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Search all mailboxes is not working

Anonymous
2025-02-20T01:38:55+00:00

I have a user who is unable to properly search all mailboxes.

They have an additional mailbox that they have full read and manage access to. We did a fresh install from portal.office.com. We have made sure that Outlook is up to date and they are on the fllowing version of Outlook, Version: Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2412 Build 16.0.18324.20240) 64-bit 

We have taken the subject line from an email that is in the user's inbox, and when the current mailbox is set to the inbox of the shared mailbox, we are unable to find the email in the "Search All Mailboxes" scope.

We have rebuilt the search index as well.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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Anonymous
2025-02-20T02:56:06+00:00

Hi Aidan Trujillo,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community, we are glad to assist you here.

Based on your post we understand you are having problem in searching out emails from an accessed mailbox.

To address this issue, could you please do the following? Thanks in advance.

1. Verify Cached Exchange Mode for the other mailboxes - as you mentioned that they have full and read access, so let's say it is a sharedmailbox below

If the shared mailbox is set up as an additional mailbox in Outlook, it might not be fully indexed. Try disabling Cached Exchange Mode for shared mailboxes:

  • Go to: Outlook > File > Account Settings > Account Settings
  • Select the affected user’s account and click Change.
  • Uncheck "Download shared folders" under Cached Exchange Mode.
  • Restart Outlook and test the search again.

2. Ensure the Shared Mailbox is Properly Indexed

Outlook’s search relies on Windows Search Index. Check if the shared mailbox is being indexed:

  • Go to: Control Panel > Indexing Options > Modify
  • Ensure that the shared mailbox is included in the indexed locations.
  • If it is not listed, remove and re-add the mailbox.

3. Check Outlook Search Scope

Make sure the user is actually searching all mailboxes:

  • Click inside the search bar in Outlook.
  • On the Search tab, select All Mailboxes from the dropdown.
  • If "All Mailboxes" is missing, try setting it to "Current Mailbox" first, then switch back.

4. Run Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA)

Microsoft provides a dedicated troubleshooting tool for Outlook search issues:

  • Download SaRA from Microsoft Support.
  • Run the Search Issues troubleshooter and follow the suggested steps.

If issue persists, we suggest you to contact Microsoft 365 online technical support, they can help check the issue from the backend:

Sign in to Microsoft 365 admin center with your Microsoft 365 admin account, and select Support > Help and support, enter your question and select Contact support.

Hope this is helpful and please feel free to get back to us if you have any update.

Regards,
Microsoft Community Moderator

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-08T05:45:36+00:00

    Dear Aidan Trujillo,

    Greetings

    I hope you are doing well!

    Many thanks for the prompt response. Am glad to hear that the issue is resolved now. If you don't mind, could you kindly submit your feedback and vote for my reply if it's helpful. You could help any other community users who might be facing a similar scenario to easily find this thread/post. Thank you so much!

    We appreciate your time and kind cooperation. For other questions, feel free to add your post in the Microsoft Community team. Have a wonderful day.

    Sincerely,

    Microsoft Community Moderator

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-08T00:49:40+00:00

    I was finally able to get ahold of the user.

    We had the Shared Inbox added automatically from EAC when she was given access there.

    What fixed this was the first thing you said, which was not downloading the shared mailboxes. Then we needed to add the mailbox by going to File > Account Settings > Account Settings > New and adding the shared mailbox. We were able to sign in with her credentials and get it added.

    Teres was then able to search all mailboxes from her Inbox and results came up from both the shared mailbox and her inbox.

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