[Trainer-talk] Outlook 2007 searches

[Bob Marchand]

I googled the problem and this came up from Microsoft.

Instant Search is not finding items

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If searches in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 don't locate the items you're 
looking for, the most common reason is that the indexing of your Outlook 
data files is incomplete. Also, if you or your organization are using 
encryption for message security, this can prevent some of your e-mail 
messages from being found during a search.

Symptoms
Instant Search is enabled, but when you search for items in Outlook, no 
search results appear, or the ones that do appear don't match your search 
criteria.

If you are not sure if Search is enabled, find out more about enabling 
Instant Search.

Possible causes
The indexing of your data files might not be complete. Indexing is what 
enables the Instant Search feature to quickly locate items.
 NOTE   When you first start using Instant Search, Outlook needs to index 
your data files to provide fast and complete search results. This process 
might take several minutes.

See Resolving indexing issues below.

You are searching for messages that are clear-signed (a method of 
encryption) and you are searching in either a Personal Folders file (.pst) 
or Offline Folder files (.ost) file for these items.
 NOTE   This might occur if you are using either Windows Desktop Search 
(WDS) or Outlook (Instant Search or Advanced Find) to search for the 
messages.

See Resolving clear-signed message issues below.

Resolving indexing issues
Verify that your Outlook data files can be indexed
Outlook indexes the following data files:

Personal Folders files (.pst)
Offline Folder files (.ost)
This includes Microsoft Windows Live Mail, IMAP, and POP e-mail accounts. If 
you use a Microsoft Exchange account (much more common in business e-mail 
systems than in a home or personal account), you must be connected to the 
server running Exchange and use Cached Exchange Mode for Instant Search to 
index your messages. Cached Exchange Mode uses an Offline Folders file 
(.ost) to save your information on your computer. To verify which data files 
are being indexed, do the following:

On the Tools menu, point to Instant Search, and then click Search Options.
Alternatively, click the arrow in the Instant Search pane, and then click 
Search Options on the menu.

Under Indexing, verify that the data files that you want to include in your 
search are selected in the Index messages in these data files list.
Verify that indexing is complete
To verify the indexing status, do the following:

On the Tools menu, point to Instant Search, and then click Indexing Status.
Alternatively, click the arrow in the Instant Search pane, and then click 
Indexing Status on the menu.

Verify that the dialog box reports 0 items remaining. If not, indexing is 
not complete and needs to finish before all of your Outlook items can be 
searched.
Indexing Status reports "0 items remaining," however, search results are not 
correct
If the Indexing Status reports 0 items remaining and Instant Search is still 
not returning the correct search results, exit Outlook and restart your 
computer. When you start Outlook again, verify that Outlook is indexing your 
items properly by doing the following:

On the Tools menu, point to Instant Search, and then click Indexing Status.
Alternatively, click the arrow in the Instant Search pane, and then click 
Indexing Status on the menu.

Verify that the number of items in the Indexing Status dialog box has 
increased. If the number has not increased, you must wait until indexing is 
complete for the results.
I restarted my computer, and Instant Search still doesn't return the correct 
results
If you aren't getting results after restarting, the next step is to rebuild 
your search catalog. The search catalog is a file where all of your Outlook 
and Microsoft Windows items are indexed. To rebuild your search catalog, do 
the following:

Exit Outlook.
In Microsoft Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
Do one of the following:
Windows Vista     Click System Maintenance, and then click Indexing Options.
 NOTE   In Classic view, double-click Indexing Options.

Microsoft Windows XP     Under See Also, click Other Control Panel Options, 
and then click Indexing Options.
 NOTE   In Classic view, double-click Indexing Options.

Click Advanced.
Click Rebuild.
Restart Outlook.
Resolving clear-signed message issues
If a clear-signed message is stored in a Personal Folders files (.pst) or an 
Offline Folder files (.ost), Outlook Instant Search (and Windows Desktop 
Search) will not be able to find it. The way that Outlook encrypts, or 
"packages," the body text of a message when signed using clear-sign 
encryption technology renders the message text unsearchable.

For more information on signing and encryption technology, see Understanding 
Public Key Cryptography.

You can use the following steps however, to find out if the file location is 
part of the problem.

Determine if you are searching a .pst or .ost.
How?

In your Inbox, click the single arrow next to the Search All Mail Items box.
Click Search Options.
In the Indexing section, see if the following check boxes are selected:
Personal Folders
Mailbox - <your name>
If you think that the messages are stored in other data files besides a .pst 
or the .ost, clear the check boxes (if necessary) and then try your search 
again.
If you are searching a data file other than a .pst or an .ost, and Instant 
Search still isn't finding the messages, see if you have your Outlook e-mail 
account set to use Cached Exchange Mode. If so, turn off Cached Exchanged 
Mode and then try your search again.

How?

On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
On the E-mail tab, click the Exchange account, and then click Change.
Under Microsoft Exchange server, clear the Use Cached Exchange Mode check 
box.
Exit and restart Outlook.
Once Cached Exchange Mode is turned off, if you still aren't getting the 
search results you expect, try using a different Outlook profile. If you 
don't have another profile set up, you can create one. In each case, you 
must turn off Cached Exchange Mode as described in the procedure above.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/outlook-help/instant-search-is-not-finding-items-HA010198085.aspx