Search not working on Outlook.com - "Your request can't be completed right now"

Anonymous
2025-07-07T11:15:25+00:00

Search has not been working for me for a couple of days. I get a message saying "Your request can't be completed right now" regardless of what I search for. Same happens on two different devices using the latest Edge on Windows 11. The Service Health Status page shows no outage.

I checked in dev tools, and the request to search (https://outlook.live.com/searchservice/api/v2/query) returns a 401 unauthorized. I have tried logging out and logging back in, and it makes no difference, and like I said it happens on two different devices.

Interestingly, the autocomplete suggestions for search do work, so when I start typing in the search box I'll get the suggestions under it, based on actual emails or people that match the search term, but regardless if I select one of the suggestions or just hit enter, I get the error.

Anyone else seeing this?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Email

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-07-10T12:22:36+00:00

    Hello mrlund,

    Thank you for your reply, it is true that there have been temporary fluctuations in online support recently, I truly hope that your issue is resolved as soon as possible and I wish you a wonderful day.

    Best Regards.

    Kai Ho-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-07-09T08:02:28+00:00

    Hi Kai,

    Thanks for your reply. I finally managed to get through to the Outlook.com support team this morning, after jumping through hoops and waiting for hours yesterday.

    They confirmed that it is in fact a backend issue and that they are working on it. Strange how the service health status page still shows no issues on Outlook.com :-(

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-07-09T07:49:04+00:00

    Hello mrlund,

    Thanks for your reply.

    With the additional information you have provided, this is indeed an unusual issue and could be on the server or in your account, as members of this Community can only give limited advice and we are not authorized to look at the status of a user's account or do anything online, I would recommend contacting online support about this issue and reporting the situation to them for further assistance: Contact - Microsoft Support

    1. In the box below "We're here for you," type Outlook, click Get Instructions, and then click Contact Customer Support.
    2. In this section, you'll need to register a personal Microsoft account.

    Note: You can only register with a personal MSA; An enterprise account will not display correctly. If the account can't log in, you can use another account or create a new account.

    1. Under "Products & Services," select "Microsoft 365 and Office," select "Outlook" as the category, and click Confirm.
    2. You can access the chat window by selecting "Chat with a Support Specialist in a Web Browser."

    Thank you for your understanding and patience.

    Best Regards.

    Kai Ho-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-07-08T04:44:38+00:00

    Hi,

    I'm using a personal account on @hotmail.com I have already tried from both Chrome and Edge and Chrome Incognito mode, and from two different devices, all with the same outcome. Please see the error attached, as well as a screenshot showing the successful autocomplete suggestions request and the failed query request.

    Note my remark that the specific network request for the search returns a 401 (unauthorized) response, and that the search autocomplete function does work.

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-07-08T02:17:20+00:00

    Hello mrlund_403

    Welcome to the Microsoft Community.

    I understand that you are having trouble on search not working in Outlook.com, and I understand your confusion.

    In order to further analyze your issue in depth, please don't mind if you need to collect and provide more information as follows

    • I wonder you are using a personal/ business account?
    • What is the domain of your email that you are having an issue with?
    • Can you send us screenshot showing the error message? For us to investigate the issue more.

    In the meantime you can refer to the following to try to solve your problem:

    • UseInPrivate Mode inyour browser and login https://outlook.live.com. Let's take Edge as an example, go to Settings and select more (the option with three small dots in the top right corner of your browser) **New InPrivate Window>>**or press Ctrl+Shift+N. This can help you avoid caching or cookie issues that can be interfering.
    • Check the Internet connection and try a different network or IP address If you are using a VPN or proxy, please disable it and try again.
    • Use another browser such as Firefox
    • Try logging in from another trusted device.

    We look forward to your response.

    Best Regards.

    Ami-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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