation out of their current folders to the archive folder. That is NOT what I need. Plus, my issues in email become spread out over multiple email strings. It is not a helpful work around. Just more steps and more confusion. Thank you again for sharing this timeline. I will check the issue again on Friday 12/3.

StayAwayFromGrimace 31 Reputation points

2021-11-30T21:02:56.2+00:00

I agree, conversation view is not my thing.

I'm not a fan of opening support tickets with Microsoft. It's a frustration game of phone tag. Rarely do I get solid steps to do on my own or answers to my problem. It's mostly "I just tried to call at the number you provided and you didn't answer. Let me know when would be a good time to call again."

Roch, Nicolas 41 Reputation points

2021-11-30T23:47:48.077+00:00

Also not solving my problem but a great thanks for the update news !

I deeply agree : moving ALL the discussion is definitely not an issue.

This is good to know anyway for some cases and that minimizes a tiny bit the uge time loss the problem has created.

To be continued ... (unfortunately).
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Tarquin B Whiskerface II 6 Reputation points

2021-12-01T17:41:21.733+00:00
Hi all,
I experienced this problem too and am glad it's been raised. I found a slight workaround in the meantime using Categories - this is for the web version of Outlook 365.

Create a brand new Category, giving it an appropriate name (eg "SearchResults")

Then, add your SearchResults Category as a Favourite so that you can view all emails in that new category (in web version of Outlook 365 you cannot view emails in a category unless you add it as a Favourite)

Perform your search.

Assign any emails that appear in that search to your SearchResults Category

Click on your SearchResults Category in Favourites. This shows your emails from that recent search result.

You can then do whatever you need to do to those emails as you would have done in the search result, eg, move to Archive, move to a folder, etc.

Finally, remove that SearchResults Category from those emails.

Tip: Keep your SearchResults Category for further search results in case you need it.

et Voila! You only need to perform steps 3-6 once you've set up that category, which is what you'd do anyway if searching for emails.

Not ideal, but this worked for me until a fix is found.
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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Dennis V 1 Reputation point

2021-12-06T08:01:32.123+00:00

Dec 06 2021

Still broken for me.
I am not using conversation mode.

Drag/drop or using the move command from the dropdown both do not work.
Looking at the development console I see this error repeatedly when trying to perform the action (drag/drop or move command).

res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.MailBoot.js:11 Uncaught (in promise) Error: Input parameter to folderIdToName must not be null.
at o (res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.MailBoot.js:11)
at res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.529.js:1
at nt (res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.529.js:1)
at ye (res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.529.js:1)
at tt (res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.529.js:1)
at it (res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.529.js:1)
at :363
at a.then (:363)
at w.importAndExecute (:363)
at Object.onDrop (res.cdn.office.net/owamail/20211115002.08/scripts/owa.MailBoot.js:16)

When selecting multiple emails without search filtering first it all works well.
I haven't tried the conversation mode as I personally can't work with this method.

The workaround provided by @Tarquin B Whiskerface II does help out.
I had to look for this option so here is my addon :
You can find and add the categories from the settings option (cogwheel) and type "categories". (It directs to settins>general>categories)
The star behind the category name makes it a favorite.

You can find this favorite folder in in the top left of the folder pane.

Another workaround to use is the copy + delete functions as these seems to be working.
After a search filter select and copy the email to the wanted folder and delete it from the original folder.
Offcourse test this yourself or make a extra copy of everything in the original folder before deleting.

I hope this gets properly fixed soon as searching with filtering along with moving is kind of a big deal :)
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Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-12-06T09:44:16.693+00:00

Hi @Dennis V ,

Thanks for your feedback. And for your specific situation, I'd personally recommend trying to contact your Microsoft 365 administrator to open a support ticket in order for further analysis from the backend.
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RicardoM 1 Reputation point

2021-12-06T09:37:17.047+00:00

It is now working in my case!
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Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points

2021-12-06T09:39:08.403+00:00

Hi @RicardoM ，

It is now working in my case!

Cool! Happy to hear that : )

Dennis V 1 Reputation point

2021-12-10T08:06:59.94+00:00

Same here, works again.
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