Outlook Search Returns No Results

Instructions for rebuilding the Spotlight Index on a Mac when the search function no longer works properly.

Issue/Question

Searching for mail in Outlook always returns no results, even when there should be results shown.

Environment

• Outlook 2016
  • macOS 10.10+

Cause

The Spotlight feature of macOS is responsible for searching and finding emails within Outlook. Sometimes this feature must be rebuilt when it stops performing properly.

Resolution

1. Open the Applications folder. 
2. Open the Utilities folder. 
3. Open Terminal. 
4. Type in the following command

    sudo mdutil -i on / 

5. If prompted, enter your password and press Enter when done typing.
    Note: You will not see any characters being placed on the screen when typing your password. This is normal expected behavior. 
6. Close the Terminal window. 
7. The index will start being rebuilt; depending on the size of your storage drive this process can sometimes take upwards of an hour to complete. It is safe to use the computer as you normally would while this process completes in the background.