Updating Outlook Search Ability

Rebuilding Outlook’s indexing options can improve search results.

Missing items during Outlook searches is a pretty common issue we see; fortunately, the fix is pretty simple. However, it does take a long time (perhaps 1-2 hours minimum) so if you don’t mind a little system slowdown, you may perform the following easy procedure while you continue to work:

  1. From Control Panel, double-click on “Indexing Options” to invoke the following screen.
  1. From the screen shown above, click on the “Advanced” button to proceed to the next screen:
  1. Click on the “Rebuild” button. You will be warned that the process will take a long time, and certain files may not be searchable. Click “OK” if you wish to proceed. (As mentioned, you may continue to work but may experience a bit of system slowdown as your hard drive will chatter away during the process)
  2. Once process is completed, you may close out of the Indexing Options windows by clicking “OK”.