- Search Function In Mail Not Working On Mac
- Search Function In Microsoft Teams
- Search Function In Yahoo Does Not Work On Mac
If the Outlook search function isn't working, there may be several reasons why. Outlook search troubleshooting procedures in this article pertain to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and Outlook for Microsoft 365; and Outlook 2016 for Mac and Outlook for Mac 2011. Choose Apple menu System Preferences, then click Spotlight. Click the Privacy tab. Drag the disk or folder that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the disk or folder to add. You may find that the search function inside Apple Mail is not working after upgrading to El Capitan. You may also be experiencing incomplete results when searching inside Mail. Here are the Top 3 things to try in order to get the Mac Mail search function working again in El Capitan. These instructions can be followed. To run a search, simply click in the Spotlight box and begin typing. (The words you type that you want to match are keywords.) Matching items start appearing as soon as you type, and the search results are continually refined while you type.
Some Mac users who've installed the macOS Big Sur update on their devices are claiming that the Spotlight search function no longer works as it did prior to the update.
Users are disappointed since they aren't able to rely on Spotlight to find the files, apps, documents, and other items they want to access quickly.
Moreover, there isn't just a single problem that has ruined the user experience. Instead, there are several issues that degrade the function.
A user has listed some of the major issues that they noticed with the Spotlight search function after installing the macOS Big Sur update on their computer. We've shared a screenshot of it below:
As you can tell by the number of upvotes and comments on the user's post on Reddit, many users who installed the macOS Big Sur updates are facing similar issues and agree that Apple has messed up Spotlight.
But this is also only part of a bigger picture because some users claim that Spotlight no longer works on their Macs after the macOS Big Sur update.
According to those who are dealing with this issue, Spotlight does not return any results when searching for files, apps, documents, and other items.
(Source)
Search Function In Mail Not Working On Mac
ITs been weeks since I downloaded big sur and spotlight is still not working consistently. How has apple not patched this yet? (Source)
It seems that under Big Sur spotlight no longer indexes the content of RTF files. (To verify this create one with textedit, save it, search). This must be a bug / regression right? What could be a more canonical example of spotlight usage than finding text in RTF? (Source)
Ever since I updated to Big Sur, Spotlight is working pretty bad, sometimes it brings no results and sometimes it just freezes everything, apparently it only gets back to working after a system reboot 🙁 (Source)
While the issue does not affect all macOS Big Sur users, it's clear that some are having terrible luck with getting Spotlight to function as normal.
Fortunately, there are a few workarounds that seem to have fixed most of the issues users are experiencing with the Spotlight search function.
Workarounds for macOS Big Sur Spotlight issues
1) Uninstall Little Snitch:
According to one user, the Little Snitch program might be the reason behind the Spotlight search issues for some. Therefore, uninstalling the program and reinstalling it should fix the problem.
uninstall LS completely. enjoy Spotlight working as expected. reinstall LS. enjoy Spotlight still working as expected. shake head about stupid LS bug that seems impossible to fix. (Source)
2) Give it time to index files:
Search Function In Microsoft Teams
Some users might be noticing the issue because Spotlight has not been able to index all the files on the computer after installing macOS Big Sur.
Search Function In Yahoo Does Not Work On Mac
However, after some time, the problem automatically disappears since the system has enough time to index all the files on the Mac. Thus, you may want to give it some time for all files to be indexed.
I do not know how to reproduce this or whether it will come back, the problem came out of the blue and just vanished again. The best solution so far seems to me to just keep the machine running through the night and hope it will be done with whatever task that causes the problems by the next morning.. (Source)
3) Switch to Alfred:
It's widely accepted that Alfred is better than the default Spotlight feature on macOS and thus many users who are fed up with the broken search function on macOS Big Sur are recommending others to switch to Alfred.
Why not use Alfred? Personally, Spotlight always felt like a gimped version of Alfred to me. (Source)
At present, Apple has not acknowledged any issues reported by users when using Spotlight. The company has just rolled out the Big Sur 11.1 update, however, we didn't come across any reports of the issue being fixed.
Nonetheless, we will continue to keep an eye out for any developments on the matter and will post an update if something relevant surfaces.
In the meantime, check out our dedicated tracker to know more about the status of bugs and issues found on macOS Big Sur.
PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking' or ‘exclusive' news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.
Want to work for PiunikaWeb and enjoy best-in-industry compensation & benefits? You'll be glad to know we're hiring experienced candidates.
Topics Map > Features and Functionality > Client Capabilities > Desktop
This document will provide instructions on how to use the search function within Outlook for Mac.
Finding an E-mail
Using the quick search to search current folder
But this is also only part of a bigger picture because some users claim that Spotlight no longer works on their Macs after the macOS Big Sur update.
According to those who are dealing with this issue, Spotlight does not return any results when searching for files, apps, documents, and other items.
(Source)
Search Function In Mail Not Working On Mac
ITs been weeks since I downloaded big sur and spotlight is still not working consistently. How has apple not patched this yet? (Source)
It seems that under Big Sur spotlight no longer indexes the content of RTF files. (To verify this create one with textedit, save it, search). This must be a bug / regression right? What could be a more canonical example of spotlight usage than finding text in RTF? (Source)
Ever since I updated to Big Sur, Spotlight is working pretty bad, sometimes it brings no results and sometimes it just freezes everything, apparently it only gets back to working after a system reboot 🙁 (Source)
While the issue does not affect all macOS Big Sur users, it's clear that some are having terrible luck with getting Spotlight to function as normal.
Fortunately, there are a few workarounds that seem to have fixed most of the issues users are experiencing with the Spotlight search function.
Workarounds for macOS Big Sur Spotlight issues
1) Uninstall Little Snitch:
According to one user, the Little Snitch program might be the reason behind the Spotlight search issues for some. Therefore, uninstalling the program and reinstalling it should fix the problem.
uninstall LS completely. enjoy Spotlight working as expected. reinstall LS. enjoy Spotlight still working as expected. shake head about stupid LS bug that seems impossible to fix. (Source)
2) Give it time to index files:
Search Function In Microsoft Teams
Some users might be noticing the issue because Spotlight has not been able to index all the files on the computer after installing macOS Big Sur.
Search Function In Yahoo Does Not Work On Mac
However, after some time, the problem automatically disappears since the system has enough time to index all the files on the Mac. Thus, you may want to give it some time for all files to be indexed.
I do not know how to reproduce this or whether it will come back, the problem came out of the blue and just vanished again. The best solution so far seems to me to just keep the machine running through the night and hope it will be done with whatever task that causes the problems by the next morning.. (Source)
3) Switch to Alfred:
It's widely accepted that Alfred is better than the default Spotlight feature on macOS and thus many users who are fed up with the broken search function on macOS Big Sur are recommending others to switch to Alfred.
Why not use Alfred? Personally, Spotlight always felt like a gimped version of Alfred to me. (Source)
At present, Apple has not acknowledged any issues reported by users when using Spotlight. The company has just rolled out the Big Sur 11.1 update, however, we didn't come across any reports of the issue being fixed.
Nonetheless, we will continue to keep an eye out for any developments on the matter and will post an update if something relevant surfaces.
In the meantime, check out our dedicated tracker to know more about the status of bugs and issues found on macOS Big Sur.
PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking' or ‘exclusive' news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.
Want to work for PiunikaWeb and enjoy best-in-industry compensation & benefits? You'll be glad to know we're hiring experienced candidates.
Topics Map > Features and Functionality > Client Capabilities > Desktop
This document will provide instructions on how to use the search function within Outlook for Mac.
Finding an E-mail
Using the quick search to search current folder
- Locate the quick search bar in the upper right of Outlook
- Type the word you wish to use to search by then select the category from the drop down
- Your results will appear based off what you searched for.
- Click the x in the search bar to clear your search.
Using the full search options
If you want to refine your search even more, you have the option of changing search criteria.
- To do so, click the search bar in the upper right. You will see another option called 'Search' added to your tools.
From here you can:
- Select Subfolders , All Mailboxes, or All Outlook Items to specify where you want the search to look.
- Search for Attachments, Subjects, who you received the e-mail from or who you sent it to along with when it was sent or received.
Notes:
- If you don't click Close Search, the Search tab remains active. The item list continues to show the search results even if you click another tab, such as the Home tab.
- An Outlook search includes the file names of attachments but not the text inside attachments.
- To save a search as a Smart Folder, on the Search tab, click Save Search, and then enter a name for it under Smart Folders.
- Further search resources can be viewed on Microsoft's support pages.
Keywords: | office 365 0365 microsoft o365 outlook 2016 2019 subscription for mac apple search find item email instant quick find folder message itemSuggest keywords | Doc ID: | 45292 |
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Owner: | O365 S. | Group: | Office 365 |
Created: | 2014-11-25 15:31 CST | Updated: | 2020-09-09 14:12 CST |
Sites: | DoIT Help Desk, DoIT Tech Store, Office 365 | ||
Feedback: | 1613CommentSuggest a new document |