spotlight not finding any emlx files (apple mail)

Thomas Huerlimann,

Got it. To clarify, are you referring to Spotlight not searching the contents of those .emlx files, or locating the files themselves?

If they're not appearing in Spotlight, try the steps below from the resource titled If searching your Mac returns unexpected results. If an item or location is excluded from Spotlight, it might account for what you're seeing.

"Check settings in Spotlight preferences

• You may have excluded items from Spotlight searches. To check, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Spotlight , then click Search Results. Items whose checkboxes aren’t selected aren’t included in search results.
• You may have excluded certain folders or disks from Spotlight searches. To check, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Spotlight, then click Privacy.
• You may have turned off Location Services for Siri Suggestions. See Turn off Siri Suggestions for Spotlight."

There are a few other possibilities in the link posted above as well. If you find none of those helps, you might want to Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac as a next step. This is a good general step for unexpected Spotlight behaviors, and knowing if this helps will be useful in narrowing the behavior down:

"Rebuild the Spotlight index

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
2. Click the Privacy tab.
3. Drag the disk or folder that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the disk or folder to add.
4. 
5. You can add an item to the Privacy tab only if you have ownership permissions for that item. To learn about permissions, choose Help from the Finder menu bar, then search for “permissions.”
6. From the same list of locations, select the disk or folder that you just added. Then click the remove button (–) to remove it from the list.
7. 
8. Quit System Preferences. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the disk or folder. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed."

Let us know the results, and have a good one.

Hello Thomas Huerlimann,

To help resolve this issue, follow the steps from this article:

If searching doesn’t find the right emails in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

"If one or more mailboxes are selected in the Mail sidebar or the  Favorites bar, Mail searches only those mailboxes. To search all mailboxes, click All Mailboxes in the sidebar or All in the Favorites Bar.

• Mail may not be looking in the Trash or Junk mailboxes, or searching encrypted messages. To include them when searching all mailboxes, choose Mail > Preferences, click General, then select the options.

• You may need to sync the mailboxes on your Mac with those on the mail server. Choose Mailbox > Synchronize > [account].

• Mail may be excluded from Spotlight searching. To check, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Spotlight , then click Search Results. If the Mail & Messages checkbox isn’t already selected, select it.

• The Mail folder (located in your home Library folder) may be excluded from Spotlight searching. To check, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Spotlight, then click Privacy. If Mail is listed, select it, then click the Remove button ___."

Best Regards.

Thomas Huerlimann,

Thank you for sharing that. If you'd like to continue looking into this with Apple, we recommend reaching out using this link. Based on the troubleshooting you've done, they'll be in the best position to further assist: Apple Support

Take care.

Hi Thomas Huerlimann,

You are most welcome. Next, we'd suggest contacting support directly,Contact Apple for support and service

Cheers.