Search not working in Monterey

Find My Files. It’s on the App Store!

I found the fix, after trying everything here, only thing worked is to update to the new outlook, only thing now, its not supporting shared emails account. other than that, search working now

Glad I am not alone. Same issue with the latest Outlook version 16.56 (Outlook 365 subscription) and macOS 12.1 with Exchange accounts and local folders. Brand new installation.

Spent 2 days on fixing Outlook search. I have reindexed and I rebuilt the Outlook's sqlite database multiple times to no avail. It's a bug. I'm highly interested in any workaround.

Same problem - MacBook Pro M1 Max, brand new, 2021 - file search will not work, particularly on remotely shared drives with large numbers of files. Index rebuild does no good. But same problem does exist on local external drives. This problem has been present for a while but it has actually gotten worse with 12.1, as in more consistently search returning no results at all, or only one file that was recently opened among dozens of files that should show in the search. I've noticed it does return a list of subfolder names that match the search, but not file names that match the search.

This is a very egregious bug and needs to be fixed quickly. Used to work fine in Catalina and, I believe, in Big Sur as well. The fact that it's been uncorrected for this long is unconscionable, given the premium prices Apple charges for their hardware. If this sort of thing continues I'll have to get a PC.

This bug has nothing to do with TextEdit.

It is Microsoft turn. According to a Apple Developer Thread, the Outlook search bug has been fixed with Outlook 16.58 Beta. Not sure when Microsoft decide release the v16.58 final.

The intrinsic Spotlight bug is worse than an inability to search for strings within the file content. (In fact, as far as I can tell from my testing, that capability still seems to work). The largest problem with the bug that I’ve seen is that it is unable to return a list of file names that contain the search string. This, as you indicated, has nothing to do with Microsoft components. It’s a problem with Finder and Spotlight within MacOS itself. Should probably be in a separate thread than the Outlook issue.

Found this:

https://www.stellarinfo.com/article/rebuild-spotlight-search-index-on-mac.php

and followed the instructions to force a rebuild via the Terminal.

It returned this:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist: service already loaded

Load failed: 37: Operation already in progress

In other words, Monterey is *supposedly* trying to re-index – FOR THE PAST MONTH.

I can't pull all my documents out of their folders to force a re-index, I don't have months to rearrange my (very expensive) new Mac. GRRRRRR.

I have the same situation in my mackbook 14

I use HoudahSpot

This helped me as i have been struggling with searching my emails on Outlook since the most recent update. After switching to new Outlook it is working perfectly for now.

I encountered a similar problem, maybe it is related.

After updating to Monterey my finder search actions does not activate the text input field for entering the search criteria. I have to manually click the field in order to enter some text. Then I found that that is not the case when you have the desktop as your selected location (just click on your desktop to deselect the active window). Then finder will search in the top most (opened but inactive) window and activate the search input field. I can not believe that that is the intended mode of operation, so I think we need to hope for a swift update.

I have rebuilt the index to no avail as well.

However, if I search in Finder, it finds the files with the messages in the Outlook profile folder which means that everything is fine with the index.

I reckon that Apple has changed something in SpotLight integration in Monterey, so we have to wait an update from Microsoft.

I have a similar problem on my MacBook Pro, 16-inch, 2019. For a long time I have used the "Search the Current Folder" setting in Finder. Now, I recently upgraded from Catalina to Monterey. The upgrade went smoothly on my machine. Ever since the upgrade Finder gives me all the results on this Mac... even though I have "Search the Current Folder" selected in Finder, Preferences. I have switched back and forth from search "This Mac" to "Current Folder"... and I get the same results in all folders on my Mac. I also rebuilt the file Index in System Preferences, Spotlight. No change. I am still looking for a way to fix this, and hoping Apple has a solution.

Just adding that I’m having the same issue. Brand new 16” MPB. Search will occasionally work after a reboot but then stop. Or it will find a handful of files when searching by content but none by filename. I’ve rebuilt the index a few times. Really, really, really annoying. I’ve had to resort to using a third-party search app.