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vanderZwaanVOF-6775 avatar image
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vanderZwaanVOF-6775 asked AndrewD-6760 commented

Problem with search function in Outlook 365 on a Macbook

Hello everyone,

I have a problem with Outlook 365 (offline) on a new Macbook. When using the searchbox, it doesn't show all the resultst.

For example: on the old Macbook I search for TEST, I get 50 results. On the new Macbook I search for the same, I get 30 results.

Both Macbooks are using the same Exchange account with the same settings. There are no filters set and in both cases, the option "only search in selected folder" is active, in my case the inbox. Both Outlook versions are the same, version 16.50 (21061301) which is the latest version. When checking the inbox, the total amount of messages are the same, so on both Macbooks the sync is complete. The old Macbook has 520 in total, so has the new Macbook. When looking for the mail manually, it can be found, so there is no mail missing, just not found while using the searchbox. The only difference is the OS. The new Macbook has macOS Big Sur 11.4 while the old Macbook has macOS Catalina 10.15.7

I already reinstalled Office 365 on the new Macbook and let it be indexed again, but this doesn't help. Is there anyone who knows how I can solve this?

office-outlook-itprooffice-itpro
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I had the same issue and switching to New Outlook fixed the incomplete search results. However, I don't like the limited column display and arrangement capabilities of New Outlook so this is very much against my will. Frankly, I think it is very poor that customers are forced to upgrade to a version of the software they regard as inferior, simply in order to make core functionality (i.e. search tools!) work properly.

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1 Answer

JadeLiang-MSFT avatar image
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JadeLiang-MSFT answered JadeLiang-MSFT commented

Hi @vanderZwaanVOF-6775 ,

Could you search other items normally via Spotlight? And did the 30 results that you searched have any similarities(such as all in recent time or long ago)?

I noticed that you have indexed your client before, how did you index it(via search tool or spotlight)?

If the issue occurred on your Outlook for Mac only, as a general troubleshoting method for search incomplete issue in Outlook for Mac, please try to download and open the Outlook Search Repair tool to check if it could work for you. Also, if you haven't try to reindex it via spotlight, it's recommended to follow the steps in the document above to reindex your spotlight to check.

In addition, considering your account could work normaly with the same version of on other Macbook, the issue may not be related to the client version or account, it may be related to your mac, due to the environment limit, we couldn't test with the same macos, it's also recommended to contact Apple support to get more suggestions in the point of Mac.

If your issue has any uodate, please feel free to post back.


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Hi @vanderZwaanVOF-6775 ,
Do you still have any questions about it?
If not, in order to close this thread normally, please kindly mark the helpful post to answer, which would benefit others who also has similar issues.
Thanks for your understanding.

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I am currently still working on this. I still can't find the cause of the issue. The repair tool and Spotlight didn't do the trick as well.

When I have more news, I will update this post.

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Hi @vanderZwaanVOF-6775 ,

Thanks for your reply and I'm also still working on it, based on my research, I indeed found a similar known issue about it, for your reference: Search in Outlook for Mac returns limited or no results for macOS Big Sur, but it mentioned "Apple has released macOS Big Sur version 11.4 which addresses this issue", as a suggestion, in order to avoid the interference of your current OS, it's recommended to contact Apple support to check it and ask them to provide some relevant suggestions.

Also, in the point of Outlook for Mac, there are also some workarounds as the document mentioned(such as switch to new Outlook), please kindly check if it could also work for you.


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