#Requires -Version 5.1 <# JbTecWiz Support Centre -- generated fix script Fault : Outlook search returns nothing, or misses recent mail Fix : Confirm the search service and that Outlook is not excluded Source: https://jbtecwiz.com/support/win-office-outlook-search Run as : PowerShell as administrator Expect : 15 minutes Risk : low Reversible : yes WHEN THIS IS THE RIGHT FIX Start here. If the service is off or a policy has excluded Outlook, every other fix is wasted effort. HOW TO UNDO IT Set the policy value back to 1 if it turns out to have been intentional. This script walks the fix one step at a time and asks before each one. Steps with no command are things you do yourself -- it prints those and waits. Run with -DryRun to print without executing. #> [CmdletBinding()] param( # Print every step and command without running anything. [switch]$DryRun, # Do not ask before each step. Read the script first if you use this. [switch]$Unattended ) $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' $script:Failed = 0 # This fix is documented as needing an elevated session. $id = [Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent() if (-not (New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal $id).IsInRole( [Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator)) { Write-Host '' Write-Host ' This fix needs an elevated PowerShell.' -ForegroundColor Yellow Write-Host ' Close this window, right-click PowerShell, Run as administrator,' Write-Host ' and run the script again.' Write-Host '' exit 3 } function Write-Rule { param([string]$Text) Write-Host '' Write-Host ('-' * 70) -ForegroundColor DarkGray if ($Text) { Write-Host $Text -ForegroundColor Cyan } } function Show-Prose { param([string]$Text, [string]$Colour = "Gray") if (-not $Text) { return } $words = $Text -split "\s+"; $line = " " foreach ($w in $words) { if (($line.Length + $w.Length) -gt 74) { Write-Host $line -ForegroundColor $Colour; $line = " " } $line += "$w " } if ($line.Trim()) { Write-Host $line -ForegroundColor $Colour } } function Invoke-Step { param( [int]$Number, [string]$Do, [string]$Why, [scriptblock]$Command, [switch]$Manual, [string]$Shell = "powershell" ) Write-Rule " Step $Number of 4" Show-Prose $Do "White" if ($Why) { Write-Host ""; Show-Prose $Why "DarkGray" } if ($Manual) { Write-Host '' Write-Host ' -> Do this yourself, then press Enter to carry on.' -ForegroundColor Yellow if (-not $Unattended -and -not $DryRun) { [void](Read-Host) } return } Write-Host '' foreach ($l in ($Command.ToString().Trim() -split "`n")) { Write-Host (" " + $l.Trim()) -ForegroundColor Green } Write-Host '' if ($DryRun) { Write-Host " (dry run -- not executed)" -ForegroundColor DarkGray; return } if (-not $Unattended) { $a = Read-Host " Run this step? [Y]es / [S]kip / [Q]uit" if ($a -match "^[Qq]") { Write-Host " Stopped at your request."; exit 0 } if ($a -match "^[Ss]") { Write-Host " Skipped." -ForegroundColor DarkGray; return } } try { & $Command } catch { $script:Failed++ Write-Host (" Step $Number failed: " + $_.Exception.Message) -ForegroundColor Red Show-Prose "The rest of the fix may depend on this. Read the write-up before carrying on." "Red" if (-not $Unattended) { $c = Read-Host " Carry on anyway? [y/N]" if ($c -notmatch "^[Yy]") { exit 1 } } } } Write-Rule Write-Host ' Outlook search returns nothing, or misses recent mail' -ForegroundColor White Write-Host ' Confirm the search service and that Outlook is not excluded' -ForegroundColor Cyan Write-Host '' Write-Host ' Risk: low Reversible 15 minutes' Write-Rule if (-not $Unattended -and -not $DryRun) { $go = Read-Host ' Ready? [y/N]' if ($go -notmatch "^[Yy]") { Write-Host " Nothing was changed."; exit 0 } } Invoke-Step -Number 1 -Do 'Check the Windows Search service is running and set to start automatically.' -Why 'Performance tuning guides routinely tell people to disable WSearch. Doing so breaks Outlook search completely, and nothing in Outlook says why.' -Command { Get-Service WSearch | Select-Object Name, Status, StartType } Invoke-Step -Number 2 -Do 'Start it and set it back if it is disabled.' -Command { Set-Service WSearch -StartupType Automatic; Start-Service WSearch } Invoke-Step -Number 3 -Do 'Check for a policy that specifically excludes Outlook from the index.' -Why 'PreventIndexingOutlook set to 1 produces exactly this symptom on a machine where everything else about search works normally.' -Command { Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object PreventIndexingOutlook, PreventIndexingEmailAttachments } Invoke-Step -Number 4 -Do 'Remove the exclusion if it is not deliberate, then restart the service.' -Command { Remove-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search' -Name PreventIndexingOutlook -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue Restart-Service WSearch } Write-Rule " Confirm it worked" Show-Prose 'In Outlook, Search -> Search Tools -> Indexing Status reports Outlook has finished indexing, with a non-zero item count.' 'White' Write-Rule if ($script:Failed -gt 0) { Write-Host (" Finished with " + $script:Failed + " failed step(s).") -ForegroundColor Yellow Show-Prose 'Read the full write-up at https://jbtecwiz.com/support/win-office-outlook-search' 'Yellow' } else { Write-Host ' Finished.' -ForegroundColor Green } Write-Host '' Show-Prose 'To undo: Set the policy value back to 1 if it turns out to have been intentional.' 'DarkGray' Write-Rule