Mail search not working after Big Sur install

This does not seem to solve the issue for me.

When I go to view:Filters: enable, the only checkable options are :

Unread, Flagged, Addressed to me, CC'd to me, Only with attachment, Only from VIP.

Nothing about servers.

Checked them all - disabled filter, no search functionality

Unchecked them all, disabled filter, no search functionality.

what am I missing here? I am desperate to solve this problem!

thank you.

I have twice quit the corespotlightd process (it restarts each time apparently). The first time it seemed to work, but the second time I'm finding that only if I select "search all Mailboxes" that it finds emails in the mailbox I am looking in.

Hey Apple staff, is anyone reading these and working to provide a bug update? Or are we just talking to each other? Please resolve it.

Thank you.

I'm selected on the right mailbox when I attempt a search. I've tried selecting different mailboxes, inboxes, and even the most simple search returns ZERO. I can search any string that should exist but nothing appears. I've tried the SHIFT process but it didn't help.

Yes. Corespotlightd must be force-quit - not just quit - and it res pawns itself pretty quickly. It seemed to allow me one successful search and then back to no results for any string. And as it continuously res pawns I'm not sure this is even a viable workaround. It is intermittently successful at best in my experience.

Has there been any acknowledgement from Apple that this is a bug? Waiting for the a fix in the next update to Big Sur might be like waiting for a bus that never arrives if we don't know it's been acknowledged as a bug and is being worked on.

Last month I spent several hours on the phone, sharing my computer during three or four sessions with three different Apple tech support staff. They tried a bunch of things, none of which worked. I haven’t heard anything from them in weeks. I presume they shared this up the chain. The last guy said he was sharing with engineers.

I know you don't want to hear what I'm about to say, but it worked for me.

I re-installed Big Sur by restarting the Mac and holding CMD R until the display shows a progress bar. Then follow the steps to simply re-install. It needs wifi. You may get an error about wifi, just goto the top right corner and choose your network.

My 2019 Mac Air 13" with ssd took 40 minutes to download (it only shows a progress bar but I'm sure it was downloading) and then it needed me to Power it on again. (just check on it, my display went to sleep)

After that it took about 35 minutes and now.... Mail worked within 3 minutes. I could search anything, anybox

It took just over an hour, and tah-dah.

Best Wishes, Warmest regards. (LOL)

This is the problem with workarounds posted based on what appears to be experimentation.

I've tried various 'fixes' suggested by users. However none seem to be permanent solutions.

Clearly, there are other factors in play.

I cannot say I've tried every option that people posted. But so far, none seem to stick.

They might work initially. But after a while, the problems recur.

Hi John,

Check this link, you can understand better what the commands do:

https://www.applegazette.com/mac/how-to-rebuild-spotlight-index-manually/

My problem was searching mails before the upgrade to Big Sur, after index was complete, the problem was definitely solved.

This commands won't harm your MAC.

The backup recovery you had to go before the upgrade to Big Sure, and if you upgrade again, the problem could apear again.

I have 2 MAC's, one didn't have problems and other did.

Regards

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)

Long time without a solution. The 2 Macbook pro I use at work are affected. Use several users. This is a real productivity issue, too many months. What's going on with OSX, every update bring new issues.

One non tech people question. If I reinstall OSX I understand that I need to erase my drive, install the system and then apply a back up from time machine. Wouldn't I be in the same place where I started?

@PoITFF - just reinstall from the recovery partition without deleting anything. Your documents, preferences, etc. will be preserved. Have a backup just in case, of course, but you shouldn't have any problems.

Thanks. I did reinstalled the 2 of my MacBooks with this problem. Result was that for one day both have been searching the way they should, but today, search is already broken.

The information I can add is that both have several users created and using the computer.

That's the problem with all these workarounds. They seem to work but especially for devices with multiple users, they don't last.

Instead of rebooting, try logging out and logging in again (no need to close Mail).

Or, go to Activity Monitor, force quit the process corespotlightd. Then retry search - works every time so far.

Neither option is a permanent fit. However, I won't be trying reinstalling Big Sur, given several reports now that it doesn't work.