Mail search not working after Big Sur install

Hi JLewisH, yes, it does search in sub-mailboxes. Did you try deleting the "envelop" files in the library-mail folder ? they will be recreated automatically, but make sure you have a backup.

Another thing to try is to create another user, setup a mail account and check if the search works as expected. That will tell you if it is a system wide problem or just something wrong with your usual user configuration...

Thank you so much for this. I finally found the library folder -- you have to hold down Option to see it.

Under Library I have five MAIL folders listed. No Envelope. And it only searches in "This Mac" which doesn't seem right to me. All my mail is on iCloud I'm sure. Something is wonky or I'm lost.

Ganawa, thank you. I searched "mail" in Library but no "envelope". Other envelope's like envelope index, etc. I'm too limited in knowledge to do this. I've decided to give up on it after calling a senior advisor at Apple Care who had no idea what to do at all. I appreciate your help.

 > System Preferences > Users & Groups > click the "+" sign near LOGIN OPTIONS

NOTE: you'll probably need to unlock the "lock icon" (bottom left) before you can click the "+". As it says, "Click lock to make changes."

Hi, seefilms.

Glad to hear it's making things better for you. It seems to have helped quite a few others, too.

You'll need to repeat the steps only IF you lose the ability to SEARCH. Then a quick trip into ACTIVITY MONITOR, kill the process(es), and you're on your way again.

Have a good day,

Wayne

Yes, 11.3.1 and still won't search subfolders. Searches ALL Mailboxes fine. But won't search subfolders of a normal folder. Is anyone else able to search subfolders under a generic folder? My Mail only searches the folder highlighted but not beneath it.

Bundy, thank you. I'm not being clear. If you click on the subfolder and select it of course it works, yes. But I'm saying this: Say for example I have a folder labeled "Food." Under it as subfolders I have "Grapes" and "Spices". If I select "Food" and search for something, Mail only searches "Food" folder but not the subfolders. Mail used to search "Food" and "Grapes" and "Spices" if you selected "Food" to search. Now it only searches "Food" ignoring the subfolders. Hope this is clear.

I, too, had a Mail time problem: I recently upgraded from the dreaded Catalina, all settings transferred over yet Mail was posting an hour earlier than my Central time zone.

I found default on the Date & Time clock is CST for the region - although we observe daylight savings/CDT. Using automatic check box in Date & Time vs. manual I found the solution. [Manually the clock setting went to San Salvador (not sure why I was getting Central America) and CST, automatic feature offered CDT Chicago - at which time I could uncheck the "set time zone automatically using current location. Mail and Notification center responded immediately. (Having little confidence in this fix, I will doublecheck the time when the region returns to CST.)

You might want to look at smart mailboxes. You can create a virtual folder containing emails perhaps based on specific words. You could have all the emails in your mailbox(es), and use smart folders instead of manually moving emails to folders.

I don't use subfolders in Apple Mail. However I find that the search works fine across mailboxes and the various main folders.

Not sure why it doesn't for you - or whether this is by design, or you need to change your method.

Maybe someone with a similar setup could test out your current scenario.

Hello, the Mail shift-restart didn't work for me, but a Safe Boot did, so thank you so much - I have been struggling with this for a month and it has driven me mad!

For any technophobe like me, who had to look up what a Safe Boot is, you turn off your laptop, wait 10 seconds then turn it back on again, immediately putting your finger on the Shift button and holding it down until the password box comes up.

Yep, 11.3. Mail search today produced nothing on my MacBook, multiple things in iOS, on the same mail account. As before.

I tried the Shift open, the Spotlight rebuild with no lasting effects. Rebuilding Spotlight again, will see what happens.

Might be worth raising a support ticket with apple if still not sorted.

They will be able to go through troubleshooting steps and do diagnostics if needed.

I and many others are finding mail search reliable since upgrading to latest OS.

I clicked on the "all mailboxes" in the SEARCH field on top of all my

mailboxes and can find them all. now, a PITA but they are all there.

You can't select from, to, or all in the dropdown search field, but at least it works...

I have to admit I never saw that or knew that that field ever existed.....

I'm not clear on what you mean that you can't select from the dropdown. Do you mean the options are there but you cannot access the options - or that you don't see results?

It works for me. You should be able to select from from, to and all in that dropdown. However, the options will appear in the dropdown, whether there is mail or not.

You're probably already doing this, but to confirm:

If there is more than person with that name / search entry, you will need to select an entry under People first.

The to, from, people dropdown works fine for me - if there is mail in the category. If none apply, you might have no dropdown.

Having a similar issue with a small difference. If I search all the emails from an email address and select ANY instead of FROM I'm able to find all of them however if I use FROM or TO an address in a search the results are only covering the last 2-3 days and then 2019 and down. Almost like that email address never sent an email in 2020 or in the first few months of 2021.

I did update to 11.3.1 and also tried opening with the SHIFT key or force quit the corespotlightd process but the result is still the same.