1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
2. Click the Privacy tab.
3. Drag the folder or disk that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the add button (+) and select the folder or disk to add.
   
   You can add an item to the Privacy tab only if you have ownership permissions for that item. To learn about permissions, choose Help from the Finder menu bar, then search for “permissions.”
4. From the same list of locations, select the folder or disk that you just added. Then click the remove button (–) to remove it from the list.
   
5. Quit System Preferences. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the folder or disk. This can take some time, depending on the amount of information being indexed.

Learn more

Nov 22, 2019  Outlook search troubleshooting procedures in this article pertain to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, and 2010; and Outlook 2016 for Mac and Outlook for Mac 2011. Update Microsoft Office Out-of-date software can cause all sorts of glitches. May 20, 2019  In Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac or Office for Mac 2011, you receive a 'No Results' message when you try to search for an email message or apply a filter to a folder, and task items are not displayed in the Tasks folder.

Summary

This article describes some useful tools for Microsoft Outlook for Mac.

More information

Outlook Search Repair

The Outlook Search Repair tool repairs search results within Outlook.

Important

Due to some changes in macOS Mojave, this tool no longer works in 10.14 and higher. If you are on macOS Mojave (10.14), you can follow the steps below to reindex Spotlight for Outlook for Mac.

1. Choose Apple menu, then System Preferences, and then Spotlight.

2. Select the Privacy tab.

3. In Finder:

   1. On the Go menu, select Go to Folder..

   2. Copy and paste the following location into the 'Go to the folder:' dialog box and select Go:

      ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/

4. Drag the 'Main Profile' folder to the Privacy tab. Once added, remove the folder, and Spotlight will re-index the folder.

   You must perform this step for any additional profile folders you have.

See the following article from Apple to learn more: How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac.

When to use the tool

Use this tool if search results within Outlook show nothing or return older items only. For example, if you search for an email message that you already have open and that message isn't displayed in the search results.

How to use the tool

1. Download and open the Outlook Search Repair tool.

2. Follow the instructions.

   Note The tool searches for duplicate installations of Outlook. If no duplicates are detected, go to step 3. If duplicates are detected, remove the duplicate Outlook installations, and then restart the system. After your system is restarted, the Outlook Search Repair tool may reopen. If it does reopen, exit and restart the tool.

3. Select Reindex.

   Note The Outlook Search Repair tool displays a 'Reindexing, please wait' message while it works. Wait for this process to finish. This may require an hour or more, depending on the size of your Outlook profile. Outlook doesn't have to be open when the repair occurs. A spotlight search will be slower and may not finish while the index is being repaired.

4. Exit the Outlook Search Repair tool when you receive the following message after the repair is completed:

   Done! Reindexing has completed!

OutlookResetPreferences

The Outlook Reset Preferences tool resets all Outlook preferences to their default settings.

When to use the tool

Use this tool to reset any customizations that you've made to Outlook by using the Preferences option on the Outlook menu. This tool also stores the settings for the Outlook window size and position. This tool shouldn't be needed most of the time. But it can be useful.

Note The Outlook Preferences file doesn't contain all the preferences for the application. Also, resetting Outlook preferences doesn't remove email messages or account settings.

How to use the tool

1. Download and open the Outlook Reset Preferences tool.
2. Click the Reset Now! button. This closes Outlook if it's open, and then resets the preferences to their default settings.
3. Exit the Outlook Reset Preferences tool.

SetDefaultMailApp

The Default Mail Application tool lets you easily make Outlook the default mail application.

When to use the tool

Use this tool if you want Outlook to open a new email message when you click a mailto: link in an email message or on a website. Selecting a mailto: link opens the default email application. Outlook isn't the default email application until you change that setting.

How to use the tool

1. Download and open the Default Mail Application tool.
2. In the Default Mail Application dialog box, select com.microsoft.outlook, and then click Make Default.
3. Exit the Default Mail Application tool.

ResetRecentAddresses

The Reset Recent Addresses tool lets you reset recent addresses that Outlook stores. This tool deletes all recent addresses instead of you having to manually delete addresses one at a time.

When to use the tool

When you compose an email message and add people on the To, Cc, or Bcc line, Outlook suggests names as you type characters. The list of names that Outlook uses is a combination of stored contacts, the company directory, and recent contacts. Recent contacts have an 'X' character next to each name. Without this tool, you have to click the 'X' on each contact to remove that contact from the Recent Address List. The Reset Recent Addresses tool cleans out all recent addresses at the same time.

How to use the tool

1. Download and open the ResetRecentAddresses tool.
2. Click the Reset Now! button.
3. Exit the Reset Outlook Recent Addresses tool.