Outlook search fails on Mac

Question

Outlook search fails on Mac

Alison Keys 0

Outlook for Mac search returns unrelated emails in the current Outlook, while Legacy Outlook and Apple Mail work correctly.

I am using an IMAP mailbox.

In the current Outlook for Mac, searches return many unrelated messages. For example, searching for voucher, or using Outlook’s Subject filter which generates subject:(voucher), returns emails with completely unrelated subjects such as Microsoft account notifications, login codes and other recent emails.

I have tested the same mailbox in:

Legacy Outlook for Mac: search works correctly

Apple Mail on the same Mac: search works correctly

Current Outlook for Mac: search returns incorrect/unrelated results

Troubleshooting already completed:

• Deleted the Outlook profile and created a new one

• Removed and re-added the IMAP account

• Completely uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook

• Restarted the Mac

• Confirmed the Microsoft Outlook Spotlight Importer is installed

• Gave Terminal Full Disk Access and checked the Outlook profile location

• Rebuilt/refreshed Spotlight indexing for the Outlook profile

• Tested normal searches and Subject-specific searches

The issue remains unchanged in current Outlook, but immediately disappears when switching to Legacy Outlook or using Apple Mail.

This therefore appears to be a search bug specific to the current Outlook for Mac.

Is this a know issuse?

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Hi @Alison Keys

I understand how frustrating it is when Outlook search returns unrelated messages, especially after you have already completed extensive troubleshooting.

Based on your testing, the issue appears to be specific to the current Outlook for Mac experience because the same IMAP mailbox searches correctly in Legacy Outlook and Apple Mail. Since you have already recreated the Outlook profile, removed and re-added the account, reinstalled Outlook, and rebuilt Spotlight indexing without improvement, repeating those steps is unlikely to help.

For now, you may continue using Apple Mail as a temporary workaround. I also recommend contacting Microsoft Support so they can review the issue further:

Go to Contact Microsoft Support.
Select Show expanded list of products.
Select Outlook > Get Home support.
Enter Outlook live chat, then select Get Help > Contact Support.
Sign in with the affected account. If that is not possible, use another Microsoft account to view the available support options.
Under Ask our Support Assistant, type Talk to live chat agent, then select Contact Support.
Under Products & Services, select Other Products > Outlook, then choose Chat with a support agent in your web browser.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas only.

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