One of the very important applications for office people, Microsoft Outlook is a great solution for managing emails which were received and sent, schedules for the upcoming meetings, tasks to look after, reminders to take care of, notes to jot down and so much more. Adding to all these features is a search engine which comes along the Microsoft Outlook used by the user to access all kinds of information online.

During the course of utilization of the Microsoft Outlook, the user gets addicted to each and every feature offered by it and when these features cannot be accessed for some reason, it becomes a very intolerable situation. Similar to such a situation is the Microsoft Outlook Search not working properly while there is a desperate need to look for something.

How to troubleshoot the issue of Microsoft Outlook not working

There is always more than one solution to a single problem and from those solutions only one works out to solve the particular issue. This case is exactly same with the Microsoft Outlook search not working properly and hence, here are all the possible solutions to rectify the said error:

• Check for the indexing status in the Microsoft Outlook:

Microsoft Outlook indexes all the items in the data file and at times when the application is not through the process, there are chances that the user may not be able to use the Microsoft Outlook search and receive an error. To check the status of this index, follow the below mentioned steps:

• Open the ‘Search’ tab in the application and select the ‘Search Tools’.
• Click on the drop-down menu and select the ‘Indexing Status’.
• Check for a message saying “Outlook has finished indexing all of your items. 0 items remaining to be indexed”
• If the user does not find this message then wait for some time until the items are indexed completely.

• Enable Microsoft Outlook Indexing option

In the times when Microsoft Outlook is not listed in the items which are registered to be indexed, it is important to check it and enable it if not enabled. Here are the steps to enable the Microsoft Outlook Indexing Option:

• Click on the ‘Start Menu’ and search for the ‘Indexing Options’ in the search bar.
• Select the first option displayed on the screen after the research.
• Check for the ‘Microsoft Outlook’ in the list appearing in the ‘Indexing Options’ dialog box.
• If the ‘Microsoft Outlook’ could not be found in the list then click on the ‘Modify’ button.
• Click the checkbox in front of the ‘Microsoft Outlook’ to enable it to be indexed.
• To finish the process, select ‘OK’ and then ‘Close’.

• Rebuild The Search Index Catalog

If the user is not able to index the Microsoft Outlook, it is important that the index catalog is rebuilt and below mentioned are the steps to get through the said process:

• Open the Start Menu and search for ‘Indexing Options’ using the search box given in the menu.
• Select ‘Advanced’ in the dialogue box of ‘Indexing Options’.
• Select ‘Rebuild’ from the next dialogue box and then finish the process by clicking ‘OK.’

• Verify if Search Service is Running

For the Microsoft Outlook box to function in the correct way, Search Service is an extremely important part to be watched. Although this option is enabled by default, there are chances that the Search Service is not running. Below mentioned are the steps to enable the Search Service:

• Open the ‘Run Window’ by pressing ‘Windows + R.’
• In the given box to type, punch ‘services.msc’ and click ‘OK.’
• From the list which appeared in the dialogue box, find the ‘Windows Search’ option and double click on it.
• Find ‘Startup Type’ and select ‘Automatic (Delayed Start)’ from the list in front of it.
• The ‘Service Status’ should now say ‘Running.’
• However, if it does not, then the user must click on the ‘Start’ button given below the ‘Service Status’ to start the Search Service.

• Rectify the issue using Scan PST

Scan PST is a repairing software offered by Microsoft which is very helpful in such cases where the user cannot access the Microsoft Outlook Search. Here are the steps mentioned below which will guide you through the process:

• Browse to one of the following file locations mentioned below:
  • Outlook 2019: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
  • Outlook 2016: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
  • Outlook 2013: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15
  • Outlook 2010: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14
  • Outlook 2007: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12
  • Open SCANPST.EXE
• Select Browse to locate the .pst file which is required to be recovered.
• Choose Start to initiate the scanning process.
• If the scanning process results in finding an error, click on the Repair button to start fixing the errors.
• Once the process is complete, start the Microsoft Outlook and see if the error has been rectified.

• Rectify the issue with Outlook repair tool

If the problem could not be solved using any of the above mentioned methods, then it is time to take help from a third party such as stellar repair for Outlook. This software will repair any kind of error which might be related to the Microsoft Outlook Search not working properly.

Conclusion

Like mentioned before, there are more than one way to solve a problem and if you cannot access your search engine then it is worth trying all the above mentioned methods to resolve the issue. If the top 5 methods fail to do the job then the last one is guaranteed to resolve the search issue for you. So, download Stellar Repair for Outlook and get you Search to start working normally again. Stellar offer world class data recovery software with strong expertise in Data Recovery, Data Erasure, Mailbox Conversion, and File Repair software and services.