Office 2016 Mac Search Not Working

We have a brand new iMac with Office 365 subscription including Office 2016. On the mac are 2 user accounts so that they can share the desk in the office. The first configured user (A) has no issues with anything and everything seems to work fine including all search functionality. The secondary User (B) cannot use the mac search functionality in Outlook or Spotlight to search mail prior to the installation date. The mailboxes were in existence prior to the arrival of the mac and search correctly in the Office 365 web client. Is there anything I can change to allow User B to be able to use the search capability in Outlook 2016?

2016

The emails that are not found are seemingly at random. I see that my question has been put on hold as it does not have 'enough detail', and I appreciate the brevity, but there really is little else to say. There is no apparent pattern to which emails are not found, and I certainly know how to use Outlook. – CaptainProg Mar 20 '19 at 10:16. Office Home & Student 2019 for Mac or Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac is a one-time purchase (not a subscription) for installation on one Mac only. Office 2016 for Mac license If you choose to upgrade to Microsoft 365 or Office 2019 for Mac, you'll simply need to remove the existing Office 2016 for Mac license, but you won't need to remove. Question: Q: Outlook 2016 for Mac - search not working Just installed the new Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac. Outlook mail migrated nicely and everything seems to be there however, the search function isn't finding anything at all. Search tab is greyed out (Outlook 2016 only) This can occur after upgrading to Windows 10 Version 1709 and earlier. The issue was fixed in Windows 10 Versions 1803 and later. To fix this issue, follow this step.

In addition to this, we have another mac (User C) using the same Office 2016 and 365 package and theirs also works perfectly.


I have looked online at various topics where issues are similar but it seems that having 2 user accounts on the one machine is very specific and none of the standard fixes have helped in any way.


Hope someone can shed some light on this.

iMac with Retina 5K display, iOS 10.0.2

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 2:14 AM

Nowadays Outlook is the most popular email application that is used to send and receive bulk of emails in an organization as well as personal level. It must be maintained and upgraded timely otherwise many issues may arise. Many times, it is difficult for users to execute and understand Outlook search with updated edition of application. As Search option, is the most important feature of the Outlook application. It helps to perform a specific search of a defined criterion. It helps in navigating through mails and other components quite proficiently. In the following section, we will discuss the trouble faced by the users.

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Problem Description

In Outlook 2016 for Mac, users receive a message “No Results,” when they try to search specific mail message or task items are not displayed in Task folder. Moreover, when users search for mail items by utilizing Mac OS spotlight search, the search is not successful. They face an issue of email search not working in Outlook for Mac:

Note: While performing the search option, user must be aware of the following facts:

  • Operating system must include Spotlight Search Option
  • Spotlight Search should be synchronized with Outlook 2016
  • When new data is introduced, it takes several minutes for indexing

Causes behind the Issue

The problem may arise due to following reasons as mentioned:

  • Indexing of Spotlight Search is incomplete
  • The name contains the special characters
  • Profile or its parent folders are in privacy tab in Spotlight
  • Index Search of Spotlight is corrupted
Search

Way to Resolve the Problem

Until now, we have discussed the issue and causes behind its occurrence. Now, we will be discussing the methods to solve the problem faced by the users. There are some solutions mentioned below which helps to resolve the issue, i.e. email search not working in Outlook for Mac.

Solution 1: Complete Spotlight Indexing

When the user creates new Outlook profile in Outlook 2016 for Mac or they have imported the new data from PST or OLM files. Then the Spotlight indexing is not completed. In this situation, “No Results” message is displayed. To solve this problem, user should wait for a time to finish the indexing and then search again.

Solution 2: Eliminate Special Characters

If Outlook for Mac 2016 has some special characters such as *, /, >, +, @, etc. then, users need to change the identity name by following the steps mentioned below:
  • View Profile Name
    1. Select Go >> Applications.
    2. Click on MS Outlook >> Show Package Contents
    3. Increase Contents, SharedSupport >> Outlook Profile Manager
  • Change Profile Name
    1. Open Identity folder of Outlook 2016 from the mentioned location:
    2. Now, rename the identity name by removing the special characters
    3. Confirm the changes by again viewing the profile name.

Solution 3: Remove the tab of Privacy

If the Outlook 2016, profile folder are added to Privacy tab then, the Spotlight will not index that folder location. Now, remove the location of these folders from Privacy tab in spotlight and wait for the time until these folders to finish indexing.

Solution 4: Fix Spotlight Index Corruption

If the user is still facing problem then, Spotlight index may get corrupted. To resolve this, user needs to re-index the Spotlight Index by following few steps:
  1. Select Apple menu then, go to system preference >> Spotlight
  2. Click on the privacy tab and now drag the folder, which user wants to index to list of locations that is prevented from Spotlight search
  3. Choose the folder which is added and remove it from the list by clicking on the remove (-) button
  4. Now, quite the preferences of system and the Spotlight will re-index folder contents.

Mac Finder Search Not Working

After following the mentioned solutions, if the users still face an issue then, they can uninstall the Outlook 2016 from Mac machine and again reinstall.

Google Search Not Working Mac

Conclusion

Office 2016 Mac Search Not Working Remotely

In the above discussion, various methods to resolve the occurrence of issue, i.e. Email search not working in Outlook for Mac is discussed. According to experts, a user can try these solutions as they will surely improve the functioning of Mac Outlook. In addition, all these workarounds help in boosting the searching process.

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