If you are using PST file(s) then firstly you need to know where it/they are. A broken or corrupt PST file can also break search/indexing. I detest PST files with a passion! Please stop using them, there’s far more efficient ways of storing old emails for those of you that simply need to keep ‘ every‘ email you’ve ever received, sent, or deleted. New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" -Name "PreventIndexingOutlook" -Value 0 -PropertyType "DWord" New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\" -Name "Windows Search" –Force Occasionally you may need to set the service to ‘disabled’ and reboot before it will let you manipulate it, but I simply opened an administrative Powershell window, and ran the following Powershell commands Sometimes it wont start, or you simply want to flush its contents and start again.
Outlook indexing relies on the Windows Search Service, Run services.msc > Locate the Windows Search Service, ensure it’s running, and it should be set to Automatic (Delayed Start). This might take a while! You can see progress, by clicking in the search box > Search Options > Indexing Status. While in this window, go to the ‘ File Types‘ tab, and ensure. If Microsoft Outlook is IS listed: Advanced > Rebuild > OK. If Microsoft Outlook is NOT listed: Modify > Select it > OK. Note: You can get to the same options in ‘Control Panel’ > Indexing options. Within Outlook > File > Options > Search > Indexing Options. Microsoft Outlook: Check Indexing, and Rebuild Index Incomplete Missing Outlook īefore we start ‘fixing’ search, are you sure you are not just missing emails because modern Outlook will only cache 3 months of email locally, so emails older than that, simply cannot be seen by the index? If so you may need to change the following setting.
If that is your problem and you are running Exchange 2016 (or earlier), then see the following article first.Įach of the following may work, or you may need to work though the list, but BE AWARE once indexing is fixed it can take some time (depending on how much email you have) to index it all, be patient. If you have multiple clients with their mailboxes in an ‘on-premise Exchange Server’ then the problem is probably indexing on their mailbox database, (as long as it’s not Exchange 2019 (or newer) as indexing in new versions of Exchange is done at mailbox level). Let’s be clear here, I’m dealing a problem on the ‘ client side‘ either with Outlook itself, or with Windows indexing. Something went wrong and your search couldn’t be completed. When attempting to perform a ‘Search’ whilst in Microsoft Outlook, you encounter a problem (it’s not working).