Items disappear from search results in Public Folders in Outlook 2013 when modified

Another issue with Public Folders in Outlook 2013

Do a search in a mail enabled Public folder e.g.: from:forumsup@microsoft.com

Let say you get 2 results, one read and one unread. Click on the unread message which changes its status to read. Boom it disappears from the search result. You now only have one message in the search result.

You have to close (X out) the search and search again and you will see two emails again.

Same happens in Public folder contacts.

Lets say you do a search in a Contact public folder for Microsoft and you get two results Mary Smith and John Smith. Open Mary Smith, change the phone number and save. Boom now only John Smith remains in the search result. Mary Smith has disappeared. Only way to get the two results back is by cancelling the search and searching again.

Note:

  1. It only happens on Outlook 2013
  2. Running Exchange 2010 
  3. It only happens in Public folders. ( just my luck , we live on Public Folders)
  4. You know how you can Add form fields  by clicking on the Green Cross that says more, we do not have that for Contact folders, because we could not figure out a way to add Fields like Name, Phone number etc. The only fields that seem to be available are email fields.
    We do use To, From, Attachments, Subject and Body fields when we search in Email enabled Public folders.

Now if some MVP is going to say that this by design, I am going to hang myself, so beware.

Ashwin Pai
_____________________________
www.Lansend.com we make IT work

April 9th, 2015 7:22pm

After I posted this I found some posts from other users facing the same issue.

In them MS MVP recommended disabling add ins

I disabled all , It now says No Active Application Add-Ins
FYI:  only active add-ins were MS add ins . Lync, One Note and Exchange Add-in ( do not know if I need this last one) NO difference.

Started Outlook in safe mode ( also recommended my MS MVP)
This worked , but then what s the point ? 

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April 9th, 2015 7:41pm

Hi Ashwin Pai,

When you start Outlook in safe mode, many of the customizations that you have made to Outlook are not loaded. Instead, these settings are replaced temporarily by the default settings.

Many of the items that you disabled by using safe mode are features that store their settings in the registry. Since this issue continues after disabling all add-ins, we can also try the following steps to see if it works:

1. Close Outlook if it is running.

2. Start Registry Editor.

3. Browse to the following registry location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook

4. Rename the \Outlook part of this key to \Outlook-1.

5. Restart Outlook.

When you restart Outlook, a new \Outlook registry key that has default settings is created in this location.

Please let me know if it works.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

April 9th, 2015 10:09pm

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance. 

Best Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

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April 12th, 2015 9:54pm

Hi Steve,

                Thank you for your response and follow up. Unfortunately, I cannot try what you propose. I have many profiles and multiple email accounts within a profile. Additionally I have many client-only rules.  Rebuilding all of that is a huge task.

I will need to setup another computer. I will need some time for that.

Sincerely

Ashwin

April 14th, 2015 10:04am

Thank you for the update, Ashwin. We can revert to your original registry settings if changing \Outlook to \Outlook-1 doesn't fix the issue:

1. Close Outlook if it is running.

2. Start Registry Editor.

3. Browse to the following registry location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook

4. Rename the \Outlook part of this key to \Outlook-2.

5. Browse to the following registry location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook-1

6. Rename the \Outlook-1 part of this key to \Outlook.

7. Start Outlook.

In addition, I'd like to know if this issue happens when searching in the Inbox or other subfolder in mailbox.

Since all Instant Search functionality in Outlook (that is provided by WDS) and customization are disabled when start Outlook in safe mode, we can also try running the Fit it tool in the following KB article to repair Windows Desktop Search problems:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/mats/windows_search/en-us

Please let me know the result.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
April 16th, 2015 10:24pm

Hi Steve,

               I setup a new computer , new install of 2013 , created a brand new profile and connected to the server with Cache mode disabled. I DID not observe the symptoms I have described above. However since I had cached mode disabled I did not have the advance search options. I have enabled the cache mode and I am waiting for the mailbox to get cached. ( I also cache Public folders)

I'd like to know if this issue happens when searching in the Inbox or other subfolder in mailbox

ANS: No , no issues in mailbox and subfolders in mailbox ( & there are many). Only in Public folders.

I have not yet run ,  Windows Desktop Search Fix

Will keep you updated.

Ashwin Pai
_____________________________
www.Lansend.com we make IT work

April 20th, 2015 10:27am

Thank you for the update. Searching with Cached Exchange Mode enabled or disabled are not the same thing. If you are using Cached Exchange Mode, the Instant Search feature is dependent on the Windows Desktop Search (WDS) feature of the operating system. If Outlook is in Online Mode, the search feature passes the query to the Microsoft Exchange server, utilizing the index available on the server.

If you are using Outlook in Online mode, I'd recommend you post a new question in the Exchange forum to get further assistance:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/home?category=exchangeserver

If you are using Outlook with Cached mode turned on, please have a try with the Windows Desktop Search Fix it tool and let me know the result.

Thanks,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
April 21st, 2015 10:06pm

While I did not implement the recommendation suggested. I setup a brand new computer with a brand new install, with a brand new single Profile. This I believe was more or less the intent of the recommended solution.

Well, I must admit, the solution worked.

I unfortunately cannot implement it. I have about 8 profiles with about 75 POP3/SMTP email accounts and about 6 Exchange accounts. In addition to setting up all the accounts and their related signatures, I will have to recreate many client only Rules in each profiles. Even if do decide to bite the bullet and do the work, I do not know what caused the issue in the first place & I do not know if the issue will reappear.

We have been using MS Exchange since Exchange 5.5 and Outlook 97. My profile is similarly that old and to date I have been successfully migrating my profile to each new edition of Outlook.

Steve, I thank your time,  but this solution is not for me.

April 26th, 2015 11:57am

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