Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

0 points

Search feature in mail finds nothing with Mavericks

If I try to find an email in Mail by searching by someone's name or the business name that I know is in the email address it comes up with nothing. I have tried it with all of the different search options. For instance, I was trying to find an email from someone named Katherine. I start typing her name in the search field, and Mail immediately makes a list of people whose names have the same letters. If I select her name, it shows up with zero messages, but I know I have mesages from her in there. Then I tried not selcting her name from the list Mail provided and just typing it in and hitting enter and it still doesn't show up. I am assuming this is a bug. But if someone can tell me something I can change to make it work that would be great. Thanks!

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9), Mac Mail

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 3:35 PM

94 replies

Miska_FL

Level 2

390 points

Oct 23, 2013 6:39 PM in response to defghik

That's very strange. The only other thing I can think of is to export your mailboxes to the desktop or another folder, remove the account(s) and then re-add them. If the account is IMAP even better because you won't need to export the mailboxes since they are stored online, you can even check webmail to make sure they show up there.

defghik Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2013 6:54 PM in response to Miska_FL

I fixed it by reindexing via spotlight. I followed the indexing instructions at this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

And the only folder I dragged in was the Mail folder from my Home directory. (Home Directory/Library/Mail).

Thank you so much for your help Miska_FL! Hopefully that will help someone else having a similar problem.

Thank you for the indexing tip NHC2365! That put me on the right track. Jaydisk, maybe you can try the same thing I did...

defghik Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2013 6:58 PM in response to defghik

One more tip that may help others to do this fix: Your Library folder may be hidden. "To reveal it: In your Home directory, you can now open the View Options (⌘J) and check Show Library Folder to always show your ~/Library in the Finder. No more Terminal hacks!"

I found this on: http://www.macstories.net/roundups/os-x-mavericks-tips-tricks-and-details/

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 23, 2013 7:47 PM in response to defghik

Yup. That worked for me too.

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 23, 2013 7:49 PM in response to jaydisc

Yup, this worked. I had to index the entire drive again.

Oct 24, 2013 12:26 PM in response to defghik

Rebuilding the entire Spotlight index worked for me. Rebuilding just the Mail part of it didn't

mrmk

Level 1

109 points

Nov 21, 2013 9:36 AM in response to Miska_FL

I tried this:

"Try this: Quit Mail > then > Move ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Envelope Index to the desktop > Re-open mail and see if that fixed it."

and i think it fixed my search issues in Mail. but what is causingthe problem? I've been running Mail for 10+ years and never had this issue. It seems to have only started since I installed Mavericks.

-Michael

Nov 26, 2013 8:48 AM in response to defghik

When I force to re-indexing, I arrive to find old mails, but new mails after this re-indexing are not found. It seems that normal indexing of new mails when I put those in a different folder are not indexed. I have to reindexing each day!!!

mrgufer

Level 1

0 points

Nov 27, 2013 4:49 PM in response to ismaduque

Same thing to me, all days re-indexing. It looks like apple does not care about this issue. It is awful to lose one of the most amazing things of apple world - "Mail´s search results"-.

I hope for a soon solution. I dont want to migrate to another mail client!!!

Apple: Please Help Us!!!

Dec 4, 2013 11:39 AM in response to defghik

Same situation as ismaduque and mrgufer. Reindexing works for meesages present, but the new ones may or may not get in the index. When I search with a name, I get about half of the hits I'm supposed to have.

Marc

Dec 4, 2013 11:54 AM in response to defghik

defghik wrote:

If I try to find an email in Mail by searching by someone's name or the business name that I know is in the email address it comes up with nothing.

I don't know if this is any comfort, but this has never worked for me in Mountain Lion either. So I never use it.

Dec 4, 2013 11:56 AM in response to mrgufer

I congratulate you on your correct spelling of "lose". You and I may be the last two people on the planet who know what it is.

🙂

mrmk

Level 1

109 points

Dec 4, 2013 12:03 PM in response to Tom in London

Tom,

I tried the following and it was a bid help:

Quit Mail > then > Move ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Envelope Index to the desktop > Re-open mail and see if that fixed it.

It also helps to rebuild mailboxes but I have 100's of them and it seems to always come back to the same issue with the search problem. Try removing the Envelope Index and restarting mail. It does seem to help with some of the search issues.

Best,

Michael

HIJNX

Level 1

0 points

Dec 17, 2013 2:40 PM in response to mrmk

I downloaded the new 10.9.1 update hoping it would fix this problem and it didn't.

Things I've already done:

Updated to 10.9.1

Rebuilt Mailboxes

Properly Reindexed Mail

Repaired Disc Permissions (Just hoping)

Reindex via Spolight

Dec 17, 2013 2:52 PM in response to HIJNX

Same results.... I continue to have problems to find emails.

Search feature in mail finds nothing with Mavericks