Search function in apple mail does no longer werk since update Ventura, even after most recent version update

Pretty frustrating to say the least. Wish Apple would focus on making things work rather than a new OS every year.

I tried the following steps and it fix my Mail search issue on macOS 14.3.

1. Open System Settings > Siri & Spotlight.
2. Scroll down to Search results on the right.
3. Deselect "Mail & Messages."  
4. 
5. Wait for a few seconds.
6. Restart your Mac.
7. Repeat the steps and reselect "Mail & Messages."

This tip was found at ***

[Link Edited by Moderator]

We have exactly the same problem: there is no way to search for emails on our M2 Macbook Air. The flagged emails folder doesn't work either. On our Mac Studio however, everything works as usual. Strange, because both have the exact some Mac OS (Sonoma 14.1.2 ) ...

Please fix!!! People and businesses rely on these basic functions and we certainly can't loose time troubleshooting.

A couple of laptops at our office are experiencing the same thing, where both Mail search and Spotlight don’t work. The only thing I have found to work so far is restarting the indexing service with mdutil. One of the laptops has had to restart it a few times now.

to restart the indexing service do the following 2 commands in terminal:

sudo mdutil -a -i off

sudo mdutil -a -i on

I have been unable to search my iMessages or Mail on my MacBook Air for over a year now... I tried every single suggestion made here and from other places - Nothing fixes it. I have done every update on the OS as well. As a result, I have had to download Outlook for searching email and use my iPhone when searching Messages. It is very cumbersome and inefficient. I use my MacBook Air for the work I do and, like many, I am angry, frustrated and disappointed that Apple hasn't addressed this issue, nor do they seem to acknowledge it... Instead, we get to go to forums and various websites suggested by searches to just get the same repetitive suggestions to fix it, as if we don't know how to select "mail" and "messages", uninstall an eMail Account, then reinstall, restart our computers... I have tried it all and still just get the message in mail at least when attempting a search, "indexing" followed by nothing, no matter how long I wait... Sick of this. "APPLE, THIS IS NOT USER ERROR.... FIX IT ALREADY!!!!

At this point.. Apple should acknowledge that this is a known issue, and offer a fix asap. Ive the same mail search break, rendering my mail app which I love, nearly useless.

Hi! I just upgraded to the latest version of Sonoma 14.1.2, and suddenly, I, too, cannot search my emails. I tried your suggestions above but to no avail; I am still unable to search. Is there anything else I can try? Thank you!

Hi there els_sb,

Thanks for posting. It sounds like you've done some great troubleshooting already. To make sure all steps have been covered, check out the below If searching doesn’t find the right emails in Mail on Mac:

"on Mac

If you don’t get expected results when you search for email messages in the Mail app  on your Mac, try these suggestions.

• If one or more mailboxes are selected in the Mail sidebar or the  Favorites bar, Mail searches only those mailboxes. To search all mailboxes, click All Mailboxes in the sidebar.
• 
  
• Mail may not be looking in the Trash or Junk mailboxes, or searching encrypted messages. To include them when searching all mailboxes, choose Mail > Settings, click General, then select the options.
• You may need to sync the mailboxes on your Mac with those on the Mail server. Choose Mailbox > Synchronize > [account].
• Mail may be excluded from Spotlight searching. To check, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click Siri & Spotlight  in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down). Go to Search Results on the right, then select the Mail & Messages checkbox, if not already selected.
• The Mail folder (located in your home Library folder) may be excluded from Spotlight searching. To check, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Siri & Spotlight in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down). Click Spotlight Privacy on the right, then if Mail is listed, select it and click the Remove button ."

We hope that helps!

Take care.

This solution worked , but there is a delay of around 10 seconds before I see results now. I used to be instantaneous. Thank you though... at least its working. But Apple needs to get it together.

Thank you for this, worked like a charm and took a whole 2 seconds to do. For those who don't know "Terminal" is an app you will find in your Utilities Folder (Applications > Utilities). You launch it, type in the first command [you must type exactly or it won't work]:

sudo mdutil -a -i off

Once done it will ask for your admin password. Type that in and it will then do the process. When it's done, next you will type in:

sudo mdutil -a -I on

Then it will finish the process. When done close the Terminal app and try mail again. Worked perfectly for me!

very frustrated with this feature not working now. absolutely crucial and foundational. who's fixing this?

Wow!! It worked.... After limping along for over a year, having tried everything else I could find, this worked... Search in my email started to work pretty soon after the restart, yet messaging took another couple of days, maybe less... Today, it all works as it used to.... Thanks very much!!

We have been going through a few months of this problem and restarting or rebuilding the indexes fixed the problem on a few of our Macs except for one Mac, which still persists with issues. That is, restarting indexing in terminal fixes the issue but only for anywhere between hours and a perhaps a day.

Here's a bizarre thing we noticed. If this user boots his Mac with WiFi disabled and no ethernet, indexing works fine, and often continues to work fine after enabling network connectivity. If he boots with either WiFi or ethernet enabled (or both), no indexing. But wait, it gets better. Indexing only fails on our office network. Has never failed when he's at home, tethering, or on any other WiFi network. I can't see how it could be our office router or access points (all are Unifi) as every other Mac on the network is fine (about 25 Macs).

I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure this one out.

Try it a second time. Had to do that on one of our Macs. YMMV.