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You are here: Home / Mac / How to Fix Mail Search Not Working on macOS

How to Fix Mail Search Not Working on macOS

By Madalina Dinita 22 comments Last updated April 6, 2021

There are plenty of unexpected glitches that may occur shortly after upgrading to a new macOS version. Some of these bugs seem to plague almost every new macOS release. Oftentimes, many Mac users are unable to get the mail search function to work after installing a new macOS version. But this issue may also occur out of the blue which is even more confusing for users. Let’s explore how you can quickly troubleshoot your Apple Mail search problems.

Fix: Apple Mail Search Has Stopped Working

As always, don’t forget to backup your data before you pursue the solutions below. In case anything goes wrong, you’ll be able to restore your data.

Log Out, Restart Your Mac or Use Safe Mode

  1. Close the Mail app, launch it again and log out of your account. Exit the app.
  2. Restart your computer and check if you can use the Search function.
  3. If the issue persists, enter Safe Mode.Shift keys on MacBook keyboard
    • On an Intel-based Mac, shut down your computer, wait 10 seconds and restart your device. Press and hold down the Shift key while your machine is restarting. Release the key when the login window appears on the screen.
    • If you own an Apple Silicon Mac, turn off your machine, and wait 10 seconds. Then hold down the Power button until the startup options appear on the screen. Select your startup disk and hold the Shift key. Select Continue in Safe mode and release the key.

⇒ Important Note: Make sure you check the All Mailboxes option. If you select All Inboxes, your search results may not be that accurate.

apple mail app search all mailboxes

Customise Your Touch Bar

Reconfiguring the Touch Bar settings is another simple solution that yielded positive results for many users. Of course, use this solution only if your Mac has a Touch Bar. All you need to do is launch Mail and go to View. Select and add the Search function.

Use the Shift Key

Many users confirmed that opening the Mail app while holding down the Shift key worked for them. By holding Shift while launching an app, you temporarily prevent the app from restoring its saved state. In other words, the Mail app forgets what windows were active the last time you closed it.

  1. Quit the Mail app.
  2. Press and hold down the Shift key and then launch the Mail app again. Wait 5 seconds and exit Mail.
  3. Repeat the process, press the Shift Key, launch Apple Mail and close the app again.
  4. Restart your computer and launch the app normally. Check the results.

Manually Select Your Emails

apple mail

 

Did you know that you can use Shift + Click to manually select the email or folders you want to include in your search? So, go ahead and click on your inbox, and then hold down Shift and click on the last folder in the list. In this manner, you can select all of the folders in-between and include them in the search. Check if you can now find the email or information you’re looking for.

Rebuild Your Mailboxes

Rebuilding your mailboxes may help you solve this problem. Keep in mind that you need to repeat the steps below for each of your mailboxes.

  1. Launch your Apple Mail app and locate the mailbox you want to rebuilt (left-hand pane).
    • Note: If the pane is not visible, select View and then click on Show Mailbox List. Or you can use the Shift + Command + M command.
  2. Select your mailbox, go to the Mailbox menu and hit the Rebuild option.apple mail rebuild mailbox
  3. Wait until your Mac completes the process. This may take up to a few hours depending on the size of your mailbox.

Reinstall the OS

If this Mail Search problem occurred after you installed the latest macOS updates, try reinstalling the OS. Maybe some of the update files failed to install properly. For some users, reinstalling the OS was the only solution that worked.

  1. Press Command + R to launch macOS Recovery. Or press Shift + Option + Command+ R to enter macOS Recovery over the Internet.
  2. Select the Reinstall option, hit the Continue button and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.reinstall macOS using Recovery Mode menu
  3. If you own an Apple Silicon device, turn on computer and hold the Power button until the startup options appear on the screen. Click on Options and then hit Continue.

Rebuild Your Mail and Spotlight Indexes

A number of users solved this problem by rebuilding their Mail and Spotlight indexes. While this method may not work for everybody, it’s worth giving it a try.

  1. Exit Mail and navigate to ~/Library/Mail/V8/MailData.apple mail library maildata
  2. Delete the three files that start with Envelope index.envelope index apple mail maildata
  3. Restart your app and let it import the data.
  4. Then go to System Preferences, select Spotlight and uncheck Mail and Messages.spotlight mail and messages
  5. Wait  two minutes and then check the Mail and Messages checkbox again.

Do a SMC Reset

If the search problem persists, do a SMC reset. However, keep in mind that many users said this solution worked only until they switched users. The good news is that a simple restart should fix the issue afterwards.

  1. Shut down your MacBook.
  2. Hold the following keys on the left side of your keyboard: Shift + Control + Option.
  3. Then hold down the Power as well. You now need to hold down all the four keys for 10 seconds.
  4. After 10 seconds, release all the keys and press the Power button to turn on your machine.

Additional Solutions

  • Clear the search criteria by clicking the X in the search field. Check if your Mail app now shows all your messages.
  • Disable and enable your Gmail account. Navigate to System Preferences → Internet Accounts → go to your Gmail account and simply untick the checkbox already checked by Mail. Just uncheck the box, don’t delete it. Close System Preferences, restart your Mac and then go back to System Preferences and select your Gmail account in Mail.
  • Launch the Activity Monitor and quit the corespotlightd process. The process will restart by itself. Check if the search functions works as intended.

Conclusion

The Search function may sometimes stop working on your Mail app. It appears this problem frequently occurs after installing a new macOS version. To troubleshoot this issue, hold down the Shift key and launch the Mail app. Wait a few seconds, exit Mail and restart your computer. If the issue persists, rebuild your mailboxes, and do the same for your Mail and Spotlight indexes.

Did you encounter similar issues after upgrading to Big Sur? Did you find other solutions to troubleshoot this problem? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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Reader Interactions

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Show 22 Comments

  1. Becky says

    March 17, 2023 at 12:10 PM

    I can’t believe something as simple as relaunching the app while holding the shift key fixed the problem of search being completely unusable. I didn’t even need to restart the Mac. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. TC says

    February 6, 2023 at 10:44 PM

    SHIFT key tips and restarting worked! Thank you so much!!!

    Reply
  3. Brian G says

    February 2, 2023 at 8:24 PM

    Tried it all. Nothing worked for me. It is crazy to need to search my phone then go to computer and manually find it by scrolling by dates. Talked to 3 different Apple Tech and none of them have answers.

    There is a new software option but can’t get it because my computer is 6 years old but works just fine.

    Reply
  4. hating apple more every passing year says

    November 29, 2022 at 4:58 AM

    so where the frick is the SAVE mail search button in Monterey???? Wtf has apple done once again to break stuff and make it harder on users?

    IF search works, there’s no way to save the search like there used to be with a simple button under the search function.

    Reply
  5. Tom Herbig says

    November 7, 2022 at 1:02 PM

    The Shift key did the trick. Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Aubs says

    September 13, 2022 at 1:20 AM

    Thank you for the tips. The SHIFT KEY one worked for me.

    Reply
  7. Deb says

    March 21, 2022 at 8:27 AM

    I have been dealing with this issue for over a year. I have done everything Apple has told me (including reinstalling OS and everything else on this page) and spent 100+ hours on this between the phone calls and the troubleshooting. The only thing that works is downloading a program that reindexes my spotlight. I have to do this a few times a week but it takes 1-2 hours before it works. It has been a miserable experience and Apple couldn’t care less.

    Reply
  8. Tomas says

    February 1, 2022 at 3:00 PM

    Shift Key worked for me, I tried many times searching specific person mail y it does not showed anything, But when I go to Gmail it shows me a lot of that person, I closed APP MAIL with SHIFT, then opened with Shift again, and magickly it started working the search box

    Reply
  9. Kamila says

    January 18, 2022 at 1:56 PM

    The shift trick just worked. Thank you!

    Reply
  10. Malthe Muff says

    January 13, 2022 at 6:15 AM

    Thanks for the guide!

    Rebuilding my Mail and Spotlight Indexes did the trick for me!

    Reply
  11. LisaH says

    December 19, 2021 at 9:58 AM

    I had this problem that Mac Mail stopped searching for messages.. Easy fix though. I realized that for some weird reason the “from” column was to the right of “Subject.” I switched them and search works perfect now. try that!

    Reply
  12. Pat-AZ says

    December 13, 2021 at 1:05 PM

    When I receive an email that I want to save, I go to my folders file to look for the file, If i click on the folder, I see the contents but now I have to scroll all the way back to the top of the folders list to get to “All inboxes” There used to be an “inbox” in the menu bar along with the reply and other boxes but that’s now gone. Can it be put back or is there a way to get back to inboxes without having to scroll back and forth?

    Reply
  13. Mila Doza says

    December 4, 2021 at 4:30 AM

    Well this a highly sh*t feature of the upgrade

    Reply
  14. Jer says

    November 19, 2021 at 3:37 AM

    I upgraded to BigSur, and then the Mac mail search problem started.
    The shift key exercise works, but every time I do a search, i have to go through this whole exercise and then restart the Mac – soooo frustrating!
    Will this not be addressed in a BigSur update?

    Reply
  15. Henry-In-FL says

    November 7, 2021 at 9:12 AM

    Sorry, but no. None of the trick to resolve worked up to the reinstall OS. Haven’t tried that. But I do know it’s something about the user (migration) in OS 12.0.1 release version, since trying with a different (new) user on the same machine yields no problem with the same AppleID account. Also, this issue affects searches in Notes to the same extent. Nice touch with the summary on top, BTW!
    Specifically, what doesn’t work (tried) from here(*) and elsewhere:
    * Log out, SafeBoot.
    * Touch Bar.
    * Rebuild/reindex Spotlight. (AppleCare Support suggested, too with detailed process you didn’t use)
    * Use Shift key to start Mail.
    * Mailbox rebuild.
    * Additional uncommon(?) solutions.

    Reply
  16. HenryInFlorida says

    November 6, 2021 at 5:40 AM

    Issue occurred in the release version 12.0.1(21A559). I noticed it two days after installing while searching in Mail, two days after an Erase and Clean Install. The same issue also affects Notes searches fail to locate anything and give a blank page.
    Did not appear on this machine at all when using the previous release versions of MacOS (notably Big Sur), beta version of Monterey installed from a different (test external) disk previously, on the same machine. Likewise, doesn’t appear on another machine running the same version of MacOS.
    Tried several of the options presented here without effect. As last steps, will try to reset SMC.
    Apple Support was baffled. To their credit, they had heard of this before in Monterey. They gathered lots of data, but had no further solutions besides varieties of what you suggested here (rebuild Mail indexes, restart Mail, try in SafeMode). To their detriment, they had no other solutions. Considering a downgrade or reinstalling the MacOS. Will try with a new user to confirm that its a user-related (or installation) issue as opposed to something in the OS. Seems like it should be fixable more easily since it’s so well documented and everybody (including Apple) know of it.

    Reply
  17. Peter Hirsch says

    October 8, 2021 at 4:18 AM

    Sometimes the search bar doesn’t clear when i press the x clear button. How do I clear it?

    Reply
  18. Steve says

    September 24, 2021 at 10:35 AM

    I woke up to no searching ability this morning and did the Rebuild Your Mail and Spotlight Indexes – although I did not have to do the Spotlight step – Monterey 12.0 Beta

    Reply
  19. Patrick says

    August 13, 2021 at 10:15 AM

    I could no longer receive emails in Apple Mail via ISP cox.net. After wrestling with this issue for about 12 hours I deleted the Cox settings from Internet Accounts in System Preferences then went to Apple Mail – Mail;Add Account – entered the user name and password and received much happiness. ‘hope this helps.

    Reply
  20. Frank says

    August 4, 2021 at 8:04 AM

    This worked. The shift key strategy worked. So very, very grateful. I spent an hour with Apple Support who couldn’t fix this. Their recommendation was to wipe my hard drive and reinstall everything which is a BIG task. Thanks for this. I feel like I finally have my email back!!

    Reply
    • Frank says

      August 4, 2021 at 2:03 PM

      Well, that was short lived. It worked for several minutes and then somehow reverted back.

      Reply
  21. Brian says

    June 24, 2021 at 10:57 PM

    This solved it – Rebuild Your Mail and Spotlight Indexes.

    Thanks.

    Brian

    Reply

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