Outlook search indexing not working on Windows 11/10

You may experience occasional crashes with the Outlook search option, a common mistake is that search indexing is not working. outlook. In this post, we will look at some practical solutions to fix Outlook search indexing not working.

Fix broken Outlook search indexing

Search indexing not working in Outlook can cause e-mail loading to fail or even freeze Outlook. Microsoft has acknowledged this issue, stating that users of POP and IMAP accounts may experience this issue if their emails are stored locally in PST files. Let’s now see how this problem can be solved on a Windows computer.

1. Run Windows Search & Indexing Troubleshooter
2. Check indexing status in Outlook
3. Make sure Windows search is enabled
4. Repair Windows Search Directory
5. Change Windows Indexing Options
6. Restore Microsoft Office Suite

1]Run the Windows Search and Indexing Troubleshooter.

The first thing you should try is running the Search and Indexing Troubleshooter available for use in Windows Settings. This can help you figure out the reason why Outlook search indexing is not working and even fix it.

1. Open Windows settings with Win + ‘I’ Keyboard shortcut
2. On the system, select “Troubleshoot” and click on “Other troubleshooters”.
3. In the list of available troubleshooters, look for the Search and Indexing troubleshooter.
4. Check the issues you are having problems with and click Next

Wait for the troubleshooting process to complete, after which Windows may detect the issue that Outlook search indexing is not working and implement a fix for it.

If this does not work, you are invited to choose one of the other methods suggested below.

Read: The search indexer always resets and restarts after a reboot.

2]Check indexing status in Outlook.

Another possible reason why Outlook search is not working could be an error on the part of Outlook. Thus, you are also advised to check the indexing status of Outlook.

1. Open Outlook and click on Search
2. Press Search Tools in the upper right corner of the search bar and then select “Indexing Status”.
3. Wait for a while for all items to be indexed and after that check again if this problem is fixed in Outlook or not.

Read: Windows Search failed to initialize

3]Make sure Windows search is enabled

Another key factor in avoiding this problem is to make sure that the Windows Search services are up and running. This can be done through the service manager.

1. Open the Run command with Win + ‘R’ combination
2. Scroll down here to find Windows Search
3. Right click on it and open its properties
4. Now open “startup type:” under General and select “Automatic”
5. Press apply to save this change

Now restart your computer and check if there is a problem with the search option in Outlook.

4]Repair the Windows search directory.

Another way to try to fix broken Outlook search indexing is to rebuild the existing search directory of all data previously searched in Windows. You can do this through the indexing options.

1. Search for indexing options from the search bar available on the taskbar.
2. In indexing options select Advanced to open advanced settings
3. Next click on Rebuild
4. Save it by clicking on Ok and then selecting close

Once this is done, double-check with Outlook whether search indexing has started working or not.

ADVICE. The Indexer Diagnostic Tool can help troubleshoot issues with the Windows Search Indexer.

5]Change Windows Indexing Options

Indexing in Windows is the process of cataloging files, messages, and other data on a computer. This is a way to make it easier to find items on your PC. Sometimes tweaking these indexing options on Windows can also help you with the Outlook error in question.

1. Click on the search bar on the Windows taskbar and look for the indexing options present in the Control Panel.
2. Press Advanced how did you do at 4^th workaround above
3. Choose File Types and in the list of available files find the extension ‘msg’ file
4. Click on this file, select Index Properties And File Contentsand finally click Ok

If none of the above solutions worked for you, then the last option is to initiate an online repair of Microsoft Office Suite.

6]Repair Microsoft Office Suite

To restore the Microsoft Office Suite application on your PC, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows Settings and click Apps in the options bar on the left side of the screen.
2. Press Apps & features and search for Microsoft Office from “app list» search bar
3. This search will return Microsoft Office Suite. Click on the icon with three dots and select Edit.
4. Select online recovery and click Repair

Wait a while for this process to complete and once it does, restart your computer to repair and apply the changes. I hope this solves all the problems you are facing when indexing your search in Outlook.

We hope that our detailed guide on how to index search in Outlook will help you solve all the problems related to it.

Why doesn’t Outlook show all emails in search?

Another common issue that Outlook users experienced after installing Windows 10 update KB5008212 or upgrading to Windows 11 was when Outlook didn’t show the most recently received emails in search results. This issue primarily affected users who had POP, IMAP, and standalone Exchange accounts. Microsoft has acknowledged this issue and released updates for it in their March 2022 updates for Windows 11.

How do I know if Outlook indexing is complete?

If you think that Outlook hasn’t indexed all of your items, meaning that when you search, you get an item not found result, you can troubleshoot the indexing feature. To do this, open Outlook and click on search box. Click here on the “Search Tools” dropdown and then click on “Indexing Options”. If all items were indexed correctly, you will see the message “Outlook has finished indexing all of your items. There are 0 items left to index.” pop up. If not, wait a few minutes for the non-indexed items to be registered in the index.

Above is the information that Outlook search indexing does not work on Windows 11/10. Let useguide.net find out in the comments which one worked for you. Also, all your questions are welcome in the comments section below.