Office 365 Search Not Working After Update – Full Troubleshooting Guide (2025)

After a recent Windows or Microsoft 365 update, many users have noticed that search in Office 365 apps like Outlook, Word, or Excel stops responding or shows incomplete results. This can severely affect productivity — especially when you rely on Outlook or Teams to find older emails, contacts, or chat messages.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to fix Office 365 search not working after update using step-by-step methods verified to restore indexing and search functionality. Whether it’s Outlook, Word, or Excel, these fixes ensure your data is re-indexed, searchable, and synced properly.

🔍 Common Causes of Office 365 Search Not Working

• Recent Windows or Office update corrupted the Windows Search index.
• Search indexing service is disabled or stuck.
• Outdated OST/PST cache files in Outlook.
• Temporary profile or permission issues blocking local index access.
• Conflicts with third-party antivirus or optimization tools.

🧠 Step 1: Verify Windows Search Service Is Running

1. Press Windows + R and type services.msc.

2. Locate Windows Search in the list.

3. Right-click → Properties → Set Startup Type to Automatic.

4. If the service is stopped, click Start and then Apply.

This ensures that the system-wide search index service is active and linked to Office 365 apps.

🧩 Step 2: Rebuild Outlook Search Index

If your search works partially or misses older emails, the index database may be broken. Here’s how to rebuild it:

1. Go to Control Panel → Indexing Options.
2. Click Advanced → Under “Troubleshooting,” click Rebuild.
3. Wait for Windows to re-index all your files and Outlook items.
4. Restart Outlook and test the search bar again.

This process can take several minutes depending on mailbox size.

⚙️ Step 3: Repair Microsoft 365 Installation

Sometimes, a partial update can corrupt app files. To repair:

1. Open Control Panel → Programs and Features.
2. Right-click on Microsoft 365 Apps and choose Change.
3. Select Quick Repair (try Online Repair if the issue persists).

This restores missing or corrupted Office components that affect search indexing.

🧰 Step 4: Reset Windows Search Settings

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {Restart-Service WSearch}"

2. Restart your system after executing the above command.

This resets the Windows Search service configuration and clears cached search metadata.

💡 Step 5: Clear Outlook Cache and Reconnect Mailbox

If you’re facing search issues only in Outlook 365:

1. Close Outlook completely.
2. Navigate to %localappdata%\Microsoft\Outlook.
3. Delete temporary files (.dat and .tmp).
4. Restart Outlook — the app will recreate a fresh index database automatically.

🔒 Step 6: Exclude Outlook from Windows Defender Indexing

Ironically, sometimes Defender real-time scanning interrupts the search index. Try excluding Outlook data files:

• Go to Windows Security → Virus & Threat Protection → Manage Settings → Exclusions.
• Add %localappdata%\Microsoft\Outlook as an exclusion.

📈 Bonus Tip: Use Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA)

Download and run the official Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA). It automatically diagnoses and repairs many Office 365 problems — including search indexing and sync issues.

📞 Need Quick Help?

🔚 Conclusion

When Office 365 search stops working after updates, it’s usually a minor indexing or cache issue — not a major fault. Following the steps above should restore your search functionality quickly. For advanced troubleshooting, FixTechGuide offers remote support to restore performance and indexing accuracy for Outlook and other Office apps.

🔗 Related Articles

• Fix Outlook & Office 365 Sync Issues
• Repair Outlook Data File (.OST/.PST)
• Fix Outlook Not Opening After Windows Update