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"Classic" Outlook search broken - can't type into search box

Anonymous
2024-10-24T20:47:51+00:00

I can't type a word into the Outlook search box so I can find a past email with that word/name in it.

Here's what happens:

When I place my cursor in the box and click on it, the search box briefly flashes and I see the words "current mailbox" to the left of the search box, but then the words "current mailbox" disappear and the search box is greyed out again. I can type one letter in the box, and then I need to click the mouse so the cursor is back in the box, and I can then type another letter into the search box. I can eventually get a word typed into the box, but the search doesn't yield anything meaningful.

My brother who lives in Oakland, CA, had this problem a week or so ago...and he's had mixed results getting it fixed.

I can go to outlook.com and the search box (and search functionality) works, but I really prefer the robustness of the classic Outlook.

Any thoughts?

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-17T09:26:39+00:00

    I eventually fixed it.

    In my case I concluded that it was something to do with one of my accounts because the issue only occured my one of my three Outlook accounts and impacted two independant machines in the same way.

    I did two things;

    1. Went to the impacted microsoft account settings online and navigated to Privacy where under Browsing and Search you can clear your search activity history. This didn't immediately fix the problem, other users seem to find that it can take quite a while to synchronise.
    2. I then went to Outlook search options and modified the indexing options to deselect all selected locations (including outlook)

    Not sure which of these cleared the problem, but it is OK now. BTW - the issue seems to be related to Outlook being unable to retrieve details of search history from central servers because in my case if I disabled internet connection the problem also went away while the connection was unavailable.

    Unfortunately switching to the 'new' outlook didn't help me because it doesn't support search across multiple mailboxes - who knows if/when this and support for .PST files will be added?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-12T15:53:59+00:00

    I have the exact same problem,

    I have tried indexing mailbox, reinstalling outlook classic, run the online repair, created a test profile, ran the outlook online repair.

    Funny thing is i have 4 email accounts on my outlook and only one is affected which is my hotmail account.

    I spoke to MS support this morning they logged onto my laptop and they couldnt even fix it.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2025-02-15T22:06:28+00:00

    I see exactly the same problem, something is broken in Outlook. It seems it started by the time a new version of Office was quitely installed.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-23T13:32:54+00:00

    I have the same search bar problem. Like others have noted, it has been a nuisance for a while now and intermittently closing before the search parameters are entered. Now it is all the time. If I pay attention and watch, clicking the mouse in the search bar brings up the usual search bar but then 1 second later it closes. Trying to type very fast doesn't change the behavior. Rebooting did nothing. Starting Outlook in safe made shows the same behavior.

    Other than calling Support, does anyone have suggestions?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2024-12-03T16:40:07+00:00

    I tried this and is does work in safe mode - now what? Use outlook in safe mode forever?

    Rebooting my computer had no effect

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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