Last month's Windows Update broke Outlook Search, here is the work-around

Last month we reported that upgrading to Windows 11 could break Outlook Search. Now Microsoft reports the same issue is also affecting Windows users who installed last month’s Cumulative Update, KB5008212.

Microsoft reports that after you install update KB5008212, recent emails may not appear in search results. The company is still investigating the issue, but have offered a work-around in the meantime.

If you want to bypass the issue completely, you can tell Outlook that you want to use Outlook’s internal search rather than the Windows Search Index using a registry edit.

How to fix Outlook Search not working on Windows

1. In Windows, right-click Start, and then select Run. In the Open: box type regedit, and then click OK. This will open the registry editor.
2. Find this subkey in the registry and then click it:
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
4. Click Edit > New > Key, and name the new key Windows Search.
5. Select the new Windows Search key.
6. Click Edit > New > DWORD Value.
7. Type PreventIndexingOutlook for the name of the DWORD, and then press Enter.
8. Right-click PreventIndexingOutlook, and then click Modify.
9. In the Value data box, type 1 to enable the registry entry, and then click OK.
10. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart Outlook.

If Search doesn’t work, you need to disable the PreventIndexingOutlook setting by typing 0 (zero) and clicking OK.

Microsoft will announce a proper fix when they get to the root cause of the issue.