There is an issue evolved in Windows 11 system causing Outlook Search not to display recent emails in desktop apps. The problem occurs on POP, IMAP, and offline Exchange accounts, which is obvious because the search service of Outlook relies on local Windows Search service to index emails.
The Microsoft 36 and connected Exchange accounts are not impacted by this issue because they use Service Search which is not affected by this service. Microsoft, on explaining it, says:
“When searching in Outlook Desktop on Windows 11 you might not see the most recent emails in the search results. If you check Windows Indexing Options in the Control Panel, the indexing might be running slow or might be paused.”
The issue is currently under investigation and is yet to be fixed. However, the company shared a temporary workaround for the affected customers till the actual fix available. They are suggested to disable Windows Desktop Search and switch to Outlook’s built in search engine to mitigate the issue.
Steps how to disable Windows Desktop Search Service for Outlook:
- Press Win+ R, type in regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor,
- Now, under this subkey, copy and paste this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
- Click on Edit option, select New> key and name the new key as Windows Search,
- Choose the new Windows Search key, select Edit> New> DWORD value,
- Type PreventIndexingOutlook for the name of the DWORK and hit Enter,
- Now, right-click on PreventIndexingOutlook and choose Modify,
- Type 1 in the value data box now to enable the registry entry and then select Ok,
- Exit Registry Editor and then restart Outlook.
Second time Microsoft warns Outlook users of email search issue
Last year also Outlook users reported about search issue in Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, and Outlook 2016 after upgrading to Windows 10. Those affected had said the Outlook no longer showed emails when searching for specific emails on IMAP/ POP accounts.
The problem started in June 2021, right after the Windows 11 preview build released. The impact was over emails and all other stored locally by POP and IMAP accounts in PST or OST files. As a mitigation measure, Microsoft recommended that time to switch to Outlook’s built in search engine.
