How to Use the MS Outlook Search Repair Tool?

Outlook is one of the most popular email clients in the world; used by millions of people to manage their emails, contacts, and calendars. However, like any software, Outlook can sometimes experience issues that prevent it from working as intended. One common issue is problems with the search function, which can make it difficult; to find the emails and other data you need. Users can only see the message, “Outlook is currently indexing your items”, and this process never finishes.

Fortunately, Microsoft provides a tool called the Outlook search repair tool; that can help you fix these issues. If the Outlook search is not working properly; the Outlook search tool to troubleshoot the problem. In this blog post, we will walk you through how to use the Outlook search repair tool to fix search problems in Outlook.

How to Use Microsoft Outlook Inbuilt Search Repair Tool?

Using the search tool is very easy and you can do it by following the below mentioned steps.

Step 1: Close Outlook

Before you begin, make sure to close Outlook and any other Office applications that are running. That is important because the search repair tool needs exclusive access to your Outlook data files, and other applications may prevent it from working correctly.

Step 2: Locate the Outlook search repair tool.

The Outlook search repair tool is included with the Microsoft Office suite, so you don’t need to download or install anything. To locate the tool, open the Control Panel and click on “Programs and Features” (or “Add or Remove Programs” on older versions of Windows). From there, find Microsoft Office in the list of installed programs and select it. 

Click the “Change” button, and then choose “Repair” from the options that appear. This will launch the Microsoft Office repair tool, which includes the Outlook search repair tool.

Step 3: Run the Outlook search repair tool

Once you’ve opened the Microsoft Office repair tool, select “Online Repair” and click “Repair”. That will start the repair process, which may take several minutes to complete. The Outlook search repair tool will automatically run as part of this process, and it will scan your Outlook data files for any problems with the search function.

Step 4: Verify that the search function is working

After the repair process is complete, open Outlook and try using the search function to find an email or other data. If the search function is still not working correctly; you may need to repeat the repair process or try some additional troubleshooting steps.

Additional Troubleshooting Steps to Fix Outlook Indexing Problem

If the Outlook search repair tool does not fix the search function in Outlook, there are a few other steps you can try:

  1. Rebuild the search index: Outlook uses a search index to quickly find data in your email, contacts, and calendar. If the search index is corrupt, it can cause problems with the search function. To rebuild the Outlook search index, go to File > Options > Search, and click on “Indexing Options”. From there, click “Advanced” and then “Rebuild”. This may take some time to complete, but it can often fix search issues in Outlook.
  2. Check for updates: Microsoft regularly releases updates for Office and Outlook that can fix bugs and improve performance. Make sure you have the latest updates installed by going to File > Office Account > Update Options > Update Now.
  3. Check your search settings: Outlook includes a variety of search options and filters that can affect how the search function works. Make sure your search settings are configured correctly by going to File > Options > Search and reviewing the various options available.
  4. Reconfigure Outlook: You can try to reconfigure MS Outlook from scratch if the indexing does not work. In this way, MS Outlook will create a new data file.

If everything fails, you can try to convert the Outlook data file. For instance, if you are using Outlook with an MS exchange server and have an OST file, then convert OST to PST. Later, you can import this PST to MS Outlook again to access your data. That will also resolve the problem.

Conclusion

In most cases, the MS Outlook search repair tool is powerful enough to fix search problems in Outlook. But in many cases, this tool fails to fix the problem. Thus, it is advisable to try to repair your Outlook data file. With a little bit of patience and persistence, you can get your search function working properly in no time!

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