Outlook Not Searching Exchange Shared Mailbox

Michael Adams 366 Reputation points
2023-08-22T18:43:28.02+00:00

Outlook has stopped searching a shared mailbox, but only for some users. Outlook is connected to an on-premises Exchange Server. I ran a script to check the indexing error on the shared mailbox, and did find errors. I repaired the index on the Exchange Server, and it now has no errors. This did not fix the Outlook search issue.

Things I've tried:

  1. Setting Outlook to disable cached mode for the shared mailbox using the Windows registry. No change.
  2. Set Outlook to only use the local index through the Windows registry. No change.
  3. Reset Outlook views. No change.
  4. Removed and recreated Outlook profile. No change. In fact, it was even worse with no emails showing in the shared mailbox even when not searching. I removed the user from the shared mailbox delegation on the Exchange Server, adding the user back, and the emails reappeared. Search still did not work.
  5. Ran full Online Repair of Office Apps for Enterprise. Search now works for the shared mailbox, but only if the Inbox of the shared mailbox is selected, and the search scope is set to "All Mailboxes". If the search scope is set to "Current Folder", search does not work. It did before this issue arose. Other issue is if I select the user's personal Inbox, and run search, the "All Mailboxes" search option is missing.
  6. Ran search with the Outlook Web App. Works fine.

I have to conclude that there is some issue with Outlook. Any help would be appreciated.

Exchange | Exchange Server | Other
Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
Exchange | Exchange Server | Management
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14 answers

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  1. Barry Watson 0 Reputation points
    2023-11-23T12:58:48.9133333+00:00

    We have also come to the conclusion it is the version of MS Office.

    When we install an old office version (for example 2302) and disable office updates it works. Our main issue however, is that office eventually updates itself despite our company wide policy to disable office updates. We assume this is updating via Teams updates (which is not currently disabled).

    We cannot expect to keep rolling back Office versions however as a work around. Please can anyone comment if they have engaged MS directly via support?

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  2. BasLi 0 Reputation points
    2023-11-28T09:40:19.32+00:00

    Hi, can confirm we got the same issue on multiple locations.

    • Exchange Server 2019 with multiple versions of Outlook (Office 2019 Home and Business / Office 2019 Standard / Office 365).
    • Both in domain and externally connected.
    • The search through the webmail is working fine.
    • Virusscanner is also excluded as cause.
    • Not everyone in our org has this issue.

  3. Hannes Siitas 0 Reputation points
    2023-11-29T07:54:18.25+00:00

    This fixed it for us.

    In Windows, right-click Start, and then select Run. In the Open: box type regedit, and then click OK. This will open the registry editor.
     
    In the registry editor dialog box, find this subkey in the registry, and then click it:
     
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Search
     
    Click Edit > New > DWORD Value.
     
    Type DisableServerAssistedSearch for the name of the DWORD, and then press Enter.
     
    Right-click DisableServerAssistedSearch, and then click Modify.
     
    In the Value data box, type 1 to enable the registry entry, and then click OK.
     
    Close the registry editor, and then restart Windows.


  4. Blum, Martin 0 Reputation points
    2024-02-20T09:10:10.0833333+00:00

    G'day everyone, The latest Microsoft 365 version 2312 (Build 16.0.17126.20190) fixed our issue.

    Cheers,
    Martin

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