Maestro1827
Level 1 (19 points)

Q: Mail Search not working El Capitan

With the new mail in El Capitan, when I search for mails from a sender, it does not bring up most of the emails from that sender.  This renders the search function in mail unusable.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 10:41 AM

by Maestro1827,Apple recommended
Maestro1827 Maestro1827
Level 1 (19 points)
A:

Go to Sys Pref, iCloud and sign out of iCloud, then sign back in and everything should work fine.

 

If this doesn't work try reinstalling El Capitan: Just power off the iMac, hold command and R and then power the Mac back on.

  Hold command and R until you see the Apple logo and progress bar. 

That will boot you to the utilities menu, one of the options you will see there is reinstall OS X.  
Just click on that, put in your Apple id, and once it completes, try to search.

 

Apple senior advisors tried both the above options with me and the first one worked.

Posted on Oct 16, 2015 11:52 AM

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Maestro1827

Q: Mail Search not working El Capitan

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  • by mbb,

    mbb mbb Dec 14, 2015 5:06 AM in response to Maestro1827
    Level 1 (75 points)
    Dec 14, 2015 5:06 AM in response to Maestro1827

    Success at last.  First I tried a few of the suggestions in this thread but none worked. Called Applecare and tried a few more things, including setting up a test account to see if it was the OS or my account that was the problem - the test account would not search for mail either, indicating it was an ElCapitan problem. So I re-installed using the steps you described. It took several house for the process to complete, but it solved the problem. Be sure to back up your computer first, just in case. Here's the link I was sent for the steps to follow.

    How to reinstall OS X on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by bala@apple,

    bala@apple bala@apple Dec 17, 2015 12:53 PM in response to matt buswell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 12:53 PM in response to matt buswell

    Thank you matt buswell. Below helped me

    Open terminal from the utilities folder.

    Paste this in  sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.appsandbox UnrestrictSpotlightContainerScope -bool true

    Press return

    enter your password.

    open mail

    Mail search will now be back to normal

  • by David Estes,

    David Estes David Estes Dec 27, 2015 10:34 AM in response to mbb
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Dec 27, 2015 10:34 AM in response to mbb

    OK, I'm doomed.  I tried re-installing the OS to no avail.  I still get incomplete searches, fixed only when I start deleting the last characters in the search item.  My vote remains that it is an Apple problem, especially given the number of users participating in this discussion and the dearth of Apple folks answering with a viable solution. 

     

    Hopefully the next OS update??

  • by MDaytona,

    MDaytona MDaytona Jan 5, 2016 7:30 AM in response to matt buswell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2016 7:30 AM in response to matt buswell

    This worked for me.  I'm using FileVault encryption and it seems to have exposed a few bugs like these.  Thanks for the suggestion!

  • by Jpinofoto,

    Jpinofoto Jpinofoto Jan 13, 2016 8:20 AM in response to RN48
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2016 8:20 AM in response to RN48

    Hi!

     

    How can i do the terminal thing you mention (so via terminal I re-enabled indexing and re indexed spotlight)?

     

    Thanks

  • by mac_user112,

    mac_user112 mac_user112 Jan 29, 2016 2:08 PM in response to Maestro1827
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2016 2:08 PM in response to Maestro1827

    I also have this problemon three computers. My colleagues have this problem. It costs a lot of time. Sometimes I can find the emails if I use Spotlight search instead.

     

    I tried everything. Called apple, they told me to make an appointment at genius bar. Did so. Answer was, we have not heard about the problem (?). Solutions offered were the usual (done that all - rebuild mailboxes etc. ) and if that does not work to switch to Thunderbird or other mail programs and to use as a last resort Onyx. I was not happy with the answers - why do I go to the apple store to have this issue solved.  I have other things to attend to. I asked for the supervisor. Was told that this was one of the best people they have who has a lot of experience and that they can not help me further, but if enough people have this problem, and report it, then they may escalate and address it. Same actually at the apple helpline, they said if other people have a similar problem it will get addressed in the next software update. has apparently been around for a long time and has still not been taken care of.

     

    sad service, guess we need to switch where we buy computers.

  • by ApMaX,

    ApMaX ApMaX Feb 3, 2016 10:46 AM in response to Maestro1827
    Level 1 (17 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 3, 2016 10:46 AM in response to Maestro1827

    Cannot find some messages searching (Command F) in Apple Mail on Mac OS X 10.11.3 El Capitan. Frustrating.

  • by hugothebear,

    hugothebear hugothebear Feb 6, 2016 2:55 AM in response to Maestro1827
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 6, 2016 2:55 AM in response to Maestro1827

    If something doesn't work in OS X 'just reinstall the OS' this answer crops up all the time and is the most absurd thing to suggest IMO

  • by LenTS,

    LenTS LenTS Feb 27, 2016 7:40 PM in response to Maestro1827
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 27, 2016 7:40 PM in response to Maestro1827

    I tried deleting the envelope files. Nope. Made sure in system preferences for Spotlight under privacy that it was enabled for mail and for the hard drive containing mail. Nope. Went into Mail Mailbox menu and selected rebuild. Then search started working.

  • by stanc1,

    stanc1 stanc1 Feb 29, 2016 4:43 PM in response to Maestro1827
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 4:43 PM in response to Maestro1827

    Finally we found a solution to the "Mail not searching" problem, but it hinges on the fact that we are using the "Cocktail" utility on our iMac. Here's an illustration showing how we solved it:

     

    coutant dot com slash spotlight-indexing

     

    If you're apprehensive about following a hyperlink (and who isn't), and you're running Cocktail, launch Cocktail, select "System," and in the window that opens select "Spotlight." Verify that "Indexing enabled" is selected. (Who knew Spotlight is responsible for Mail's "search" function?) Quit Cocktail, restart your Mac, and chances are good Mail will search the way it is designed to do. Hurrah!

  • by Cintos,

    Cintos Cintos Mar 8, 2016 5:50 AM in response to rrrichieXL
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 5:50 AM in response to rrrichieXL

    Removing and re-adding the search box in the header did the trick for me!  Such as simple and non-invasive approach!

  • by David Estes,

    David Estes David Estes Mar 8, 2016 6:11 AM in response to Cintos
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 6:11 AM in response to Cintos

    Thanks, but didn't fix it with me.  Still the same problem.  I paste in an email address, get a few hits, but then as I start deleting the last characters of the address, more hits appear.

     

    A definite bug which Apple needs to fix!!!!

  • by Cintos,

    Cintos Cintos Mar 8, 2016 6:49 AM in response to David Estes
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 6:49 AM in response to David Estes

    Hmmmm.  Now that you respond that way it got me thinking.  I had previously used the suggestion that I add my user folder to the "do not search" list in Searchlight > Privacy pane; then go back and remove it.  That just might have started up searching again, and I only noticed results after a half hour when I did the header search box delete-add.

  • by mac4flo,

    mac4flo mac4flo Mar 17, 2016 8:46 AM in response to LenTS
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2016 8:46 AM in response to LenTS

    Awesome! Open Mail and go to mailbox and click rebuild!!! WORKS! Thanks @LenTS

     

    OMG after transferring data to a new iMac i tried everything to make the mail search work again. Reinstalling OSX 10.11, setting back the iMac using time machine but nothing worked.

     

    On one occasion I realised the problem did occur when I transferred a backup to a new iMac and imported a user profile from an old user which didn't exist in the latest backup anymore. By importing the backup again with latest users profiles everything worked fine. Maybe it was just a coincidence that it helped and the rebuild option would have been the real solution.

  • by craigfromdevon,

    craigfromdevon craigfromdevon Mar 29, 2016 5:16 AM in response to bala@apple
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 29, 2016 5:16 AM in response to bala@apple

    I experienced the same issues. I followed multiple corrective actions as discussed on the forum. This instruction worked for me with immediate effect. Thanks for your input - appreciated.

     

    Open terminal from the utilities folder.

    Paste this in  sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.appsandbox UnrestrictSpotlightContainerScope -bool true

    Press return

    enter your password.

    open mail

    Mail search will now be back to normal

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