I'm using Outlook 2010.  I'm using its contact a lot.  However, its contact's search function is only useful if I type in Roman alphabets, but I have contacts who don't have phonetic "translations".  For example, if I have a contact called John Smith, if I type in "jo", the search engine can find out this contact.  But if I have a contact called , whatever I type, the search engine just can't find it.

I find this is very cultural unfriendly.  Because I'm using an English version of Outlook 20010  Is there any "add-in" to improve the search engine?  Or if I install a Chinese version of Outlook, would this problem disappear?

TIA

Hi,

I'm guessing you are using the Quick Contacts text box in the Find group of the Ribbon. If that is the case, can you advise what happens if after typing a name and having no results returned, you then click the "Search address books" link that's in the dialog that appears?

Also, if you instead switch to the Contacts folder and then use the Search Contacts text box (below the Ribbon area) to search, does that work?

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

 

Actually no, I'm using the "Search Contacts text box" in contact view.  Now that you tell me, I see the "Find a contact" text box in Home tab > Find group.  I didn't see it before.

These two search boxes have different results!  Why?  Why can't Microsoft do something more consistent?

And the worst thing is that it's impossible to say which one returns more correct results.  Some can be found with "Search Contacts" but not with "Find a contact" and vice versa.

 

The Find a Contact option only returns contacts that actually have an email address or phone number.

As far as the Search Contacts option, I pasted the characters from your initial post and created a contact with that name. After a few seconds it was indexed and I was able to search on those characters, successfully getting the one result.

Ensure Windows Desktop Search is installed (see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/windowssearch4.mspx).

If you're connected to an Exchange mailbox, be sure that you're using Cached Exchange Mode so that Windows Desktop Search can index the locally cached copy (.OST).

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

The Find a Contact option only returns contacts that actually have an email address or phone number.

I see.  I'm not interested in it then.

As far as the Search Contacts option, I pasted the characters from your initial post and created a contact with that name. After a few seconds it was indexed and I was able to search on those characters, successfully getting the one result.

Ensure Windows Desktop Search is installed (see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/windowssearch4.mspx ).

If you're connected to an Exchange mailbox, be sure that you're using Cached Exchange Mode so that Windows Desktop Search can index the locally cached copy (.OST).

I'm interested to know in detail how you were able to search and successfully get the result.

First of all, I'm using Windows 7 and Outlook is connected to Exchange 2007 using cache.  So normally Windows Desktop Search is working, right?  The fact that search using Latin alphabets is working should be an enough proof that WDS is working, IMO.

Secondly, please note that contains actually as family name and as given name (first name).  In previous version of Outlook, if I put them separately in first and last field, a space is added in between and it's displayed as which is very ugly.  So I would put the whole name in Last name field.  Anyway, this was sort of digression.

What I want to say is: whether I put in last and first field separately, or the whole name only in last name field, or even in first name field, the search just doesn't work.  I always check with and as keywords.  But always nothing, nada, rien, keine!

So I really wonder how you get result.

On my workstation, I can't really give any other details... "it just works".

On yours, if you're typing in a few single-byte characters into the Search textbox, and wait one or two seconds, the view should populate with items that match. If it does, Desktop Search is running fine. Since you're in Cached Exchange Mode, the local OST would also be actively indexed.

If when you type characters into the Search textbox, you get no results unless you press ENTER, then Desktop Search is not integrating with Outlook.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

Well, if there's no other detail, I can't say yours is working, but only saying it's pure "fluke" as the behaviour isn't reproducible while my problem is reproducible.

What do you have in first name field and last name field?  What is your OS?

I'm sure Desktop Search is integrated and working (but not working *fine*) because as I said at the very beginning, this thing only give results when Roman alphabets are used.  So stop pulling me off from the main problem.  And no, I don't have to press ENTER to get result.

The steps are really not that complex so as to assume it's not working on my workstation. That in no way implies that I think it must be working on yours. In case we somehow missed something:

1. I create a new contact.

2. As I stated in an earlier post "I pasted the characters [] from your initial post and created a contact with that name". I only used the First Name field (although per your comments, it doesn't really matter which field it's in).

3. I click Save on the Contact.

4. I paste the same characters [] in the "Search Contacts" textbox.

I see the expected contact.

Along with a request to mind the tone, I'll provide you more details and some guidance.

My OS is Windows 7.

I know you are frustrated, but understand that I'm not pulling you from the main problem. I'm helping us narrow down what may be different between our environments/steps (e.g. "Search Contacts" vs. "Find a Contact", which was not specified initially since you were unaware of the latter feature). Do you have any Multilanguage Packs installed? What is your Current System Locale (Control Panel | Region and Language, last tab). In the penultimate tab, are keyboards, input languages, and display language set to English or another language?

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

Hi,

I have the same issue with you. And I solved it by creating a new outlook profile and set my region as China.

How to create a new outlook profile in Outlook 2010, you can refer to this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829918

How to set region in Control Panel, you can refer here:

http://www.theeldergeekvista.com/cpanel_clock_language_and_region.htm

Hope it helps.

I had actually abandoned this topic.  However, by chance, I’ve found what went wrong a few days ago!  Well, I've found that there’re actually two bugs: one with IME and one really within the search function.

1. Bug with IME
   To demonstrate this, you have to make some preparations first.:
   1 - Add some IME, preferably IME for Asian languages like ChangJie (Traditional Chinese), Japanese, etc
   2 - Add more contacts like , , ,   Put in Last field and the rest in First field.  You'll need them for the second bug below.
  
   Copy the character in the clipboard (Ctrl+C).  With your usual IME of your language, paste this character in the "Search Contact" field and you should find all of them.  My usual IME is French and this gives all my 16 contacts starting with including those five bogus contacts.
  
   Then change the IME to another one, (I change mine to ChangJie) and paste the same character again.  For me, I only get one contact!  And it's not or any other four.  You could repeat the same steps with other IME.  I tried with Japanese and this time I get three contacts, and none of them is the same as the one I got with ChangJie.  And still, no bogus contact shows up.
  
2. The same bug as the subject of this thread - search function only works flawlessly with Roman alphabets
    The above bug made me think that using European language IME gives better results.  So, I use French IME here.
    I paste the character in the Search Contacts field.  But still, neither nor shows up.  Actually, even if I paste , I still can't get !
   
You could also try these in XP + Outlook 2007.  For me, I got different contacts in each case, but never those expected results.
   
OK, now that I've proved the existence of serious bugs in search function (in conjunction with IME), what are you going to do?  Are you going to file some bug report to Microsoft engineers in the hope that they're going to correct it in the near future (near means less than one year)?

Thanks but I can't accept this as answer.  It's absurd to ask user to change region because of this bug.

I have the same issue with you. And I solved it by creating a new outlook profile and set my region as China.

There's one thing I didn't mention as I didn't know if that makes a difference: my Outlook contact is in an Exchange 2007 server.  But one thing I think is not feasible: create a new profile

No update?

Hi,

Jennifer and I spent quite some time troubleshooting this issue and trying to determine the differences between her system and mine. This issue is somewhat involved (as I'm sure you already know). Since you seem to be able to reproduce this issue at will on your workstation, we'd like to work with you to narrow down the problem and submit a fix request to our development team. In order to do this, please contact Microsoft Support in order to have this issue carefully reviewed. As you probably know, there is no fee for opening a case on an issue that is determined to be a code defect.

Other customers have posted the workarounds provided to them by the support engineer or details about subsequently-released hotfix packages that address the issue.

Thank you for your interest.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly.  Are you saying you or Jennifer are unable to reproduce the problem *at will* (as you wrote it)?

If you could provide me with a virtual machine, I think I'm able to reproduce the problem for you to see.  You see, I have this problem in my office computers which are Win7 and XP and my home computer which is XP.

How exactly could I contact "Microsoft support"?  Phone?  Email?  And how could I be sure that those so-called supports aren't "black holes"?  By that, I mean, there will really be some follow-up, but not that they would register my problem and dump it in the trash bin?

As a side-note: I remember that Jennifer said she had changed "regional settings" of her computer to China, in case this could give you some clue to the "difference".

Hi,

Only I have been unable to reproduce at will. Once you contact support, the assigned engineer can connect remotely to your workstations to review settings and configure their own workstation or a lab workstation to match. This is more efficient and the proper channel for a problem report/fix request.

The various contact options are listed here http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=fh;en-us;offerprophone

Thanks again.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

Hi Abdias,

Have you added the IME's?  And have you switched to them before pasting the character in search field?

I've gone to the webpage that you indicated.  Option A all need payment.  And I don't see how to use Option B.  I'm no sure how to open a case without paying any fee.

Hi,

Cases are charged for when closed. If closed as non-decrement because of a code defect, there is no charge.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

I've taken some time and gone through the form to almost the end of it and there I'm asked to give my credit card number!

You said " If closed as non-decrement because of a code defect, there is no charge", but what could guarantee me that I'm not charged even if it's a code defect!?  Just by a word of *honor*??

That's our policy.

Now, a code defect has to be just that - there is still the possibility that some other setting is affecting Outlook's behavior. But if it comes down to a specific combination of data, formats, character sets, encoding, etc. that Outlook does not handle properly, thus causing this issue, that would be considered a code defect.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

Hi Horinius,

We are experiencing this same issue in our AP affiliates. I can replicate the issue in our environment.

Did you every get to the bottom of this issue? Was it a bug? what did you change to get around the issue?

Many thanks,

Hayden

Hi Hayden,

I'm glad, really really glad that another person is able to reproduce the same problem.

I didn't get to the *bottom* of the issue, because I was asked to give my credit card number in order to open a support incident in Microsoft!

That is to say I didn't find any solution -- I had to live with it!

I didn't choose to follow the "open support incident" method because of my other unfortunate experiences with Microsoft forum -- most of the time, they would use the phrase "by design" to label a problem.  No, I'm not going to give my credit card number!

I have most of my frequent contacts duplicated in Google mail (contact) -- there, they use Unicode and there's no problem with IME.

Oh damn thought you might have got somewhere with this oh well I will keep looking.

In our environment it is odd sometimes it just starts working then 5 minutes later doesn't anymore.

If I find something that resolves the issue I will post it here.

Hayden

As I had hinted in previous messages, search results depend heavily on the IME.  Let me give you a concrete example in my real life:

is a common Chinese family name. If I have to find out contacts, I have to type this character in Notepad first and copy it inside the search field when the IME is French.  Why?

Because if I type this character directly in the search field, I have to switch to "Chinese Traditional - Changjie" IME first.  In this IME, gives 2 results.  But in French IME, I have 14 results!

And to reply your question "Was it a bug?", in my opinion as a programmer, I would *definitely* consider it as a bug.  Some code inside Outlook is certainly still using ANSI instead of Unicode!  We are in the 2nd decade of 21st century and we can still find non-Unicode section in a modern application.  That's really disappointing.

I have clocked the internet looking into this issue and have come out dry.

I built a vanilla build (windows 7) and install Office 2010 on the build and can replicate the issue.

Apon some further troubleshooting I can see the issue is not present when starting Outlook in safe mode which is odd because I did start outlook with all add-ins disabled and the issue was present....

I know safe mode starts without reading pane, add-ins, extension and toolbar customizations, but why the issue is not seen in safe mode Is what I'm trying to figure out now.

Hi Hayden,

This is because Safe Mode also disables all Instant Search functionality (which integrates with Windows Desktop Search). This will cause Outlook to fall back to using Advanced Search, which differs in functionality.

Abdias

I have just installed Office 2013 in a clean Windows 7 Pro (64bit) and the problem is still there.

I saw this problem in Outlook 2007, reported it for Outlook 2010 and it persists through to Outlook 2013.  In a few days, this bug will have its 3rd anniversary.  We really got to have a party for it!

So, from Abdias' reply, in order to resolve the problem, does it mean we have to shut down Windows Desktop Search to force Advanced Search?