MS Graph Search API Error: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'searchHistoryManager')

Question

MS Graph Search API Error: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'searchHistoryManager')

Michael Nickol 5

First of all:

Uploading / downloading files to our SharePoint Online site out of an Azure Synapse Analytics Python notebook with a generated OAuth2 token works flawlessly, so this is not a firewall / token generation issue or something alike.

My Situation:

I am trying to list all files in our company's SharePoint Online folder that end with *.xlsx via MS Graph API Search (as such an "endsWith" search is not possible with the regular MS Graph API filters).

I am using an Azure enterprise application with application permission.
The app permissions are currently configured as follows (screenshot):
User's image

The site I want to look for files is within the "Shared Documents" SharePoint folder of the site.

The request body of my MS Graph API search request looks as follows:
User's image

The response is as follows:

<Response [500]> {'error': {'code': 'System.ArgumentNullException', 'message': "Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'searchHistoryManager')", 'target': 'Microsoft.Griffin.WebService.Search.SearchHistoryWriters.BaseSearchHistoryWriter`3[TRequest,TSettings,TResponse].Validate'}, 'Instrumentation': {'TraceId': '3593fc9f-4b75-b421-da01-9dbb291acb49'}}

Please help.

1 answer

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Answer 1

Rajat Vashistha-MSFT 1,780 Microsoft External Staff

Hi Michael Nickol,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft!

I attempted to reproduce the scenario on my end, and I was able to achieve success. Since your requirement is to find .xlsx files in SharePoint Online folder, please try formatting the JSON body as shown below User's image

Below are my repro results by using the Delegated Permission and same worked fine using Application Permission as well:

User's image

User's image As you pointed out in your comment, the issue was due to a 'copy & paste' error in your Python code. The request method was still set to 'put' from another piece of code you reused. Once you changed it to 'post', it worked perfectly

You can refer to the following document for further details: Use the Microsoft Search API to search OneDrive and SharePoint content

Hope this helps.

If the answer is helpful, please click Accept Answer and kindly upvote. If you have any further questions about this answer, please click Comment.

Michael Nickol 5 Reputation points

2025-03-14T10:24:57.37+00:00

Hello Rajat,
thank you for your reply.
I tried the suggested change of the query string from parameter "filename" to parameter "filetype", but it didn't make a difference, i.e., the error message stayed the same.
I noticed that your test scenario does not match my situation, as your JSON request body is missing parameter "region". This tells me that you haven't used an Azure Enterprise Application WITH APPLICATION PERMISSION (which is the case with my situation), but DELEGATED PERMISSION instead (, i.e, a signed-in user), which might be the cause of the experienced error.
Can you please repeat your test with APPLICATION PERMISSION (I'm referring to this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/permissions-overview?tabs=http) and give me a feedback?

Best regards,
Michael
Michael Nickol 5 Reputation points

2025-03-14T17:26:58.4766667+00:00

I found the solution to my problem, it was a "copy & paste" error in my Python code - the request method was still set to "put" from another piece of code I reused. As soon as I changed it to "post", it worked.
Question is answered.
Rajat Vashistha-MSFT 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-14T18:49:12.6766667+00:00

Hi Michael Nickol,

Thanks for your reply.

I tried using the delegated permission and also tested it with the application permission, and it worked as expected.

Thanks for sharing your solution regarding the "copy & paste" error in your Python code. Since the Microsoft Q&A forum has a policy that you can't accept your own answer, I have added the solution in my answer along with the reproduction results using application permission. Please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote so that it would be helpful for other users facing a similar issue.
Michael Nickol 5 Reputation points

2025-03-18T11:07:26.0866667+00:00

Dear Rajat,

today, the problem resurfaced, but this time, WITHOUT and "Copy & Paste" error.
Yesterday, everything worked beautifully.
First thing in the morning, the same old error is back.
I've tried DELEGATED PERMISSION and it still works (but is only acceptable for debugging). So it has definitely something to do with the application permission.

I have checked with all colleagues, nobody has changed anything on the configuration of the Azure enterprise application AKA the APPLICATION PERMISSIONS.

Now I'm back at the beginning - please help!

Stefano Padovan 20

identical issue over here. All MS Graph APIs working, beside Search, always failing with:

APIError
  Code: 500
  message: None
  error: MainError(additional_data={},
  code='System.ArgumentNullException',
  message="Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'searchHistoryManager')"
  target='Microsoft.Griffin.WebService.Search.SearchHistoryWriters.BaseSearchHistoryWriter`3[TRequest,TSettings,TResponse].Validate')

Same code was working yesterday.

Rajat Vashistha-MSFT 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-18T11:32:22.6166667+00:00

Hi Michael Nickol/ Stefano Padovan

It appears that this issue might be related to a global service degradation in Search or recommendations in multiple M365 services. Could you please check the service health for your tenant? You should be able to see the degradation affecting your tenant as well.
Stefano Padovan 20 Reputation points

2025-03-18T11:36:43.29+00:00

Thanks for the quick response. I can see open issue MO1027537: "Some users may be unable to search or see recommendations in multiple Microsoft 365 services".
I'll keep monitoring it.
Michael Nickol 5 Reputation points

2025-03-18T11:47:01.4433333+00:00

I know the cause now: It's a bug in MS Graph API!

Please read carefully:
The MS Graph API endpoint "search/query" for APPLICATION PERMISSION only works if some recent search history has been created by a call to that endpoint of a DELEGATE PERMISSION user of the same Azure Enterprise application (!!!).

In my case, I thought the application permission-based "search/query" endpoint wasn't working before, because I had used ReST method "PUT" instead of "POST".
Turns out that this has no influence at all, both methods will work!

The TRUE reason why it "suddenly" started working last week with application permission is because I added DELEGATED PERMISSION to the Azure Enterprise Application and fired some SUCCESSFUL MS Graph API "search/query" endpoint requests. AFTER THAT, I retried the APPLICATION PERMISSION and it worked.

It seems that the search history created by the DELEGATED PERMISSION post from last week got deleted after a couple of days. This caused the error of no found search history to resurface. After I created some search history again with the DELEGATED PERMISSION, again the APPLICATION PERMISSION starts working again.

Edit: Or is this pure coincidence with the globally reported issue?!
Now I am totally confused ...
Rajat Vashistha-MSFT 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-24T11:18:52.7866667+00:00

Hi Michael Nickol,

As mentioned earlier, the issue was due to a globally reported concern. It should now be working as expected

If your question has been answered, then you can click "Accept Answer", which may help members with similar questions. Thank you very much!

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MS Graph Search API Error: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'searchHistoryManager')

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