Mac Outlook 2016 Search not working after using Migration Assistant: 2016 MBP (High Sierra) to 2019 MBP (Mojave 10.14.5))

Question

Level 1

4 points

Mac Outlook 2016 Search not working after using Migration Assistant: 2016 MBP (High Sierra) to 2019 MBP (Mojave 10.14.5))

I used Migration Assistant on a new 2019 Macbook Pro running Mojave (10.14.5) to migrate from a 2016 Macbook Pro running High Sierra.

The Search function in Mac Outlook 2016 returns "No Results" when searching for emails, etc. However, Spotlight does find these emails.

You can see all the things that I've tried here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/mac-outlook-2016-search-returns-no-results-after/1accb0e2-56eb-4293-acb9-238051644428 in addition to what I've discovered along the way.

I've narrowed the problem down to the meta-data stored for Outlook 2016 email files on the Mac. The meta-data attribute on the working MBP (High Sierra) for "kMDItemKind" is "olk15_message".

But on the new 2019 MBP running Mojave, the kMDItemKind is "Document".

In looking at the mdimporter for Mac Outlook 2016, it looks like it is the same version (same "_CodeSignature") as the version on the High Sierra MBP.

Question: Is there a Mac Outlook 2016 mdimporter specifically for Mojave?

This is the CodeResources file in ~/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Outlook/Contents/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Outlook Spotlight importer.mdimporter/Contents/_CodeSignature/ (I know Microsoft Office 2011 is in the aforementioned path, but I upgraded to Microsoft 2016 a few years back)

I can see through searching that a number of people are having problems with Mac Outlook Search. This is for 2016 Mac Outlook specifically.

I'm also working through Microsoft and will post an update when I get this resolved.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jul 22, 2019 9:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

mba314159 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 23, 2019 7:18 PM in response to mba314159

Update: While I wasn't able to find a more surgical solution to this problem, Microsoft Outlook Support suggested that I uninstall/reinstall Mac Office 2016.

I was more than a little reluctant to go this route because it involved removing folders from ~/Library which always makes me nervous (if you've done this with another application only to find that your Mac won't boot the next time, you know what I mean).

After reinstalling Outlook (be sure to follow the directions to save folders that contain your mailbox data in case you need it), Search in Outlook started to work! Since my mailboxes are imap (vs. pop), I just let Outlook rebuild all of the mailboxes on my Mac (which took another 6 hours).

So I'm left thinking that this issue has something to do with how Migration Assistant (in Mojave) handles the transfer of files from a High Sierra computer running Mac Office 2016 to a new one running Mojave.

I also checked the Outlook 2016 mdimporter and it appears to be the same version after reinstalling Office 2016 as before - so the hypothesis that there is a new Mojave version of the Outlook mdimporter appears to be false.

Here's more information on how to check if your situation is the same as mine. If so, uninstalling/reinstalling Office 2016 will save you countless hours of trying different ways to force reindexing of your Outlook email files.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/mac-outlook-2016-search-returns-no-results-after/1accb0e2-56eb-4293-acb9-238051644428

It would be great if someone at Apple could escalate this to the software engineering team that maintains Migration Assistant. The overall migration was a breeze with the exception of how Outlook 2016 was migrated from High Sierra to Mojave. I realize this is a Microsoft application but it would be great if this "just worked".

Reply

Mac Outlook 2016 Search not working after using Migration Assistant: 2016 MBP (High Sierra) to 2019 MBP (Mojave 10.14.5))

Similar questions