Bought Outlook for Mac... now Finder searches includes Emails

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Level 1

0 points

Bought Outlook for Mac... now Finder searches includes Emails

Hi there -

I have a macbook pro. I often use the Finder's search feature to locate a word document or something on my machine.

BUT since I have installed outlook for a mac it includes searching my emails which is ridiculous. I get a ton of emails for work and even though sometimes they do really point me to an email related to what I am searching this is NOT HELPFUL.

I want to search my computer like word, excel, images, pdfs, etc. Anything but NOT outlook emails. How can I prevent that?

It's so annoying and makes it harder to find what I am looking for.

Much thanks!

xoxo

macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6), I have a macbook pro bought 11/2010 and an iPhone4

Posted on Mar 18, 2011 3:41 PM

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Answer 1

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Mar 18, 2011 4:13 PM in response to Nicole FS

Why haven't tried using Spotlight to search? You can set it up to search for what you want to search. Or you can download 3rd party search utilities like Find File and EasyFind. Both can be found on Macupdate.

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Answer 2

Mar 22, 2011 7:49 AM in response to Nicole FS

Hi,

I am also having the same problem. Extremely cumbersome!

Using spotlight is not really an option.

Anyone else having this problem?

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Answer 3

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Mar 22, 2011 6:23 PM in response to Boombox_TJ

Boombox_TJ wrote:
Hi,

I am also having the same problem. Extremely cumbersome!

*Using spotlight is not really an option.*

Anyone else having this problem?

Try the 3rd party search utilities which I mentioned.

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Answer 4

MeBeMac

Level 1

15 points

Apr 2, 2011 3:18 PM in response to Nicole FS

I agree!

Outlook has plenty of search functions built into it. The problem seems to be the way MS integrated Outlook into the system.

I liked porting over my old PC based e-mails without a hitch, but it really did ruin my search and find experience.

I saw the comment about loading yet other third party applications on the system. While not the ones mentioned, I have some other applications.

I'd prefer to just have my old Finder-styled results back.

If MS or Apple folks are listening--some kind of integration fix would sure be nice.

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Answer 5

stan

Level 3

598 points

Apr 3, 2011 9:25 AM in response to Nicole FS

Hi Nicole FS,
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

Find and Spotlight are two excellent features in the operating system. Each function works a bit differently from the other.

Let's deal with SpotLight which uses indexing. I takes a bit of time to set up; but, it does that in the background. It will slow your work down as it indexes your files in the beginning, only. Here's how to begin to get the MOST out of SpotLight.

Open System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results.
The first thing you can do is deselect the mail messages in the list of things to search. While you're there deciding what you want to display for results, you can also click-drag the items into a preferred search order.

That alone should fix your concern; but, there's more.

Click System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy.
The second thing to you can do is decide where Spotlight will work and what volumes you wish to have indexed for FAST and complete searches.

Note that Spotlight will find instances of type inside PDFs and even in some artwork! That's nothing short of astonishing, IMHO.

Here's how to AMAZE YOURSELF:

This Spotlight preferences window shows a list of locations to "Prevent Spotlight from searching these locations:"
First, Add ALL the items that you WANT to index (using the + button under the window or drag a folder or disk into the list).
2. Close the System Preferences window.
3. Reopen System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy.
4. REMOVE all the items you just added.
5. Close the System Preferences window to reset the Spotlight database.
Spotlight will then begin to index the folders and volumes you just removed from the Privacy List.
(Leave the items in the list that you do NOT want to search.)

You'll see a small black throbbing dot inside the Spotlight logo as it indexes. It may take some time.
You may hear the fans go on to keep the heat down from the increased CPU activity.

When the indexing is finished, you'll be able to find practically anything FASTER than you can type. (I'm a two-hand touch typist and it's faster than I am.)

I hope this helps. I wasn't crazy about Spotlight until I learned how to use it. Now, I'd be lost without it.

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Answer 6

_roland_

Level 1

0 points

Apr 8, 2011 3:45 AM in response to stan

Stan, your enthusiasm is very commendable 🙂 unlike, alas, your proposed solutions.

You cannot exclude Outlook email results by de-selecting the Mail checkbox in spotlight preferences - this checkbox only disables Apple Mail results.

You cannot exclude Outlook results using the privacy exclusion feature in spotlight (by excluding, say, the "Microsoft User Data" folder), because this does not only disable spotlight results, but also disables searching inside Outlook itself, and as a result, your will loose your ability to search for emails altogether (the reason is that Outlook's own search feature depends on spotlight).

The intended result would be not to have email results when searching for files, but still being able to search for emails inside Outlook.

There is, to the best of my knowledge, no solution today to this problem, except for creating complex search rules with spotlight every time you do a search (which is quite inconvenient).

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Answer 7

Garish

Level 1

10 points

Apr 14, 2011 12:08 PM in response to _roland_

I'm disappointed that Microsoft chose to tie their search within Outlook to Spotlight, too. Integration with OS features is usually welcome, but I'm with you, Roland...if I want to find emails, I'll do it in Outlook.

FWIW, I believe that this change reflects Microsoft changing from a single database for emails to individual files...which is probably a good thing overall. My Entourage database would get corrupted every few months, requiring a time-consuming rebuild. I think that's less likely to be a problem now.

Gary

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Answer 8

kc_jay

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2011 9:57 AM in response to _roland_

You cannot exclude Outlook email results by de-selecting the Mail checkbox in spotlight preferences - this checkbox only disables Apple Mail results.

You can easily exclude Outlook items from Spotlight. I had the same problem, but was able to fix it quickly by deselecting "Contacts," "Mail Messages," and "Events & To Do Items" under Spotlight Preferences. This corrected everything for me.

It does not, however, remove these items from the Finder search (which is frustrating).

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Answer 9

Sep 29, 2011 2:40 AM in response to Nicole FS

I agree with the original post - including Mac Outlook Mail files in the Finder search results is a mess. I will continue to google and maybe ask in the Microsoft forums (fora?) for a solution.

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Answer 10

Sep 29, 2011 2:48 AM in response to BillH1184

In the Finder window, once you've begun a search, you can click plus sign and specify "Kind is Document" which excludes the annoying Outlook email files.

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Answer 11

Oct 7, 2011 4:25 PM in response to Nicole FS

I had the same problem. Here's the solution I came up with. Actually it's a variation on a solution for a different, but related problem.

http://lostonroute66.com/solved-hiding-outlook-email-in-mac-os-x-finde

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Answer 12

Oct 10, 2011 2:48 AM in response to lostonroute66

Thanks for the help, the link on your page to "instructions" isn't actually a link, but I found the following instructions which have worked first time for me,

http://blog.nydanny.com/technology/go-away-microsoft-remove-annoying-microsoft-u ser-data-folder/

1 Shut down Office Apps

2 Move the "Microsoft User Data" folder out of Documents into ~\Library\Preferences

3 Carry on

Bill.

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Answer 13

Oct 10, 2011 5:11 AM in response to BillH1184

Thanks for catching that Bill. I was some strange hickup in posterours. Recreating the link seemed to work. Your instructions above work just as well.

I also needed a reminder to hold "option" while clicking on the "Go" menu in Finder to show Library, since it's hidden.

David

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Answer 14

grc77

Level 1

0 points

Oct 31, 2011 10:38 PM in response to Nicole FS

The way that I solved this (and it worked for me)...

Go to System Preferences > Spotlight
Select Privacy Settings
Either select the + option or drag Macintosh HD/Users/%username%/Documents/Microsoft User Data

Granted I am using MfM 2011, this could be different for earlier versions, but it worked like a charm for me...

Greg C.

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Answer 15

Jul 30, 2013 11:27 AM in response to BillH1184

This does work as described, but important to note if you move the Microsoft User Data to Library/Preferences that means search no longer works in Outlook.

The Spotlight change add to the MS User Data to the Privacy exclusion list is probably the best solution out of a set of non-ideal solutions.

Gary

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