Outlook search stopped working.

[HoosierDaddy]

I use Outlook for email in my S20 FE 5g (T-Mobile).

Right after android 13 January security update, search stopped working. Just returns nothing found even searching the word "the" or my name.

I've cleared all cache, cleared data, uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook with all my IMAP accounts with 20+ random passwords and now have carpel tunnel.

the same app version on my wife's A51, search works.

If I add one of my emails to her phone, search works. If I add one of her email accounts to my phone, search won't find anything in her emails.

That seems to rule out the app and/or any of the email accounts as the sole problem.

I'd hoped that February update might fix things but got it yesterday and search still doesn't work.

HELP!

 

[SpookDroid]

Do you have any VPNs running on your phone? Or have you made sure the Outlook app has all storage permissions set up correctly (i.e. not denied)? Sync is not disabled for the app? Outlook search is usually done on the server side, so that is weird that it would work on another phone (and I tested it on my S23 Ultra and does work) but not in yours. Do you still get e-mails on the phone or do the accounts not sync?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Do you have any VPNs running on your phone? Or have you made sure the Outlook app has all storage permissions set up correctly (i.e. not denied)? Sync is not disabled for the app? Outlook search is usually done on the server side, so that is weird that it would work on another phone (and I tested it on my S23 Ultra and does work) but not in yours. Do you still get e-mails on the phone or do the accounts not sync?

Thanks.

No VPN. And I haven't changed any permissions. Email has been working fine for 3 years, including search (until now). I can revisit permissions if you think permissions would only affect searches since everything else in email continues to work fine.

Not sure what you mean by server side. All emails are IMAP accounts from my home ISP or PrivateEmail for a domain I own. No GMAIL, OUTLOOK, or similar "free" emails.

But as said, search has worked for all the accounts 'till now. When search was working, I recall it noting that results were for content on the device with an option to search more which I assumed meant older content only on the server and that meant temporarily downloading old content to search in the device.

Since you mention server side, I'm going to log onto one of the accounts in webmail on my PC, which I never use since search there would have to be server side.....

#$%* webmail search also returns "nothing found". My mind is blown. False alarm search does work in webmail.

 

[SpookDroid]

Oh darn! OK, if search on the webmail side also fails, that definitely points to a service issue and not necessarily your phone/app. HOWEVER, it is strange that if you add the account to another device, it works there. Can you try removing one of the accounts from your S20 (don't re-add it) and trying out webmail? Does it work now? How about adding the same removed account to your wife's phone again and trying search one more time?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Oh darn! OK, if search on the webmail side also fails, that definitely points to a service issue and not necessarily your phone/app. HOWEVER, it is strange that if you add the account to another device, it works there. Can you try removing one of the accounts from your S20 (don't re-add it) and trying out webmail? Does it work now? How about adding the same removed account to your wife's phone again and trying search one more time?

Sorry. It does work in webmail. But since I NEVER use webmail my confirmation bias had me jumping to a conclusion. I just misinterpreted the results.

 

[SpookDroid]

This one might be a lot more difficult to test, but have you tried installing the app and adding your account to another S20 phone (or at least another phone with the same OneUI/OS version as yours)? And you're not in any beta versions of the app, right? Or any themes applied on the phone (that might be hiding the results with the same color for text and background)?