spotlight keeps breaking

13. November 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags:
there seem to be many posts on this same issue.  this fix to reset spotlight works well:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macoutlook/when-i-search-for-messages-from-or-to-a-sender/39a3159e-b249-4753-8f09-6e7b4219a6e3

however, after upgrading to 14.3.8 it keeps breaking to where i'm forced to do this routine over and over again - either option 1 or both 1 & 2. it just doesn't hold.

another thread on this topic:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macoutlook/outlook-2011-and-spotlight-search-not-working/197645ed-4a02-4cbe-b057-896e9742cf4a?rtAction=1384325266429

How to decipher folder structure of messages

03. January 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: ,
I file my messages into folders based on customer and it looks as though something got jumbled. I have rebuilt my database to no avail.

I am missing messages in multiple folders yet I can find them when using Spotlight.  They are still associated with the Main Identity and I can open them and view them - even being able to move them back to the original folder.  My question is how can I look at the message path, when viewing in Spotlight, and decipher what that means in Outlook.  The path "...\Data RecordsMessages\OT\OB\OM\24K\x00_24780.olkMessage" does not give me any idea as to how that relates to my folder structure names in Outlook for Mac.

Any help/suggestions on figure this out is appreciated in advance

Ross

Spotlight returns "No Results" in Outlook

12. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , ,
Outlook 2011 for Mac - version 14.2.4 (fully udpated) - on Lion. 
 
When I try to search for an email message using Spotlight, I get "No Results". Have tried the various solutions in this forum, none of which work. Specifically, tried to force a reindex by copying the identity into Spotlight Preferences - Privacy tab, so that I could then remove it. Got the following error message: "The item couldn't be added or removed because of an unknown error."

Not sure if this makes a difference but Outlook is tracking more than 2000 folders across 3 email accounts, and tens of thousands of messages. But my main Inbox is under 100 messages.

Spotlight says it will take 11 months to index my files!

04. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , ,
Problem began after I performed backup on time machine and reinstall of OS X due to connectivity problems, I now only get Outlook search results from before the back up/reinstall, and I don't even have access to a lot of my word docs.  I rely on the search since I work from home.  All of the items are still there.  The search worked great before I upgraded to Mac OS X 10.7.5 for 10.6.8.  The tech had to copy the whole desktop onto an external hard drive, then reinstall the new OS X 10.7.5 .  Since then, when I search on Outlook, I only get results from before 9/26 (when the backup and update occurred).  The search works great for those items, but doesn't show anything I need for after 9/26.  I tried changing the identity with Microsoft Database Utility and that didn't do it. I've left my MacBook Pro on for 3 straight days, hoping to get the indexing done.  It has gone from 3 months, to 2 years, now at 11 months!  Any suggestions? How do I fix Spotlight with OS X 10.7.5?  Thanks. 










Outlook 2011 and Spotlight search not working

27. September 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , , ,
os x 10.8.2
outlook 2011 14.2.3

have tried pretty much tried every suggestion i've found in this forum, and numerous others.
i've rebuilt indexes a dozen times, triple-checked spotlight config, checked permissions, verified disk, reinstalled office 2011, checked for the MS mdimport plugin, reinstalled mountain lion from scratch (aka. re-partition and install). same result.

last known working config: latest Lion (not Mountain Lion) version, Outlook 2011 14.2.2.

HDD crashed, replaced HDD and OS (to mountain lion), restored MUD from backup and problem has existed since.

my IT dept (who i've found friendly but unable to help) have only indicated that they've "seen a few cases of this problem since ML was released, and that a rebuild from scratch is the only way to fix it".

the problem is, as i've stated, i did the rebuild and that hasn't changed anything, just wasted another day.

must be a bug is what i'm thinking. unless someone far better than me has found the cure?
how do we know if MS is working on a bug fix?

awesome-est part? i partially trashed my exchange inbox mucking around with outlook exports n imports n stuff. 
but anyway, i'll be happy just to get my search mojo back. its not till its gone do you realise just how much you use it.

gurus, heeelp!!!!

How can I enable e-mail search functionality on volumes that are not indexable by Spotlight?

05. July 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , ,
I'm running Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011, Version 14.2.2 (120421) on Mac OS X, Version 10.6.8, build 10K549.  My "$HOME/Documents" directory is a symbolic link to a directory on an external NAS, accessed by NFS.

I observed that e-mail search functionality doesn't work, and the reason appears to be that Spotlight refuses to index this volume:

$ sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes/MyNFSMountPoint
Password:
/Volumes/MyNFSMountPoint:
Error: unable to perform operation.  (-100)
No index.

For the sake of reliability, I am very reluctant to move "$HOME/Documents" directory to, say, my local drive.  (My NAS is protected by RAID and is backed up regularly.  Moving critical data off of the NAS would complicate matters considerably.)  By the way, it's perfectly fine with me if exactly one host--the computer on which I'm running Microsoft Outlook--is responsible for indexing the drive.  In other words, I don't require or expect multiple Mac OS X hosts to be able to use Spotlight with this volume--just the one that is running Outlook.

Having one's e-mail in a network-mounted directory is an entirely reasonable use case, so I'm wondering:

1. Perhaps I've misconfigured my NFS server or the NFS client settings in Mac OS X, and with a tweak or two, Spotlight can be made to start indexing this internal drive.
2. Perhaps Microsoft offers an alternative way, that does not depend on Spotlight, to index and search through one's e-mail.
3. If neither #1 nor #2 is the case, how can I contact Microsoft to request that they add this feature to a subsequent release of Outlook?  Whether the deficiency is in Spotlight, Darwin, Mac OS X, or Microsoft Outlook, Outlook really ought to be able to cope with such a use case as this.  Not being able to search e-mail on a network-mounted volume is unacceptable.

Where do I go from here?