slozos

Q: El Capitan upgrade - Search not working in Mail or iCal

I've seen many people have this issue with no solutions. Ever since I upgraded to El Capitan, my search function is not working properly in Mail or iCal. It works for some items (it seems to work for older items, but not new items), but my job demands that it work for EVERYTHING. This is severely handicapping me on an hourly basis. I've attempted all the fixes that the forums suggest - rebuilding, re-indexing, etc. Nothing is working. Is there ANY solution? I'm pulling my hair out.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 15, 2016 8:34 AM

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Q: El Capitan upgrade - Search not working in Mail or iCal

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  • by Stuart Luff,

    Stuart Luff Stuart Luff Jan 20, 2016 7:44 AM in response to slozos
    Level 1 (61 points)
    Jan 20, 2016 7:44 AM in response to slozos

    I also have this problem and basically can no longer use El Capitan and instead have to use an old MacMini running Snow Leopard to be able to keep working.

     

    Re: El Capitan spotlight broken

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jan 20, 2016 3:51 PM in response to slozos
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Jan 20, 2016 3:51 PM in response to slozos

    To search for a message in Mail with "1234" in the subject, enter "subject:1234" as the search term.

  • by slozos,

    slozos slozos Jan 21, 2016 7:31 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2016 7:31 AM in response to Linc Davis

    That works! However I usually need to search the entire message, how do I do that? I tried "entire message: 1234" and well as "entiremessage", neither worked.

    Do you have a similar solution for iCal?

    Thank you for your help! Hopefully the next update wipes this bug out all together.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jan 21, 2016 10:49 AM in response to slozos
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Jan 21, 2016 10:49 AM in response to slozos

    To search for "1234" in the body of a message, click the SUBJECT token you just created, then select Entire message in the menu that drops down.

  • by slozos,

    slozos slozos Jan 21, 2016 11:33 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2016 11:33 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thank you. Any solutions for iCal?

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jan 21, 2016 12:45 PM in response to slozos
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Jan 21, 2016 12:45 PM in response to slozos

    To search in Calendar for an event with "1234" in the title, enter "title:1234" as the search term. To search for "1234" anywhere in an event, click the SUBJECT token you just created, then select Entire Event from the menu that drops down.

  • by slozos,

    slozos slozos Jan 21, 2016 1:11 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2016 1:11 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Oh my word, that works. What a relief. Thank you so much for your time and assistance!

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jan 21, 2016 1:20 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Jan 21, 2016 1:20 PM in response to Linc Davis

    click the SUBJECT token

    That should read: click the TITLE token

  • by Pascal Nardot,

    Pascal Nardot Pascal Nardot Jan 27, 2016 5:00 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 27, 2016 5:00 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Hello Linc,

    I've followed all your instructions:

    • I have rebuilt Spotlight
    • I have removed all folders from "Privacy” Spotlight's Preference Pane
    • I have checked that "Mail & Messages" are included in Spotlight's Preference Pane
    • I have removed and rebuilt mail "envelope index" and "ExternalUpdates.storedata"
    • I have re-index "Mail" folder (mdimport ~/Library/Mail)

    Search is still not working in mail (Version 9.2 (3112))

     

    When searching in mail for a word or a name, it shows none or a few (1 or 2) random email as result (always the same)

    All of the the Smart mailboxes are empty except one or two showing few messages

    For instance: "Today" smart mailbox shows only 1 email where I have received so far 24 email today.

    Removing and adding the smart mailbox does not help (same result)

     

    I have a Smart folder "Today" in the Finder and it is working fine. So it doesn't seems that Spotlight is involved.

    Spotlight is definitely working fine in the Finder but search is simply NOT working in mail

     

    I always thought that Search in mail was relying on spotlight and I have solved similar issues before on previous OS X version by re-indexing Spotlight and rebuilding "envelope index".

    Unfortunately this time, I'm stuck and I really don't know what more I should try to solve this problem…

     

    (Search in calendar is working fine as well…)

     

    Don't you have any other suggestions?

    Thanks

  • by pazzekalle,

    pazzekalle pazzekalle Jan 29, 2016 11:50 PM in response to Pascal Nardot
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2016 11:50 PM in response to Pascal Nardot

    I have the exact same issue with Mail and I have also tried all solutions you guys mentioned above. I have an iMac and a MBP and surprisingly it does work on the iMac but not on the MBP.

  • by BundyBell,

    BundyBell BundyBell Jan 31, 2016 3:45 AM in response to pazzekalle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2016 3:45 AM in response to pazzekalle

    Just so you know you're not alone, I am experiencing the same thing on my MBP

  • by Marci Segal1,

    Marci Segal1 Marci Segal1 Feb 1, 2016 10:36 AM in response to slozos
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 1, 2016 10:36 AM in response to slozos

    I tried it all.  Drop down from Subject: xxxx creates the drop down AND the search still doesn't work. New IMac.

  • by Theboardrider,

    Theboardrider Theboardrider Feb 5, 2016 8:55 AM in response to Marci Segal1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 5, 2016 8:55 AM in response to Marci Segal1

    Add me to the list....

     

    Linc, I went through all your suggestions and felt good about them while in process....but no change. 

     

    Interestingly, my smart mailboxes aren't working either....and in hindsight, I think it all started pretty much the same time. 

     

    1234 did nothing, and no matter what category I change for search "subject," "title," "from," "contains," (usually my go to is contains....a catch all but nope) I can't get it to find even one email. 

     

    I'm on the phone with Apple support as we speak. Will try to update....

  • by Pascal Nardot,

    Pascal Nardot Pascal Nardot Feb 5, 2016 9:35 AM in response to Theboardrider
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 9:35 AM in response to Theboardrider

    Let us know what you guys came up with…

     

    "Interestingly, my smart mailboxes aren't working either....and in hindsight, I think it all started pretty much the same time. "

    Well, that is not surprising since the smartboxes are using the search function to filter the emails. It's definitely a search function issue.

     

    A funny thing I've remarked today is that sometimes, when a new mail comes in the inbox, it shows really briefly (a second or so) in the "today" smartbox and then it vanishes. I just can't see any logical explanation about that behavior.

    I've got as well a MacBook Pro 15" and a MacBook Air with 10.10.3 and pretty much the same apps and configuration and they're both working fine. I'm only having trouble with the iMac.

  • by Pascal Nardot,

    Pascal Nardot Pascal Nardot Feb 5, 2016 9:39 AM in response to pazzekalle
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 9:39 AM in response to pazzekalle

    …funny enough! For me it doesn't work on my iMac but works perfectly on both my MacBookPro and MacBook AIR.

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