mail.app search is broken since Monterey upgrade

Question

Level 1

22 points

mail.app search is broken since Monterey upgrade

Hi all,

I don't see all expected mail pop up in the search list, when searching based on keywords (even searching 'all message content'). This started after my Monterey upgrade a couple of days ago.

I've executed:

Mail.app's own Menu > Mailbox > Rebuild
The 'mail.app shift restart shift reboot' sequence (see ref)

Both with no luck. This is a terrible functionality to miss in my workflow 😥️

Anybody with tips or suffering the same, glad to hear from you 🙏️✌️

Regards,

Gerard.

ref: https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/fixing-broken-mail-search-macos/

Posted on Nov 16, 2021 1:31 AM

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

gerardjp Author

Level 1

22 points

Nov 19, 2021 3:08 AM in response to gerardjp

I've completely removed the account via system preferences > accounts. Removing and choosing: 'remove account everywhere' (which then also includes, calendar and other items). Then after re-adding and re-downloading 60K messages my search results are back. 😅️

Thanks again for your help Barney! 🙏️

Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

125,838 points

Nov 17, 2021 5:52 AM in response to gerardjp

Did you reindex spotlight?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

125,838 points

Nov 18, 2021 4:52 AM in response to gerardjp

I’m wondering if those messages get indexed at all. Does it find the missing emails if you search for some other term in some other part of the message? Like, does it find the subject, or sender.

Answer 4

gerardjp Author

Level 1

22 points

Nov 18, 2021 11:24 PM in response to Barney-15E

I've tried to find some mail threads. Can't find them on sender(s), subject or content keywords. Oh, and the mails do exist because I can see them in my inbox.

Not that I want to, but maybe I'll try to completely remove the account and re-add it. Any pointers on removing old cache or folders as well, before re-adding the account(s)?

Thanks!

Answer 5

gerardjp Author

Level 1

22 points

Nov 18, 2021 1:58 AM in response to Barney-15E

Just did, no difference. Searching for mail via spotlight, versus searching in mail.app itself, results in the same found mails. Though both incomplete results.

Thanks for your input btw ✌️

mail.app search is broken since Monterey upgrade

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