Hi,
The search function in Mail (Yosemite) is flakey. Usually it finds nothing. After a reboot it finds only email adresses associated wit the search but rarely will it let me search only "subject" or "title", rather it only gives email adresses as results. Any suggestions?
Thank you
Brian
Thanks, I'll give that a try. This problem seems to come and go, is this normal? Do other people have the same issue?
You are welcome. Others do have this issue. In theory it isn't normal, but.......
I have upgraded to El Capitan and now the search function is not working in Mail.
I've re-built the mailboxes
I've deleted the Envelope Index files in Library and re-started mail - no luck
I've tried to re-index Spotlight by adding a folder to the Privacy section but I can't do it as every time I try I get the same error message "Privacy List Error: The item couldn't be added or removed because of an unknown error."
How do I get round that?
Try creating a new Spotlight index file by copying and pasting the command below in to Applications/Utilities/Terminal.
sudo mdutil -E /
Thank you for your reply Eric.
I've tried that and I get this outcome in Terminal: I've tried a few times always with this result.
Error: Index is already changing state. Please try again in a moment.
Mac-mini:~ paul$
Just a bit of further information.
If I de-select all items in the Spotlight System Preferences - so no category is selected - the search function works fine in mail, although of course Spotlight does not work.
Even I select only one or two categories in the Spotlight preferences - and not Mail - the search function does not work in mail.
Curious
See if you can exclude all items and then create a new index using Terminal.
Thanks again for your help.
I have solved my problem and I think it was caused by third party software.
I had two bundles enabled in my Mail in Library/Mail/Bundles; they were MailTags and Herald, both supposedly El Capitan compatible.
I removed both, kept all folders checked in Spotlight preferences in System Preferences, tried a Spotlight search and hey presto Spotlight began to index properly and everything is back to normal in Mail.
I've re-installed Herald and everything still works properly. I haven't re-installed MailTags.
Having removed both at the same time I can't be 100% sure it was MailTags that was causing the problem, but I strongly suspect it was.
"Try creating a new Spotlight index file by copying and pasting the command below in to Applications/Utilities/Terminal.
sudo mdutil -E / "
My Mail search is not working either.
I tried that command,and Terminal says "Indexing disabled"
Help.
You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved, less people are likely to look at it. You can link to this one.
System Preferences/Spotlight/Privacy - is your hard drive listed there? If so, try removing it with the minus sign.
Search function in Mail not working
