Compatability problem with Sonoma OS and Microsoft Outlook

Hi everyone,

I've been experiencing search issues with Outlook Version 16.85.2 (Legacy, as the new Outlook has font issues) on macOS Sonoma.

If the issue is not resolving through adding outlook profile to Spotlight and removing.

Please try below.

I was able to resolve these problems by contacting Microsoft and using the following commands in the terminal:

sudo mdutil -a -i off
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo mdutil -a -i on

These commands will reindex your entire Mac, which may take a few minutes to a few hours depending on your files and system specifications.

I hope this helps anyone facing similar issues with Outlook search.

Thanks

Unknown why, but major OS upgrades sometimes trash the Spotlight data. Then virtually nothing can be found. This affects most apps, including Office since it relies on that data to display search results. Go to:

System Settings > Siri & Spotlight

Click on the Spotlight Privacy button.

Add the startup drive to the list. You'll get a message complaining this isn't a good idea. Do it anyway so the OS removes the current Spotlight database. Then highlight the startup drive's icon and remove it. Spotlight will start indexing a new database.

Give it several minutes (at least) to finish. Test your apps again.

I have similar problems with Outlook from the latest Office 365 and Sonoma 14.4 on my less than a year old iMac.

I have had long calls Microsoft help and Apple help and did all the reinstalling and reindexing they suggested to no avail.

Left without a solution I transferred all my data to external drives, wiped my iMac hard drive, did a clean Sonoma install and reinstalled Office. It was quite a job but the problems with Outlook are still the same.

I live in hope that a future set of updates to Sonoma or Office will solve the problem but am not confident that this problem has any priority with either organisation.

Any fixes found by other users would be so good to know.

I'm sure you realise that Apple distribute beta versions of their up an coming macOS and this will have been done last year with Sonoma, it is the responsibility of the application developer (Microsoft) to ensure compatibility with macOS, not the other way round. You are most likely to get better feedback by addressing your question to the Microsoft User Group.

https://support.microsoft.com/

So @ikrupp, when you open a MS Outlook mail item in full screen mode - using the MS Outlook desktop application in Sonoma: Are you able to 1) reply, 2) edit, 3) forward, or 4) perform any others tasks on that Mail item? My guess is a single on the email in the active window will cause it to minimise and ghost or disappear to your dock. The only way to see the mail is to go out of full screen mode OR PRESS ESC, which obviously has the same effect.

@kurt I have already mentioned clearly, if the issue is not resolving by adding disk/outlook profile to spotlight and removing, then use the commands on terminal.

In my case, your method wasn’t worth. However the commands worked and outlook search works perfectly

Yes, just tried it. Opened an email in full screen and some of your predictions do happen but the reply doesn’t ghost or disappear and I don’t see how this is an issue at all. Why do people always make the assumption that their issue is experience by all? And with very few reporting this issue, maybe because very few open emails in full screen (I don’t get it myself) this isn’t important to many users. The kicker here is that this happening with Outlook and I am not aware of any complaints about other third party apps showing the same issue. To me that definitely points to a Microsoft problem, not Apple.

In either event it's not Apple’s responsibly to keep third party apps working properly, it’s the third party app developer’s responsibility (in this case Microsoft) to make sure their software works with macOS. Reporting that it works with older versions of macOS but not Sonoma does not mean it’s a Sonoma problem. It means Microsoft has some work to do for Sonoma compatibility.

Waiting for some magical fix from Apple is not likely to happen so you can obsess over it and play the blame game or live with it for now. Your choice.

I’m using the current version of Outlook (16.83.1) with Sonoma 14.4 with absolutely no problems. Microsoft released an update for Outlook yesterday.

removed

Or, instead of entering a series of Terminal commands, just follow the steps I outlined right above your post.