Outlook Search fails to find messages

This bug seems to be bugging a lot of people lately…

I have an IMAP account in Outlook and am unable to find any messages when I search. I’ve tried all the solutions I could find, such as rebuilding the search index and changing the search scopes but search is still not working.

Search in POP and IMAP accounts has been hit-or-miss for a year (or more). They fix it only to break it later. It’s currently broken in 16.0.9001.2171 and later versions.

Until it is fixed, you can disable Instant Search and use the old, slower, built in search function.

1. Close Outlook
2. Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog.
3. Type regedit in the Open box and press Enter.
   
4. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. Tip: in Windows 10, you can copy and paste the registry path in the address bar under the menu. Press Enter to jump to the location.
5. Right click on Windows key, select New, New Key. Enter Windows Search as the key name.
   
6. Right-click on the Windows Search key you just added and select New, DWORD Value
7. Type PreventIndexingOutlook as the name and press Enter.
8. Right-click on PreventIndexingOutlook and choose Modify.
9. In the Value data box, type 1 to enable the registry entry, and then click OK.
   
10. Restart Outlook.

When the issue is fixed delete the PreventIndexingOutlook value or change the 1 to a 0. (My recommendation is to delete it.)

Ready-to-use registry file: PreventIndexingOutlook
Download and run this to set the key in your registry.

Related posts:

A popular request is the ability to open Outlook Express  &  Live Mail’s *.eml files in Outlook.  If you have OTip 772: Open *.eml in Outlook Tip 302: Change the Web Toolbar Search Engine Use an Unread Search Folder to Find Messages How to Rebuild Outlook's Search Index