Search in Mail stopped working in Big Sur

Question

Level 1

67 points

Search in Mail stopped working in Big Sur

I don't know if this problem started when I updated to Big Sur, but I do know it wasn't happening before the update. When I enter a name in the search field for Mail, I get zero found, regardless of which mailbox I may have selected. I have tried rebuilding the mailbox and the suggestions found here:https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/if-searching-doesnt-find-the-right-emails-mlhlp1192/mac

Nothing works except logging out of my user and then back in. When I do that, the search works fine for awhile, but then stops. I haven't figured out yet if this is caused by putting the computer to sleep or something else. I do use SpamSieve so don't know if that is related somehow. Everything is up to date. It is getting annoying to have to keep logging out and back in to use my search function!

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Jan 27, 2021 12:34 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

GanawaGangunawa

Level 1

34 points

Feb 8, 2021 11:26 PM in response to Dan Bryant1

It's a known problem of Big Sur, since the first release and affects a lot of Macs, particularly if you have a multi user configuration.

Take a look at this thread:

Mail search not working after Big Sur install and make sure you have a Kleenex handy as you are going to cry when you read the 15 pages...

In short, you can make search work again without logging off by force killing the process 'corespotlightd'.

And please report the problem to Apple, it will help us all:

Feedback - Mail - Apple

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 2

KMB_12

Community Specialist

Jan 29, 2021 6:46 PM in response to Dan Bryant1

Hey Dan,

It sounds like you're having an issue searching in Mail on your Mac. We can understand wanting to get that resolved. We want to help.

We'd recommend testing to see if the issue occurs in safe mode. This article explains how: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Thanks!

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Answer 3

Dan Bryant1 Author

Level 1

67 points

Feb 8, 2021 8:40 PM in response to KMB_12

I confess that I haven't tried Safe mode yet, but I don't see it as very helpful because I can go a week without any problems and then all of a sudden searching no longer works in Mail. And it isn't practical to work in Safe mode for that long. Let me try giving a little more info to see if anyone else is having this issue. When searching in Mail stops working, it still gives some response. For instance, if I type one letter, I may get one name from my contact list. As soon as I type any letter other than the 2nd letter from that name, I get zero results. And with some letters, I don't even get a name even though I have many contacts that begin with that letter. For instance, if I type "a", I get some mailboxes which have an a in the name but nothing else. I went through the entire alphabet, one at a time, and got a total of 4 names from my contact list. And I never get the usual "Subject contains...." Every two letter combination I have tried produces zero results and a few single letters, like "v" does the same even though there are mailboxes that have a v in the name. So there is no rhyme or reason for why some letters give me some results but not other letters.

I don't have to restart to fix this, logging out of my user and back in will do it. Just a pain to do every time this happens.

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Answer 4

Dan Bryant1 Author

Level 1

67 points

Mar 18, 2021 1:50 PM in response to Dan Bryant1

Well the fix only works partially. I still have several months that do not appear in the search results, forcing me to search manually through thousands of emails for the email I need. I sent feedback to Apple.

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