Mail search not working after Big Sur install

Well, JohnDoe0007, that response from Apple is frustrating since it is an obvious problem that arose with Big Sur. Plus, as my previous message here shows I have spent over 3 hours combined with three different tech support people showing them what happens. I would say, just keep on pestering them.

Do you have multiple users on your device?

I have previously tried rebuilding mailbox and it does work - for a while.

But if another user logs into MacBook, the search problem reappears.

I see others have mentioned the latest version of Big Sur fixes this problem - although there are others who seem to be saying it is still re-occurring. So, perhaps still a glitch in there.

Further to my earlier post, I have now found this too. Another user logging in breaks __gabe__'s fix that I applied, and only logging out and in again re-fixes it. It is now clear that this is a bug, and the company that we all helped to make one of the richest in the world needs to fix it quickly. Anybody listening? (Or do all you lot in the big do(ugh)nut have your ears stuffed with dollar bills?)

I have an iMac with Big Sur, no problems. MacBook Air 13" 2020 has the issue. Re-installing Big Sur temporarily fixed issue.

When I chatted with AppleCare, they said I would have to call, because only phone agents can escalate to engineers. (which is bull)

I agree that it's strange that you get this issue when only you ever log on.

I set up a separate account for Apple a while ago and kept it.

I also have a guest account. But neither of those have been used recently.

However, the fact that you have 3 accounts on your machine, might be part of the problem.

I realise that others have suggested it's linked to other users logging in. And I have to say that my experience and testing suggests this is a possible cause.

I believe that the Mac might log you out automatically when you reboot.

Do you see the Mail issue if you have not rebooted?

When I have had the problem, restarting my Mac is one possible fix.

However, when you restart, surely it advises that you have programs open - unless you already closed everything?

So, I reckon that if you restart, you would be logged out of Mail and logged out of your user account.

You have to log on again when you restart, don't you?

And you have the choice of reopening previously opened apps - assuming you didn't bother to close apps...

It is strange however that you never log into the other accounts and still get the problem - especially as restarting usually fixes the problem for me.

How do you fix the problem when it occurs? Have you tried force quitting the corespotlightd process which seems to work for most/all.

Yes, several re-starts, not to mention a full reinstall would do that.

Also, yes to force killing corespotlightd which kills itself with each reboot anyway. But also have done it without a restart from Activity Monitor.

Probably only a small chance of success. Appreciate that it becomes difficult to remember what you have done.

For those who have had some success, it's not clear if it's the actions or the order they were completed which is key.

Unfortunately, most if not all of the known fixes which 'cure' this problem permanently tend to stop working soon after.

It did seem to be a multi-user problem, although there are some reports that some have multiple accounts but only use one. But that's still a multi-user scenario to me.

Remind me - are you the sole user of the device. And do you have multiple accounts set up?

Do you log out of the other user accounts, or do they stay logged in when you switch? The problem seems to occur when a second logged in account is logged out of. At that point the first logged in account loses the mail search.

Im a single user with one account and the NVRAM fix I posted last week or so is still working - however if I sign out of iCloud and sign back in problem of not searching in mail reappears so I had to redo the NVRAM - that worked ok again so I guess I don't ever sign out of iCloud

I have tried everything - I even removed all other users, reinstalled Big Sur, rebuilt spotlight, deleted the envelope files, rebuilt the mailbox, quit and re-opened Mail three times while holding the shift key, plus every other suggestion I can find on the internet. Most fixes work for a search or two, then they stop working again. Unfortunately, the only thing that has worked for me permanently is to install MS Outlook 365 on my Mac and go to that whenever I need to do a search in mail. And I hate MS Outlook. It is a sad, sad, sad day when we have to install a Microsoft program in order to search Apple iCloud email (my email is @me.com) on an Apple MacBook Pro. Really, Apple?!?!? Has it really come to this?

Not that it probably makes that much difference, but I just quit rather than force quit the process, as per jdavid200's post. This worked fine for me.

Yes, Mail:View:Filter:Enable Message Filter

Next time, just try restart and search will work again... this 'holding shift' while launching mail two times does nothing at all, it's the restart that fixes the problem temporarily.

JohnDoe007, to update the system to the latest version:

Apple Menu->System Preferences->System update or something like that, I don't use the English version...

Not sure what Mail search issues you have. However, are finding issues are fixed in the latest Big Sur update.

Have you updated to the latest version?