Mail Search not working El Capitan

Yes! ~/Library/Mail/V3/MailData -> Delete every file that begins with “Envelope Index” (archive before doing so)

Thanks Maestro1827. When logging out of iCloud, I get a warning that all documents stored in iCloud will be erased from my computer - should I accept and move forward with signing out? Thanks

Thank Michael, I erased all envelope index files and mail re-indexed itself upon opening (it took almost 45 minutes). Unfortunately, the problem still persists. I tried it a second and third time, with the same results. Very frustrating

Thanks. I tried re-indexing through Spotlight and by erasing the envelope indexes, but neither worked.

hm - did you wait long enough for Spotlight re-indexing? You can check progress by searching something like "test" and see the progress bar in the opening window. Takes some hours depending on the diskspace used.

Concerning mail: it helped in my case to first close mail and then deleting all 3 files beginning with "Envelope Index" in ~/Library/Mail/V3/MailData

Hi Michael,

I let it run all night, but the search function in mail still does not work. Regarding the Envelope Index mails, I did the same. I emptied my spam and trash folders, closed out of mail and then deleting all three files. I then re-booted and opened mail. Re-indexing took almost 45 minutes, but the search functions still does not work - very frustrating!

This worked perfectly for me. Thank you.

Thanks for the recommendation - unfortunately, the search function still does not work. I even tried re-indexing mail manually, as well as through spotlight after completing your iCloud suggestion, but nothing - incredibly frustrating!

I have had the same results. When I past a full email address into the search field, usually I get no results. Then when I start deleting characters from the end of the address, I eventually get results.

When I paste the email address into SpotLight, I see all of the results I know are there, but not the results when pasting that email address into the Mail search field.

Solution?

Michael Wüthrich1'ssolution worked for me.

• Close Mac Mail
• Move the 3 files beginning with "Envelope Index" out of ~/Library/Mail/V3/MailData
• Launch Mac Mail - it will now start the process of re-importing your messages (took about half an hour as I had over 10,000 messages)

It seems that the process of indexing for search purposes takes a bit longer and continues in the background. Initially it didn't work as expected, but after an hour or so I'm getting better and better results.

I have tried all of the suggestions on this post several times each, but the search feature on my mail is still not functioning. Any additional suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

In El Capitan, it's as Heinzmac indiated - it's under folder V3

Go to Mailbox tab in option bar and tap Rebuild.

Tried, still same results.