Microsoft Outlook Search is Not Working : Resolved

I had Outlook 2010 and I was not able to search any email using search box. Whenever I used to click on search box provided in Outlook, Search toolbar area got grayed out. Even if I tried to search email by putting criteria manually, it didn’t work out for me. Search functionality is the backbone of any system where tons of information is stored.

To fix this issue always look for below options one by one.

1. File > Options. Now in right hand section of ‘Outlook Options‘, click on ‘Search‘.

2. Click on ‘Indexing Options…‘ button. Start indexing your email, so that they could show up in search.

What if ‘Indexing Options…’ is grayed out?

  1. Click on Start > Run in your windows. Or you can press ‘window key + R‘ keys combination.
  2. Type ‘Services.msc‘ and hit enter.
  3. Inside Services console, Select ‘Windows Service‘ and check whether it’s stop or not. If it’s stopped then start the service.
  4. If this service is disabled then first enable this service (Right click the service and then click on Properties. Under General tab, change the option to ‘Automatic‘ in Startup type. Click Ok and then start the service.)
  5. Now check the ‘Indexing Options…’ This should worked now.

 Still have issues. More places to look in to fix this issue.

  1. Click on Start > Control Panel.
  2. Open Programs and Features.
  3. Now click on ‘Turn Windows features on or off‘ (Resides in left hand side of window.)
  4. Check whether ‘Windows Search‘ check box is marked. If not then mark it and click Ok.
  5. After completing this, you can follow above steps to run the Windows Search.