Vista Machine with Office 2007- Outlook not finding emails. Instant Search/Indexing issue

Question

Hi, I have search everywhere for a solution and still I do not seem to find a solution.

Outlook is not finding any emails (instant search). I think it is not really indexing anything.

Vista search works perfect (seems like it). The index says it is done (outlook is included on it)

As I receive emails, the list of pending items to index just grows and grows. I am using pop accounts not exchange. (I already checked the instant search options, the indexing thorugh control panel).

Any ideas. I spent the last two weeks searching for a solution, and I have read and follow the suggested solutions from microsoft, but still is not really finding anything..

so frustrated!.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope somebody can help me out!

Oscar

Answer 1

I've actually been facing the exact same issue since the middle of January.  I posted a message in the Microsoft Outlook General Questions Newsgroup but I've yet to receive a response.  Environment is the same, Vista (Business) with Outlook 2007 - desktop search seems to be finding everything but e-mails and the list of pending items to index in Outlook continues to grow.

Very troubling.  Anyone else encountering this issue?

Answer 2

I am having the same problem.  When I check the indexing status it says that everything is indexed.  I am also using Vista Business along with Outlook 2007.  I am glad I am not the only one with this issue.  I wonder if it has anything to with the fact that I imported my email messages in when I upgraded to Vista.  I hope they find a solution.

 

Answer 3

Right click on the start button and go to properties.

Click on the cutomize button.

Make sure all the search types are checked.

• Search
• Search communications
• Search Favorites and History
• Search this Users files
• Search all programs

Now you will be able to search all the files you indexed.

Answer 4

Make sure that you have your Outlook shows up in indexed location of Indexing Options and all the folder you want is selected.

You can also try to reset your search by going to the advanced options and hit rebuild. You may also want to try doing an office repair and/or reinstall to see if any of these would take care of the problem.

Answer 5

I know that, personally, I've tried re-building the index, repairing MS Office, and customizing what exactly is searched but nothing has worked thus far.  I have NOT tried re-installing Office yet.  Anyone else? 

(iamjoe - searching of communications isn't working in both the Vista start menu OR in Outlook.  In fact, I'm not sure about the others who have complained about this, but I can't even do an Advanced Search in Outlook - I thought that was supposed to be a separate type of search - non-instant.)

Answer 6

I cannot do any advanced searches either.  I also checked to make sure all was selected and it still won't do any searches.  I have tried to rebuild the index.  It is strange, on my laptop which also has the same software installed it works just fine.  The only thing different is that on the machine that the searches won't work I upgraded and did not install fresh and that I imported my old email.  Did anyone else import or upgrade?

 

Answer 7

I actually did a clean install of Vista Business just before the new year immediately followed by a clean install of Office '07 Professional.  I did, however, copy over my .PST from a backup.

Answer 8

That is what I did with my .pst file as well.  Maybe that is the cause of this, but why is Outlook not indexing the new stuff coming in?  I made some changes in my search option and am now rebuilding my index again to see if those changes did anything.  I will post my results.

Answer 9

Look for a program somewhere under "c:\program files" (different versions of office install in different locations) called scanpst.exe and use that to see if there is any corruption in the PST file.

Answer 10

Eric you are the man!  Outlook is now reindexing all my emails and the instant search is working.  Yesterday I repaired Office and then tried reindexing and that didn't work.  Your solution took about 20 minutes and is working like a champ.  There were some errors when I ran scanpst.exe, I backed up my .pst file and let it repair the errors.  The scanost.exe was not compatible.  Nonetheless everything works fine.  Now if I could only get the Windows Mobile Device Center to work.  Anyone having any issues with that?

Answer 11

I fixed the problem chosing "Properites" for the pst files, then advanced, and then clicking "Index this file for faster search".

 

Henrik

Answer 12

Hi,

I'm running Vista Ultimate (Version 6.0 Build 6000) and Outlook 2007 (Part of Office Enterprise 2007 12.0.4518.1014) Both Vista and Office are clean installation. It is an Exchange 2007 Mailbox.

Indexing is not working, tried to reinstall Outlook and rebuild the index, but nothing helps.

When I turn of the chached mode option search indexing is working fine, but I want to use it off-line as well. So when I use chached mode in outlook 2007 don't give me any results. The maibox in checked uner Search options in outlook, en I can see that a lot of files are indexed. But in outlook not any result.

Do I have to reinstall Vista *** wel?? Please help!!

Rgd, Jan Bosch

Answer 13

OK, thanks to everybody that tried to help me! . I am still dealing with the same issue, and as many of you describe I am doing pretty much the same things (reinstalling office, etc.. etc..). Honestly, I am a little bit sick of Vista and Office 2007.. but I already bought it so.. :-).

Any way, I am trying Erik suggestions now.. we'll see.. Thanks!

Answer 14

I am having the same problem, I turned up this KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927676. Basically run fixmapi.exe, reboot, rebuild index. It looks very promising, Outlook has acknowledged that it needs to index files. Trying it now myself.

Answer 15

James, it's no use. I've tried your approach first and then Eric's (using scanpst.exe), but the problem is still there. I can see that everything was indexed, but no results appear in neither the instant search nor the advanced. Someone please help us here.

I'm running a preinstalled Vista Ultimate and an upgraded version of Office 2007 Pro, and imported my pst files and also created an Exchange account on the same profile with Caching enabled.

Answer 16

I can confirm that the fixmapi.exe resolved the issue for me. I did almost everything suggested in this thread so it may have been a combination.

• Ran scanost.exe and scanpst.exe (one for my Exchange, one for my Archive folder) and fixed errors found in my Archive
• Unchecked both Mailbox and Archive data files in Outlook search options. Restarted Outlook
• Checked both Mailbox and Archive data files in Outlook search options. Restarted Outllok
• Rebuilt Index
• Restore Default from Indexing Options and rebooted
• Ran %windir%\system32\fixmapi.exe and rebooted, then ran Rebuild index - this one did it

I noticed that indexing runs much slower with Symantect Antivirus 10.2 CE auto-protect enabled. I also noticed that indexing the Outlook messages seems to be spiking sqlserver memory usage for Business Contact Manager 2007.

Answer 17

The fixmapi 927676 KB only address the issue of machines that installed the Exchange System Management Tools. These tools are only used by Exchange administrators and not commanly found on normal users of Microsoft Outlook.

 

Answer 18

Thanks for the info Eric, the issue is resolved now for me after running fixmapi.exe, I didn't install the Exchange administrator tools and I am the admin for our network. It could have been a problem with Symantect Antivirus installing some sort of a MAPI shim but I am not sure, just happy to have Instant Search back. It also could have been a combination of any of the steps I listed in my previous post, just giving a synopsis for anyone fighting with the issue.

Answer 19

I'm running XP Pro with Outlook 2007 Enterprise. I've done every combination of scanpst, rebuild, turn instant search on/off. Restarting in between, etc.  I've repaired Office and rebuilt indices dozens of times.

I've got WDS 3.0 which finds everything in Outlook, no problems.  Outlook 2007 InstantSearch also works.  If I click the link for "Try Searching Again in All Mail Items", results are never returned.  On a specific mailbox, results are correct.

Everything was working fine until about 10 days ago -- it seems to be related to the fixes MS downloaded recently.  Finding everything in WDS is much less convenient, but the only way I have to search my whole mailbox.  Any ideas?

Answer 20

OK, I tried every single thing... and for a little bit was working.. but only indexing the rss feeds, so I decided to wait and see, some results were showing up but only from the rss feeds in outlook.

After that, indexing was done, but no results were showing at all. It is freaking annoying ! every time I need to find an email.. so long story short... I installed google desktop. Works great now.

The fixmapi issue didn't do anything for me. The scanpst seem to work for a little while... I cannot believe the amount of screw up things with vista and the new office 2007... I felt like punching my laptop more than once...

I'll check back to see if anybody can suggest anything else.. thanks everybody.

 

 

Answer 21

OK: promise you won’t laugh (at me at least J):

 

I DID IT !!!

 

Try this: Tools >> Instant Search >> Search Options: and actually “uncheck” the data file you want to enable the search in. Then exit Outlook (make sure you kill Outlook process from the Task Manager if it doesn’t really close). Restart, and you’re done!! It worked for me…

 

I guess there is a process that inverts the check-box input for some reason… checked means unchecked.

 

So check it out… or uncheck it out… whatever J

Answer 22

Hi to all,

I would like to share my version of the same problem that I think it is complicated and serious. 

I am also using Outlook 2007 and waited a long time for it to index all items.
I use Notes Item a lot and have been collecting information there for a long 
time but now everytime I do a search it it´s contents brings back nothing. I 
try select indexing options from there but it hangs for 3 to 4 minutes and 
then it comes back but it says that no files need to be indexed.
I have a lot of important information on Notes but now I can´t find anything.
Using Windows Vista Business (Upgrade) + Outlook 2007 (from a 2003 version) - 2 GB of 
RAM and a Readyboost pen drive of 4 GB to speed things up.
PST files are all over 4 GB.
From what I have read on almost every post, forum and support files here is 
what I have tried and have not solved a SEVERE problem (I think):
- Rebuild Index;
- Fixmapi stuff;
- Repair Office 2007 (Final);
- Moving the PST to another PC and tried the same thing;
- Archive almost every e-mail to make my PST smaller although Outlook states 
it can be bigger than 2GB;
- Do a All Items search;
- Done an advanced search in contents of Notes and Tasks;
- Tried searching in All Notes Item Search and hangs ofr 30 minutes;
- Compacting PST;
- Left it to Index 2 days in a row;

- Used the Inbox Repair tool on my PST;

- Not using exchange

Well I can´t remember more things I have done from the searches I have taken.

I think that if I can´t rely on Instant Search for Outlook 2007 then for 
Windows Vista I am starting to give it a doubt. 

I really appreciate some help on this. And ask for someone to take this 
message to microsoft please if necessary.

Thanks,

René

Answer 23

PARTIAL SOLUTION!!

Hi again and again.

After taking all the steps above and rebuilding index like 50 times and testing on 5 or 6 different computers.

I decided to take the funny solution that a user called: "mar7aib" suggested and I unchecked all the Data files and it worked!

I call it a partial solution because searches are slower and I think it does not use Windows Desktop Search this way but until it gets corrected I am going to leave it this way.

I suggest everyone to do this also because a search option is VITAL in any application and we must trust it but if it does not work properly then we must wait for better days.

A good search option is important and it should return all results correct even if it is simple or advanced search.

Thanks for the help by now...if anyone has another solution to try please tell so we can try it.

René 

Answer 24

Same issue here as everyone else.

I am running Windows Vista Business on a ThinkPad and Office Enterprise edition. Connected to an Exchange server in cached mode. The Vista was a clean install and indexing works for everything on the laptop except for Outlook.

I've tried everything suggested in this thread, except for a reinstall of Office since that didn't seem to really help anybody, and nothing works.

When I check on the indexing status within Outlook it just says:

Search results may be incomplete because items are still being indexed.

44019 items remaining in "Mailbox - <Full name>".

88038 items remaining across all open mailboxes.

Some help on this would be greatly appreciated as it is frustrating to not be able to search through any of my e-mails and I don't really want to have to install any third party stuff as I have this built in.

Igor

Answer 25

Hi,

Have you tried the partial solution mentioned above? It is a workaround for the problem but I managed to get it working trying the steps below.

What I suspect fixed the problem was the checking and unchecking in Outlook options. Maybe it fixes the index again in some other way other than manually rebuilding.

Ahh...or maybe it was this post that solved the problem and believe me people...if you are having problems with the Instant Search I suggest you try this.

It is rather long but read carefully:

"Hi,

Thanks for using Microsoft TechNet Managed Newsgroup. I'm Leon who will
assist you on this issue.

I have reviewed your post log carefully and concluded your issue as this:

When you perform a search in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, the search
returns no e-mail messages that contain the search criteria.

Is that correct?

There are two main causes that this issue may occur. I've listed both for
your reference:

* Cause 1
========

This issue occurs if the following conditions are true:

1. You upgraded to Windows Vista from Microsoft Windows XP. 
2. Then, you upgraded to a 2007 Microsoft Office suite from an earlier
version of Microsoft Office. 
3. Outlook 2007 is configured to use the Rich Text Format (RTF) file type
for e-mail messages. Alternatively, you received many RTF e-mail messages. 

When these conditions are true, the RTF file type is no longer registered
in Windows Vista. This behavior prevents Outlook 2007 from searching in any
RTF e-mail message.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1.  Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 
2.  In the view pane, click Classic View. 
3.  Double-click Indexing Options. 
4.  In the Indexing Options dialog box, click Advanced.
5.  On the File Types tab, locate rtf in the Extensions list. 
6.  If the Filter Description for rtf is either Plain Text filter or Null
filter, the RTF filter must be registered. To do this, follow these steps:
a.  Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click
Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
b.  Type regsvr32 rtffilt.dll, and then press ENTER. 
c.  When you receive the following message, click OK: DllRegisterServer
in rtffilt.dll succeeded. 

Here is a KB article describes this:

927595 You cannot search RTF e-mail messages in Outlook 2007
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;927595

* Cause 2
=======

This cause is a known issue that this problem occurs if the following
conditions are met:

1. A computer that is running Microsoft Windows Vista has User Account
Control (UAC) turned on.
2. You run Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 by using elevated user rights.

In this scenario, you cannot index e-mail messages or search e-mail
messages because the SearchProtocolHost.exe process cannot open the same
handle to the personal folders (.pst) file that Outlook 2007 uses. Outlook
2007 uses this handle when you run Outlook 2007 by using elevated user
rights.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products.
If this is your situation, then I¡¯m afraid to say, this scenario won¡¯t be
fixed.

The reason why we don't fix this scenario is that in general, users should
never, ever be running Outlook "more elevated" than the rest of the
desktop; if they are (and they're using it for searching and other
day-to-day tasks), they're doing something that's now unsupported and has
reduced functionality as a result.

There is also a KB article which describes this:

923937 You cannot index e-mail messages or search e-mail messages when you
run Outlook 2007 by using elevated user rights on a computer that is
running Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;923937

Hope this helps!


Regards,

Leon Hao"

Thanks to Leon Hao.

Maybe trying this solved the problem.

Also if it doesn´t solve the is an article in microsoft support regarding this issue with Exchange server, if you can´t find it please let me know.

Thanks again

Answer 26

Tried this too! no luck. The only thing I noticed different is that sometimes items from some folders get indexed (meaning they return results) but other times no.

Either way, I would say that pretty much outlook 2007 doesn't respond for a while (not responding) quite often. No idea.

I am feeling like we are going backwards... try google desktop works great!

Take Care

Answer 27

None of the two suggestions helped here either. I hope the bug is found soon.

Igor

Answer 28

After working with Microsoft Support for several days here is the solution for the Index Search problem... at least on my two PC's I had problems with:

Click on Start, Run, Type appwiz.cpl

 

-    Click on Microsoft Office Professional

-    Click on Change

-    Add or Remove Features

-    Continue

-    Marc Outlook as Not Available

-    Click Continue

-    Go through Configuring Process

-    Click on Close

 

-    Click on Microsoft Office Professional

-    Click on Change

-    Add or Remove Features

-    Continue

-    Marc Outlook as Run All from my Computer

-    Click Continue

-    Go through Configuring Process

-    Click on Close

 

-    Open Outlook

-    Let Outlook Re-Index the Mail Messages

 

Alternatively, you can first go to Index Option in Control Panel, Click on Advance and Click on Rebuild to rebuild the entire index.

 

Answer 29

I had a similar issue -- 'instant search' had been working great for weeks and then it suddenly stopped functioning. I later learned that it stopped when i had installed FrontPage 2003 -- apparently there is a known issue with installing components from older Office versions. I ran the "Microsoft Office Diagnostics" tool which repaired things, then I had it rebuild the index one more time. Its now working!

Answer 30

I would like to be added to the club. I moved the outlook file from a previous version. I have Windows Ultimate and Office 2007. I did not upgrade office, but did a fresh install. I have tried all the tricks in this thread - but with no luck. I am absolutely dependent on searching my emails, so please, keep the "solutions" coming...

Answer 31

ndbabb wrote:

I had a similar issue -- 'instant search' had been working great for weeks and then it suddenly stopped functioning. I later learned that it stopped when i had installed FrontPage 2003 -- apparently there is a known issue with installing components from older Office versions. I ran the "Microsoft Office Diagnostics" tool which repaired things, then I had it rebuild the index one more time. Its now working!

This worked for me as well - I can now search emails again! I also installed frontpage 2003 after office 2007 - so probably that was the issue ... Thanks!

 

Answer 32

Ok this one works just fine as posted by mar7aib

Note also that search is very slow so to get over the problem go back into Outlook and re-tick all the boxes after re-start and indexing then works fine. This one troubled me for ages.

 

Trust me it works.

 

Regards,

 

Studulike

 

Answer 33

Still none of it made instant search work for me. I can turn off instant search (like has been suggested) to at least be able to perform search on my e-mail. However this is the same search that came with older versions of Outlook and has none of the benefits of the new Vista builtin indexing and searching.

Answer 34

I may have identified the source of the problems some folks are having with indexing in Outlook 2007... and a solution. If you transfered email from a prior version of Outlook, the file format of the ".pst" files cannot handle indexing. The indexes are stored in the ".pst" files and if they can't store the indexes, the files just won't work.

You can determine if this is the problem by going to your email account settings and looking at your default data file (and any other pst files you commonly have open). If the settings indicate that it's a version that's compatible with old versions of Outlook then you will need to create a brand new Outlook data file and then import your old mail. Note that the new "pst" file format in Outlook 2007 is incompatible with older versions of Outlook. Even if you used Outlook 2003 (like I did), the files may not be compatible because the original files in Outlook 2003 came from an even older version of Outlook.

To fix your files / indexing problem:

1) On the File menu, go to Data Management and create a new pst file. Make sure not to close the archive.

2) Go to Tools -> Account Settings -> Data Files. Select the new file as the "default". Changes take effect after you quit Outlook, so you will need to quit Outlook and reopen it. (If you use more than one data file, you will need to repeat this process for each data file)

3) After restarting Outlook, go to the File menu and select import / export. Select "import from another program or file". Then select ".pst" file type. Select your old "pst" file name. Import your data. Note that you will get an error when it tries to import data from any "search folders" that Outlook 2007 created. You can ignore this problem (you can confirm your last folder got imported by comparing the contents of the old & new pst by loking at the last folder before the search folders in the list).

4) You then need to rebuild the whole search index (thru Vista control panel). Quit out of Outlook and follow instructions per entries from others in this thread.

5) Note that various behaviors are lost when you transfer emails (e.g. archive settings, view settings, etc.) but that's the price for fixing things.

Additionally, you need to do this for all of the ".pst" files you may be using. I use multiple ".pst" files because of the massive size of the email history that I have. If you traditionally archive mail, you will want to do the same for any of those files to avoid issues when Outlook archives mail for you.

 

Answer 35

jdsedona I just don't think that's 100% true, because, otherwise, it wouldn't have worked for me. I carried my data files from Office 2000 all the way to Office 2007 and the indexing worked after I did what I've explained in my previous post quoted below.

Now, the only problem with what I've suggested is that you'll have to do it every time you start Outlook after a Windows log-off, restart, or shut-down.

mar7aib wrote:

OK: promise you won’t laugh (at me at least J):   I DID IT !!!   Try this: Tools >> Instant Search >> Search Options: and actually “uncheck” the data file you want to enable the search in. Then exit Outlook (make sure you kill Outlook process from the Task Manager if it doesn’t really close). Restart, and you’re done!! It worked for me…   I guess there is a process that inverts the check-box input for some reason… checked means unchecked.   So check it out… or uncheck it out… whatever J

Answer 36

ndbabb wrote:

I had a similar issue -- 'instant search' had been working great for weeks and then it suddenly stopped functioning. I later learned that it stopped when i had installed FrontPage 2003 -- apparently there is a known issue with installing components from older Office versions. I ran the "Microsoft Office Diagnostics" tool which repaired things, then I had it rebuild the index one more time. Its now working!

 

This solved it for me too.  Thanks!

Answer 37

mar7aib Posts 4

Re: Vista Machine with Office 2007- Outlook not finding emails. Instant Search/Indexing issue Was this post helpful ?

OK: promise you won’t laugh (at me at least J):   I DID IT !!!   Try this: Tools >> Instant Search >> Search Options: and actually “uncheck” the data file you want to enable the search in. Then exit Outlook (make sure you kill Outlook process from the Task Manager if it doesn’t really close). Restart, and you’re done!! It worked for me…   I guess there is a process that inverts the check-box input for some reason… checked means unchecked.   So check it out… or uncheck it out… whatever J   Igor, try this, it really worked for me.  I was ready to go downgrade to Window XP again just so I can enable the search feature in Outlook.  I hope this works for you.

Answer 38

Jon,

did you try:

mar7aib Posts 4

Re: Vista Machine with Office 2007- Outlook not finding emails. Instant Search/Indexing issue Was this post helpful ?

OK: promise you won’t laugh (at me at least J):   I DID IT !!!   Try this: Tools >> Instant Search >> Search Options: and actually “uncheck” the data file you want to enable the search in. Then exit Outlook (make sure you kill Outlook process from the Task Manager if it doesn’t really close). Restart, and you’re done!! It worked for me…   I guess there is a process that inverts the check-box input for some reason… checked means unchecked.   So check it out… or uncheck it out… whatever J

Answer 39

ndbabb wrote:

I had a similar issue -- 'instant search' had been working great for weeks and then it suddenly stopped functioning. I later learned that it stopped when i had installed FrontPage 2003 -- apparently there is a known issue with installing components from older Office versions. I ran the "Microsoft Office Diagnostics" tool which repaired things, then I had it rebuild the index one more time. Its now working!

Bingo, I did the exact same thing as you (FrontPage 2003 after installing Office 2007), and Instant Search was borked.  Controlling Control Panel, selecting Office 2007, Change, then Repair, rebooting and rebuilding the index worked GREAT for me, thanks for this tip!!!

Answer 40

That did the trick!  After reading all the Microsoft helps and different things on many of the forums, rebuilding my PST with the 'scanpst.exe' tool found in the \office12 folder took care of all my problems.  For the first time I had 0 files to index across all folders.  As soon as I typed a letter in the search box, I started getting results.  For those of us that copied or backed up our PST files from preveous versions, I think this is the most likely problem. Thanks again to all who posted.

 

• Close Outlook
• Run the scanpst.exe file found under your ?:/programfiles directory.  Use your search to find the exact locations since different versions put it in different places
• Open your outlook.pst using the browse feature
• After scanning, if any errors are found, use the repair feature.  Always check the "backup original file" box

Good Luck!

Answer 41

This one worked for me...I tried everything else until I read you installed FrontPage 2003 after Office 2007. I did install it too and after doing the Office Diagnostics and Index Rebuild, Instant Search is working fine now on my desktop and laptop (installed FP2003 on both after Off2007).

 

Thanks and hope everyone else find a solution soon.

Answer 42

I can't believe someone didn't find this @ microsoft.  BJammin I spent hours trying to fix this until I read your post. My machine is a clean install with both vista and office 2007.  What else could have caused this or did Microsoft really blow it!

 

Thanks!

Answer 43

I have a new PC that came w/ Vista.  Installed Outlook 2007 and imported *.dbx files from another PC running Outlook express.

 

I verified that Indexing was indeed indexing: .pst, .dbx, .html, etc.  But when I searched for anything in Outlook, even if a matching result was clearly in the Inbox, the search would fail saying, "Search results may be incomplete.  XXXX items left to index"  (note that this is my best recollection).

 

No combination of stopping/restarting indexing or changing configuration of indexing worked.  However, when I selected the search options w/in Outlook via the drop-down to the right of the search bar, selected Search Options, and unchecked Personal Folders, the search works correctly.

 

In fact, the search even returns results from my Personal Folders.  I'd originally guessed that the *.dbx files imported from Outlook Express were not searchable (or at least not indexing).  Apparently they are searchable as I validated that unique results in the *.dbx files are found by Search.

 

-jeff

 

Answer 44

Does this give the reason why i'm experiencing probs with downloading & sending e-mails through outlook 2007 whilst running windows vista? The send  / recieve button only allows a certain amount of e-mails through and then just hangs for hours?

 

Any ideas why this is?

 

Thanks in advance..

 

Andy

 

Answer 45

Hi,

 

Andy Donaldson wrote:

Does this give the reason why i'm experiencing probs with downloading & sending e-mails through outlook 2007 whilst running windows vista? The send  / recieve button only allows a certain amount of e-mails through and then just hangs for hours?   Any ideas why this is?   Thanks in advance..   Andy

 

I also encountered this problem and tried solving this with microsoft but did not get any solution. It sends and receives and sometimes it hangs near or on the last e-mail. I have sometimes let it run for a while and sometimes it solved the problem. But most of the times I just simply close Outlook and open it again.

I have already tried repairing the account and even changing the placement they have in the "Account Settings" but nothing.

I have noticed the most of the times it happens when there is mail in the Outbox.

 

But I can´t seem to find where the problem is.

 

PCQUATRO

Answer 46

 

I finally fixed my Outlook.  I'm not sure this will work for everyone but it worked for me.

 

The reason why the search never worked for me is because my PST file is not in the default location ("C:\Users\...").  I put all my personal documents in a folder like "C:\Data" regardless of user to make it easier to backup without making up all that other junk in "C:\Users\..".

 

This is what I did:

* Control Panel -> Indexing Options

* Modify

* Show All Locations

* Expanded "Local Disk", found my "C:\Data" folder and clicked that.

* Click OK

 

Now back on "Indexing Options"

* Select my new folder I just added

* Advanced

* File Types tab

* Look for PST & OST files, select it and select "Index Properties & File Contents"

 

Also:

* I ran that scanpst.exe like someone else suggested earlier.  It did find some errors but it didn't fix the search/index problem (of course it wouldn't since my folders weren't setup).

 

Note to Windows & Office Teams:  I'm know of a lot of people who store their personal files outside of the C:\Users and there should have been a more obvious way to do this.  Perhaps the Mail Control Panel would notify the index locations of where the PST & OST files are.  Maybe indexing service should scan all local disks periodically to find new files.  Or maybe there should be a Windows Explorer context menu like "Add to Indexed locations."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answer 47

 

Hi guys

 

It works and it´s the simpliest way to do it.  thanks a lot.

 

Now I just need to find out how to set up the spelling in different languages with install a lot of other stuff.  it works in the older version, but now I can use the contacts and the languages / autocorrection.

 

Thank you

 

regards

 

MMedina

Answer 48

Eric:

 

I have done a scanpst and still have indexing issues. I have Vista Home Edition with Office Professional 2007. When I use Outlook and try to find a contact by searching in the Outlook toolbar it says:

 

 

Outlook is currently indexing your items.

Search results may be incomplete because items are still being indexed.

 

20,355 items remaining in "Personal Folders"

21,040 items remaining accross all open mailboxes.

 

 

How do I fix this?

 

Please offer suggestions.

 

 

Answer 49

I have found that only unchecking personal folders worked for me. Searches still seem fast across my 15000 emails and seem accurate. It seems like it is using the index as if back to the theory posed by someone that the checkbox is reversed.

I ran the diagnostic tool. No changes. The only other note on this I can offer is that diagnosticss reported that I needed to allow Outlook/Office to download a solutions file periodically for updated information AND WAIT A WEEK FOR THE FILE TO DOWNLOAD before running diagnostics again. No download now option.

I used scanpst after unchecking the personal folders checkbox. scanpst found errors; repaired; rechecked personal folders; still doesn't work. Unchecked personal folders; works again.

WTF?

Answer 50

Hi,

 

I've been having outlook search/indexing problems since the first time I started using it.

I just followed the following steps which just SOLVED my problems - I hope it helps:

1. Close Microsoft Outlook.

2. Open the Indexing Options window for Vista -- you can get to this quickly from the Start menu by typing index in the Start Search panel.

3. Click Modify -> Show All Locations to view all the index search locations. Make a note of everything that's currently flagged for indexing -- you'll need to re-add these items later.

4. Uncheck everything from this list, including Outlook. To quickly go to the locations that you need to uncheck, just double-click any of the entries in the "Summary of selected locations" window.

5. Click Close, and then click Advanced to open Advanced Options.

6. Select Rebuild to completely rebuild the index. You should have "0 items indexed" showing in the main Indexing Options window when you click OK. (The idea is to rebuild the index so that there's nothing in it and nothing being added to it.)

7. Click Modify -> Advanced and re-add the locations that existed before. Note that "Microsoft Office Outlook" may attempt to automatically re-add itself, and that's OK.

8. Click OK to complete the re-indexing process.
9. Open Microsoft Outlook and run a search
10. Click on the "no indexed items" message that will appear below the search field - a pop up will appear saying outlook is indexing, the number of indexed items left won't change - wait a minute or so and the search results will start appearing like magic
    
    Extracted from: http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid43_gci1256528,00.html

Best Regards

 

Answer 51

 

I PROMISE the solution that another poster has suggested will work if Instant Search / Indexing doesn't return any results for searches in Outlook, but only if you meet the following criteria:

• Run Windows Vista
• Run Office 2007
• Have installed an element from Office 2003 (Most likely FrontPage 2003)

If you meet the above criteria and have the problem of not being able to search for mail in Outlook and have tried all of the standard methods, i.e. rebuilding index, using scanpst.exe and scanost.exe then do the following - it WILL work!!

• In Outlook 2007 go to the Help menu, and choose Office Diagnostics...
• Let the diagnostic program run (if it is anything like my machine it will take about 10 minutes)
• While the diagnostic program is running close down Outlook
• When the diagnostic program has completed close it down
• Go to Control Panel, Indexing Options, go to Advanced and choose Rebuild
• Open up Outlook 2007
• Give it a few minutes to rebuild its index and then try searching

You should then see a list of results being returned (depending on how long you let the rebuild take etc) and you should feel relieved!

 

It is shocking that Microsoft have not addressed this issue and released information on how to cure it.
Assuming this solution worked for you, spread the word to all message boards and forums you have posted on - it will save people like us hours and hours of trying to find out how to cure it!

 

Cheers

Mark

Answer 52

I'm running a brand new Lenovo with a brand new version of Windows Vista Business 32bit and a brand new install of Outlook 2007 connected to in a cache mode to an exchange server. There were no other versions of Office installed on my computer it is not an upgrade.
Instant search doesn't work.
I tried rebuilding it, running fixes suggested above only to get to a point where the search doesn't return any results now at all as before it was telling me that search in incomplete and the amount of indexed items never decreased.
Now everything is indexed (well according to Outlook) but even a single letter in the search tells me it doesn't exist.

I'm not alone in this.
HEY MICROSOFT FIX THIS PLEASE
I PAID FOR YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM AND FOR THE OUTLOOK!!!

Is there actually a working solution to fix this Buls*t?
This is so frustrating.

Answer 53

Montevale,

 

Same exact setup here. Lenovo, brand new Vista Business, brand new Office 2007 Pro and it doesn't work.

 

All I can do is repeat what you said:

 

"I'm not alone in this.
HEY MICROSOFT FIX THIS PLEASE
I PAID FOR YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM AND FOR THE OUTLOOK!!!

Is there actually a working solution to fix this Buls*t?
This is so frustrating."

 

Igor

Answer 54

Wow, count me among the ones for which UNCHECKING the Personal Folders & Archive actually works.

 

That's just messed up.

 

-Matt

 

Answer 55

I am actually having the opposite problem. The indexing in outlook will not work unless I "Run As Administrator". Once I do that, I can see the searchprotocolhost.exe process running and everything works fine. If I DON'T run elevated, the searchprotocolhost.exe process never starts and the event log displays the error:

 

Outlook Search has encountered an error and is temporarily disabling indexing for store C:\Users\test\Documents\Mail Files\Outlook.pst (error=0x00000001).

 

 

Running Vista Business with Office 2007.

 

Any Suggestions?

 

Thanks

Answer 56

I'm on the Outlook development team, and I feel your pain because I'm hitting this on my home machine. I asked around about this issue and hadn't received any suggestions that actually fixed the problem on my machine until this one. Running Outlook as an administrator got my indexing going again.

 

When I asked around, the only information I got was that apparently it's pretty rare internally and the error crops up a long time after the cause. It has taken a long while to track down the cause, but the team working on it thinks they understand it now. I didn't get an ETA on the fix, but I can say that I upgraded to Vista SP1 and Office 2007 SP1 and that didn't fix it. I'll mention this workaround and find out if that helps narrow it down or if it is indeed the issue that they found before.

 

Thanks all for your feedback, particularly the workaround.

Answer 57

Hi,

 

I have a slightly different version of this issue, I think:

I did all the scanpst + index rebuilt etc... as suggested in the above messages.

 

Now the situation is as follows:

• The OST file and one of my archive PST files are properly indexed and instant search from within outlook does provide results - even if it keeps saying at the bottom of list "searching for more resuts...";
• One of the PST archive file (5GB big, rouglhy) has been indexed (I can tell from the total number of  items having been indexed), I getting results from it from the Vista instant search box, but not from within outlook!!!

Anyone who has already seen this? It looks like the search from within outlook is simply infinitely slow for search results coming from the 5GB archive file...

 

Thanks,

Answer 58

I had a unique problem - while indexing was working for all my emails (Vista Enterprise and Office Pro Plus 2007), it did not work on my contacts list (it did so when I had XP with office 2007). I followed the scanpst route, and guess what - it started to work!!  Thank you - am making this post so that others with the same issue may find a solution in this one.

Answer 59

I am having the same problem with the INDEXING using VISTA and Office 2007. 

 

Everything was working fine and e-mails were indexing.  On June 2, I purchased a 3 machine license for ONE CARE and installed it at around 2:30 on my machine at work and at around 6:00 on my home computer (I made the mistake of replacing my Norton 360).

 

It seems as though my work computer now indexes all items in Outlook until 2:14 on 06/02/08 and my home computer indexes all items until 6:00 PM on 06/02/08.  Microsoft techs indicate that this is a "coincidence" and/or I have too many e-mails on my work machine (the only one I have tried to work with them on).

 

DOES ANYONE ELSE ASSOCIATE THE INDEXING PROBLEM ON OUTLOOK 2007 WITH THE INSTALLATION OF ONE CARE?

 

 

Answer 60

I've never heard (or come accross an issue realting to the installation) of One Care.

Rather than the issue being linked to One Care, it could be linked more specifically to the uninstallation of Norton 360...

 

Have you tried the solutions earlier on in this thread? (Try clicking back and following them if not... It won't do any harm and may restore your settings etc)

 

PS - I wouldn't believe the MS "tech" comment about having too many emails... That sounds a bit of a cop out to me.

Answer 61

Here is what I did (after literally HOURS of meaningless help from Microsoft

 

Start OUTLOOK - TOOLS - INSTANT SEARCH - SEARCH OPTIONS

   UNCHECK the boxes that say where to look - EXIT OUTLOOK

Restart OUTLOOK - TOOLS - INSTANT SEARCH - SEARCH OPTIONS

   CHECK the boxes that say where to look - EXIT OUTLOOK

Start OUTLOOK - The indexing feature again worked like new for me

 

Answer 62

Here is a try – worked for me

 

Start OUTLOOK – Go to TOOLS / INSTANT SEARCH / SEARCH OPTIONS

     UNCHECK the search area boxes – Exit OUTLOOK

RESTART OUTLOOK - Go to TOOLS / INSTANT SEARCH / SEARCH OPTIONS

     CHECK the search area boxes – Exit OUTLOOK

START OUTLOOK – Indexing once again works

 

Answer 63

I had the same problems also with Vista/Outlook 2007, and none of the prososed fixes helped. The only way it would work is if I ran Outlook as an Administrator. However, I just installed the latest Windows Desktop Search 4.0 and everything is working fine now!

 

Windows Desktop Search 4.0 Download:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/windowssearch4.mspx?tab=Install%20It

Answer 64

where do i find the pst files comprising Outlook so that i can apply scanpst.exe?  thanks.

Answer 65

Hello,

Mar7aib you are a Genious!!!  To tell you the truth I tryed all the other options because they seemed more complicated... but I tryed what you wrote and now its working fine

Thank you very much....

 

Answer 66

I don't have vista (xp) but do have office 2007. Am having the same issue with indexing having stopped and can't find a prog called scanpst.exe, can you help?

 

Answer 67

 

ERIC WROTE

Look for a program somewhere under "c:\program files" (different versions of office install in different locations) called scanpst.exe and use that to see if there is any corruption in the PST file.

 

ERIC

which .pst files I need to SCAN

ALL of them?

or just outlook.pst??

whihc has contacts

 

Answer 68

Now I have read this long thread and I have followed most of the recommendations - without success

I cannot modify indexing settings because they are outgreyed
http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=wsearchv7a7.jpg

Eventviewer-Application:

Outlook Search has encountered an error and is temporarily disabling indexing for store C:\Users\ragnarh\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst (error=0x80004005).

thank you!

Answer 69

Thanks Eric!!! that did the trick.  Brilliant.

Answer 70

my problem was on Windows XP with Outlook 2007:
indexing was working for my local mailboxes, but not my exchange server mailbox

control panel
indexing options
modify

this showed me indexing was not beig done for "Mailbox - ..." because the outlook option of using a local cached copy of my mailbox was not turned on, emedied by

outlook
tools
mail setup
email accounts...
Microsoft Exchange
Change...
Use cached exchange mode

Answer 71

I have two solutions to this:

1.  click start go to control panel then system maintenance and indexing options, click the file that you would like to index and click modify.

If you do not have access then the only solution is to highlight all of your emails and mark as unread and then go through and reopen them 1 by 1, there is no shortcut to this so you will require lots of time if you have 4,000 emails in your inbox alone.