Outlook search not working: tried everything, please help. Super frustrated ;-(

Question

Hello everyone,

I run a Surface Pro X. Nothing special, just the usual office applications. I did enrol in the insider programme several months ago, not sure whether that is related to my 'issue'.

I use outlook with 3 Gmail accounts (2 Google Workspace and one private account actually) that are accessed via IMAP. I have the same setup in my office on a Surface Studio, where everything works flawlessly.

However, on the Surface Pro, the search function in Outlook stopped working somewhere in July. When I do a search, I simply get 'no results' and below that 'find more on server'. When I click the latter, again: 'no results'.

1. Of course I tried to fix this by following this: Troubleshooting Outlook search issues (microsoft.com). And more by following all kinds of tips and tricks in forums.
2. Then I chatted with 3 different tech support staff members, one of whom was 'escalation level'. Each of them took over my computer, spent 1 to 2 hours doing all the things I already did in step 1. The first agent eventually made me reinstall Office, the second made me reinstall Windows entirely. The third couldn't fix it after a clean reinstall of Windows (11) and Office (total wipe of computer) and promised that I would be contact by a super senior specialist the next day at 9am sharp, which didn't happen.
3. I deleted all the 32-bit preinstalled Office versions that come with the (fresh) Windows 11 install (13 languages one by one, took ages; there was no other way since the official Office recovery/uninstall tool does not work under Windows 11) and installed the native ARM64 Office version. Still the search bar in Outlook gives 'no results'.

I am about to throw my Surface Pro X out the Window.

Any ideas/help/suggestions before I do?

Joseph

Answer 1

Hello Joseph,

I'm Diane, an Office Apps & Services MVP specializing in Outlook, and I’m happy to help you today.

Does Windows Search seem to work ok in the OS? Did you reindex Outlook?

Do you have search results if you change the search scope?

A stopgap option is going back to the Outlook search. It's slower that Windows Search, but works.

You need to set this registry key - the restart Outlook:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

DWORD: PreventIndexingOutlook

Value: 1

Answer 2

Hi Diane,

Thanks for you response. See my answers below in your original message.

The thing is: I have done a clean reinstall of everything after everything else failed. Should work out of the box, shouldn't it?

Joseph

Hello Joseph,

I'm Diane, an Office Apps & Services MVP specializing in Outlook, and I’m happy to help you today.

Does Windows Search seem to work ok in the OS? Did you reindex Outlook?

- Windows search works ok

- I reindexed Outlook (and all the others suggestions in the 'Troubleshooting Outlook search issues' guide. So did the three Microsoft support staff members who spent in total >6 hours on the problem.

Do you have search results if you change the search scope?

- no
A stopgap option is going back to the Outlook search. It's slower that Windows Search, but works.

- I refuse to do that. This should work out of the box and I did a clean reinstall
You need to set this registry key - the restart Outlook:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
DWORD: PreventIndexingOutlook
Value: 1

Answer 3

Yes, it should work right out of the box. It's odd that changing the search scope doesn't work - that often works (although not a fix). Best guess: it's related to the app emulation on the pro x. I'll check with my support contact on the Outlook team.

Answer 4

The more on server link indications you have the sync slider set to only download some messages - the messages you are looking for are downloaded, correct? (I have to ask, because support will mention that first.)

This is one of the issues for the ARM-based office - you should still get some results though.

Some Search features do not yet work properly.

In Outlook, certain types of searches, such as messages from the same conversation, will not return results.

Since you are in the office insider program, report it using Help > Feedback (if you haven't already).

https://insider.office.com/en-us/blog/64-bit-of...

Answer 5

Thanks.

Please note that it doesn't work in the native ARM64 version of Outlook either.