How To Solve Outlook Instant Search Issues?

By Author: John Peter
Total Articles: 69
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'Instant Search' allows for quick search of items in Microsoft Outlook 2007. The associated pane is available in views of Outlook objects, such as for e-mails, contacts, calendar and others. This article focuses to a specific problem when Outlook Instant Search repeatedly fails to show any results. One among the probable causes of this problem can be corruption of Outlook data file, PST, which ultimately requires PST Repair solutions.

To interpret the problem, let's consider a realistic instance. A Microsoft Outlook 2007 user might sometimes observe that Instant Search tool doesn't work as expected. On each attempt, it either shows results before a specific date or few items that have not been indexed. Such situations need special troubleshooting.

Cause

Few possible reasons for the above behavior are as below:

1)Indexing of Outlook PST file is not complete or the file has not been marked to be indexed
2)PST indexes are damaged
3)Outlook PST is corrupted

Solution

You require to follow this sequence of steps to solve the depicted ...
... behavior:

1)You need to check if PST has been marked for indexing. For this, click 'Tools' | 'Options' | 'Search Options' and make sure that the data file (PST) in issue has been selected in indexing section.
2)If the issue continues, you can deselect the file for indexing and then close Outlook. Next, after some time, you need to check and then close 'Outlook.exe' process through Task Manager. Open Outlook again, select the PST for indexing, and leave the computer free for some time. Then, you can check the status of indexing by clicking 'Tools' | 'Instant Search' | 'Indexing Status'. Keep in mind that a large PST can take time to index.
3)To fix the damaged indexes, click 'Control Panel' | 'Indexing Options' | 'Advanced' | 'Rebuild'. You can also opt for 'Restore Defaults' option.
4)To repair the corrupted PST, run 'Scanpst.exe' tool or use a third-party Outlook Repair 2007 utility. A PST Repair utility generally proves more powerful and safe than Outlook built-in file repair tool (Scanpst).

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is a high-end utility designed to repair corrupted PST irrespective of cause. This Outlook Repair 2007 tool has an Outlook-similar interface that makes the application familiar to the users. The software supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. It can restore all e-mails, notes, contacts, and other PST items.