Mailbox Search Not Working in Outlook and OWA – Possible Indexing Issue on Exchange Online

Question

Hello,

Im currently experiencing an issue where mailbox search is not working both in the Outlook desktop client and in Outlook Web Access (OWA) for a specific user. When attempting to search in OWA, the message “Your request can’t be completed right now” appears. In Outlook, the error “There’s a problem with the network connection” is shown, even though the device has proper internet access.

We’ve already tried the following:

Rebuilding the Windows Search Index.

Running Outlook’s repair tool.

Ensuring the mailbox is connected and syncing properly.

Testing on a different machine with the same profile, resulting in the same issue.

Checked that the user is not over the mailbox storage quota.

Given that the search fails in both OWA and Outlook, we suspect the issue may be related to the Exchange Online mailbox indexing, rather than the local client.

Can you confirm if this is likely to be the case? Are there any tools or procedures available to verify and rebuild the search index on the server side in Exchange Online?

Thank you in advance for your support.

Best regards,

Answer 1

Dear @Daniel I Gil Soto

Thank you so much for contacting Microsoft Q&A Support. 

I truly understand the inconvenience that you are facing with the mailbox search error "Your request can’t be completed right now” in both Outlook desktop and Outlook web. Also, you mentioned that you had the error “There’s a problem with the network connection” in Outlook even though your internet connection is available.  

Besides that, I appreciate that you have tried several workarounds to fix, but it still did not work. 

With the internet access error, may I know that if it happens to both Outlook desktop and web version? And you saw it in what step? Could you provide a screenshot of it for me to assist you further? 

With the mailbox search error, I find several workarounds that you can double-check it first: 

1.  Use filters to narrow your search and show older email messages: 

    2. Outlook search returns incomplete results or search can't find older emails:

Reference: Troubleshooting Outlook search issues - Microsoft Support 

Besides that, I find an article related to verify and rebuild the search index on the server side in Exchange Online: Rebuild search index of a mailbox in Exchange Online | Microsoft Community Hub 

Additionally, there is an idea to fix search issues by rebuilding your Instant Search catalog, see more details in here: Fix search issues by rebuilding your Instant Search catalog - Microsoft Support 

I hope this information can help you to solve this error with the mailbox search. If it still does not work, you can provide me for more information about it or a screenshot if applicable. Also, I'm waiting for the update about the internet access error with Outlook in order to assist you further. 

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