Search results are displayed without message preview in Outlook

• Applies to:

  Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook for Microsoft 365

Original KB number:   4230295

Symptoms

In Microsoft Outlook, you have Message Preview enabled and set to 1 line, 2 lines, or 3 lines. When you do a search in Outlook, the results may be displayed without the message preview text.

Cause

This behavior is by design in most cases. Depending on the nature of the data that is returned by the underlying search technology and the search scope that is used, the message preview may not be displayed in the search results. You may also see a mixture of search results, with some message displayed together with the preview text and other messages without it.

Resolution

To change this behavior, try setting the Message Preview setting on all mailboxes instead of on a single folder. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the View tab, select Message Preview, and then select Off. If you're prompted, select All mailboxes.
2. Select Message Preview again, and then select the preview setting that you prefer (1 Line, 2 Lines, or 3 Lines).
3. Select All mailboxes in the dialog box that appears.

Note

This only changes the behavior in certain scenarios. Therefore, the behavior may continue to occur after you follow these steps. If this is the case, the behavior is by design.