Contacts Search NOT WORKING in Outlook 2007 suddenly!

[Ray Bowman]

Contacts Search NOT WORKING in Outlook 2007 suddenly!
Ray Bowman posted on Friday 11/04/2011

Gentlemen/Ladies: PLEASE HELP!!! i've been a long time user of Microsoft Outlook (maybe
over 10 years) and have long found the Notes section of the Contacts to be
useful. i would put in keywords that would help me find/remember the
contact by, i.e. John Smith, in the Notes section, i might write Joe Smith's
brother, or Computer expert. Typically, i would simply type in Joe Smith
and every contact where anywhere containing Joe Smith would show up, and of
course, John Smith would show up as well since i wrote in his Notes section,
Joe Smith's brother.

in the past couple of weeks, for some reason, i haven't used my search
function much. but for the past 3 days, i cannot get the Search function
to find anything at all in Contacts!!
I AM LOST WITHOUT THIS FUNCTION!!!
PLEASE HELP!!
RAY

this is a KEY functionality for me. i have over 1000 contacts and it is
very useful for me to be able to zero in on certain people.

i've tried researching this for hours to no avail. i might have
inadvertently hit a key to the left or right of the keyboard and that might
have changed some important setting?

Gentlemen/Ladies: i've been a long time user of Microsoft Outlook (maybe
over 10 years) and have long found the Notes section of the Contacts to be
useful. i would put in keywords that would help me find/remember the
contact by, i.e. John Smith, in the Notes section, i might write Joe Smith's
brother, or Computer expert. Typically, i would simply type in Joe Smith
and every contact where anywhere containing Joe Smith would show up, and of
course, John Smith would show up as well since i wrote in his Notes section,
Joe Smith's brother.

in the past couple of weeks, for some reason, i haven't used my search
function much. but for the past 3 days, i cannot get the Search function
to find anything at all in Contacts!!

this is a KEY functionality for me. i have over 1500 contacts and it is
very useful for me to be able to zero in on certain people.

i've tried researching this for hours to no avail. i might have
inadvertently hit a key to the left or right of the keyboard and that might
have changed some important setting?

i would greatly appreciate any help. thank you so much in advance!

On Thursday, May 10, 2007 4:29 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
There are many posts here on troubleshooting Outlook 2007's deeply troubled
Search function. Read the ones that apply to your situation. There is not
enough information here for us to help you. It is a known issue that Instant
Search fails to find things in the Notes field.
You might want to return to using Advanced Find until Microsoft can get its
new Search function to work. I doubt they will get it working anytime soon.

thx so much for trying to help! this is pretty much a disaster as the
Search function for finding key words that i put into the "Notes" section of
Contacts is a long time feature that i've come to depend on.

i've tried the "Advanced Find" that you had suggested but it also didn't work.

Example: if under Russ Valentine in my Contacts list, under Notes for your
name, i put down "computer genius", and also "Microsoft expert", in the
future, i may recall you, the person who's the computer genius and a
Microsoft expert but i might have forgotten your full name, so i'd search for
either of those 2 terms and i'll instantly have a very short list of people
to choose from.

the search function is on the upper right hand corner of the "Contacts"
section, and there's a small magnifying glass icon there as well, where one
is supposed to type in the term or "string" to search for.

that is not working.

additionally, when i tried to use the Advanced Find that you had suggested,
it also yielded zero results.

what should i do?

i look forward to hearing any suggestions. this is very important for me.

thank you again in advance. you're a great resource to have. much
appreciated!

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Friday, May 11, 2007 5:11 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
How did you construct your Advanced Find? Mine finds anything I look for in
the Notes field.

On Friday, May 11, 2007 6:53 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Perhaps, but that assumes facts not yet in evidence. My point was that even
though Instant Search fails to find data in the Notes field, using the
Advanced Find dialog will still pull it up.

Russ, did you see my post immediately preceding your last post? i
think we might have posted almost at the same time so you might not have had
the opportunity to read my last post. thx.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Monday, May 14, 2007 5:11 AM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Just use the Advanced Tab, Look for Contacts, use the Field dropdown to
select "Notes," then "contains" and enter what you are searching for..

it's actually not that simple! May i illustrate please:

In Contacts "mode", you have all the contacts on the right pane. you go to
Tools at the top, the dropdown menu's 2nd option is Instant Search. the
pull out menu to the right when you hover over the Instant Search shows
multiple options where the last one is Advanced Find.

when you select Advanced Find, you get a new pop up window. in that
window, there are 3 tabs. the first tab is Contacts, the 2nd tab is More
Choices, the 3rd tab is Advanced.

the 1st tab (Contacts) does not seem to work for me at all as there is no
such option for searching the "Notes" section.

the 3rd tab, Advanced, asks you to start with defining a "Field" with a
Field dropdown menu. However, when you drop down that menu, there is NO
"notes" field. The option called "All Note Fields" has a pull out menu
that allows you to select Contact, maybe that's the right one? or,
alternatively, one other Field in the field dropdown is "Frequently Used
Fields" where you can choose either Contacts or simply Notes. both sound
correct to me. please realize that "Note" is probably incorrect but
"Notes" is probably correct since the section in Contacts at the bottom where
i put all my notes is actually called "Notes" plural. I suspect that "Note"
is that other Outlook functionality called Note for taking notes.

in any case, i've tried using that Advanced find and tried various Fields
options but they do not work.

i really really need this function badly for what i do daily and am really
stumped.

any help would be most appreciated.

thank you!


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Monday, May 14, 2007 4:36 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Use the Advanced Tab. If you look at the top of that dialog, it gives you a
choice of what type of Outlook Items to search. Select Contacts in that
dropdown. When you do, the Field dropdown will present a flyout for "All
Contact Fields." There you will find "Notes."

On Monday, May 14, 2007 5:31 PM Dualmonitor wrote:
just tried that, Russ. did exactly what you suggested. disappointingly,
the results are the same as using the search box on the upper right of the
Outlook Contact screen - that is, virtually no results show up. i did find
one exception and it showed up only 2 contacts, even when there ought to be
around 25 if not 50 for that searched term.

so something's terribly wrong.

is there a way to put the Offce 2007 CD in and try to reinstall in hopes of
it "fixing" something? i really don't want any of my emails, contact info,
etc changed! i use it every single day and it is THE one application that i
use from morning to night.

ugh. i'm so lost on this one. this is critical for me.

thx for keeping on trying to help me, Russ. really looking forward to
hearing back from you.



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

i already did one of those "look for outlook errors and repair" it
found no error at all! so no action was taken.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Monday, May 14, 2007 9:55 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Did you rebuild your index?

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007 4:50 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Many people are reporting these problems. No one seems to know what causes
them. They all appear harmless. Clearly Instant Search is too new to be
trouble-free.

On Thursday, June 14, 2007 3:02 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
This is an old post. Could you quote enough of the original so that we can
follow what you are talking about? There may be some interesting clues here.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

When search fails, the first steps is to rebuild the index. You can do
this from tools, options.


Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/
OutlookForums http://www.outlookforums.com

Contacts Search NOT WORKING in Outlook 2007 suddenly!
Ray Bowman posted on Friday 11/04/2011

Gentlemen/Ladies: PLEASE HELP!!! i've been a long time user of Microsoft Outlook (maybe
over 10 years) and have long found the Notes section of the Contacts to be
useful. i would put in keywords that would help me find/remember the
contact by, i.e. John Smith, in the Notes section, i might write Joe Smith's
brother, or Computer expert. Typically, i would simply type in Joe Smith
and every contact where anywhere containing Joe Smith would show up, and of
course, John Smith would show up as well since i wrote in his Notes section,
Joe Smith's brother.

in the past couple of weeks, for some reason, i haven't used my search
function much. but for the past 3 days, i cannot get the Search function
to find anything at all in Contacts!!
I AM LOST WITHOUT THIS FUNCTION!!!
PLEASE HELP!!
RAY

this is a KEY functionality for me. i have over 1000 contacts and it is
very useful for me to be able to zero in on certain people.

i've tried researching this for hours to no avail. i might have
inadvertently hit a key to the left or right of the keyboard and that might
have changed some important setting?

Gentlemen/Ladies: i've been a long time user of Microsoft Outlook (maybe
over 10 years) and have long found the Notes section of the Contacts to be
useful. i would put in keywords that would help me find/remember the
contact by, i.e. John Smith, in the Notes section, i might write Joe Smith's
brother, or Computer expert. Typically, i would simply type in Joe Smith
and every contact where anywhere containing Joe Smith would show up, and of
course, John Smith would show up as well since i wrote in his Notes section,
Joe Smith's brother.

in the past couple of weeks, for some reason, i haven't used my search
function much. but for the past 3 days, i cannot get the Search function
to find anything at all in Contacts!!

this is a KEY functionality for me. i have over 1500 contacts and it is
very useful for me to be able to zero in on certain people.

i've tried researching this for hours to no avail. i might have
inadvertently hit a key to the left or right of the keyboard and that might
have changed some important setting?

i would greatly appreciate any help. thank you so much in advance!

On Thursday, May 10, 2007 4:29 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
There are many posts here on troubleshooting Outlook 2007's deeply troubled
Search function. Read the ones that apply to your situation. There is not
enough information here for us to help you. It is a known issue that Instant
Search fails to find things in the Notes field.
You might want to return to using Advanced Find until Microsoft can get its
new Search function to work. I doubt they will get it working anytime soon.

thx so much for trying to help! this is pretty much a disaster as the
Search function for finding key words that i put into the "Notes" section of
Contacts is a long time feature that i've come to depend on.

i've tried the "Advanced Find" that you had suggested but it also didn't work.

Example: if under Russ Valentine in my Contacts list, under Notes for your
name, i put down "computer genius", and also "Microsoft expert", in the
future, i may recall you, the person who's the computer genius and a
Microsoft expert but i might have forgotten your full name, so i'd search for
either of those 2 terms and i'll instantly have a very short list of people
to choose from.

the search function is on the upper right hand corner of the "Contacts"
section, and there's a small magnifying glass icon there as well, where one
is supposed to type in the term or "string" to search for.

that is not working.

additionally, when i tried to use the Advanced Find that you had suggested,
it also yielded zero results.

what should i do?

i look forward to hearing any suggestions. this is very important for me.

thank you again in advance. you're a great resource to have. much
appreciated!

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Friday, May 11, 2007 5:11 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
How did you construct your Advanced Find? Mine finds anything I look for in
the Notes field.

On Friday, May 11, 2007 5:45 PM Diane Poremsky [MVP] wrote:
advanced find uses the search index - so it sounds like the index is corrupt
and needs rebuilt.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)


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** Please include your Outlook version, Account type, and Windows Version
when requesting assistance **

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On Friday, May 11, 2007 6:50 PM Dualmonitor wrote:
Hello Russ and Diane,

thank you both for responding.

the truth is that i have not been a user of Advanced Find until like a
couple of days ago, i'm a total newbie to that. as such, i'm not really
sure how i'm supposed to use it. i am trying to use it haphazardly, which
is probably incorrect.

am i supposed to use the Contacts tab, or more choices tab, or the advanced
tab? as for the search for x word "In" whatever field, i chose the
"frequently used text field". when that didn't work at all, i then went to
the "advanced" tab, and tried to use the "Field" drop down menu, and
experimented with the "All Note Fields" and in the pull out menu, chose
"Contact". That sounded logical, right? because i'm trying to search for
terms IN THE CONTACTS' Notes area.

that didn't work. may i ask for advice on how to best use Advanced Find
for words in the Notes section in the Contacts effectively?

as for what Diane wrote: "...the index is corrupt and need rebuilt". i'm
sorry, but i really have no concept as to what "rebuilding the index" means.
are we really sure that's what i need to do and it's not just that i'm inept
in properly using Advanced Find? of course, in addition to my possible
ineptitude in using Advanced Find, there's also the major issue of Microsoft
Outlook 2007's ineffective and "broken" regular find function!!! let's not
forget that...but recognizing that and talking about it won't help me
though...

i'm really looking forward to suggestions from y'all. thank you SO much in
advance for being such a good sport in trying to pitch in and helping me out.
this is a disaster for me to not be able to use the Find function. i
have around 1500 contacts and i really have to learn to properly categorize
them shortly. but probably, priority #1 is to be able to use Advanced Find
first so i can be functionally ok for now, and then learn to categorize
properly, and then hope and pray for Microsoft to issue a fix. Why is it
that Russ mentioned that a fix won't come anytime soon? Outlook 2007 is a
big product and wouldn't Microsoft alienate many thousands of good loyal
folks with a defective Find function? again, it's not like we have many
options at this point since we're basically locked into Outlook and are
captive audiences!

looking forward to hearing back!

"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote:

On Friday, May 11, 2007 6:53 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Perhaps, but that assumes facts not yet in evidence. My point was that even
though Instant Search fails to find data in the Notes field, using the
Advanced Find dialog will still pull it up.

Russ, did you see my post immediately preceding your last post? i
think we might have posted almost at the same time so you might not have had
the opportunity to read my last post. thx.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Sunday, May 13, 2007 11:02 PM Dualmonitor wrote:
just to see if Russ and/or others have missed my previous posting. thx.
sorry for the repeat.

"Dualmonitors" wrote:

On Monday, May 14, 2007 5:11 AM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Just use the Advanced Tab, Look for Contacts, use the Field dropdown to
select "Notes," then "contains" and enter what you are searching for..

it's actually not that simple! May i illustrate please:

In Contacts "mode", you have all the contacts on the right pane. you go to
Tools at the top, the dropdown menu's 2nd option is Instant Search. the
pull out menu to the right when you hover over the Instant Search shows
multiple options where the last one is Advanced Find.

when you select Advanced Find, you get a new pop up window. in that
window, there are 3 tabs. the first tab is Contacts, the 2nd tab is More
Choices, the 3rd tab is Advanced.

the 1st tab (Contacts) does not seem to work for me at all as there is no
such option for searching the "Notes" section.

the 3rd tab, Advanced, asks you to start with defining a "Field" with a
Field dropdown menu. However, when you drop down that menu, there is NO
"notes" field. The option called "All Note Fields" has a pull out menu
that allows you to select Contact, maybe that's the right one? or,
alternatively, one other Field in the field dropdown is "Frequently Used
Fields" where you can choose either Contacts or simply Notes. both sound
correct to me. please realize that "Note" is probably incorrect but
"Notes" is probably correct since the section in Contacts at the bottom where
i put all my notes is actually called "Notes" plural. I suspect that "Note"
is that other Outlook functionality called Note for taking notes.

in any case, i've tried using that Advanced find and tried various Fields
options but they do not work.

i really really need this function badly for what i do daily and am really
stumped.

any help would be most appreciated.

thank you!


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

On Monday, May 14, 2007 4:36 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Use the Advanced Tab. If you look at the top of that dialog, it gives you a
choice of what type of Outlook Items to search. Select Contacts in that
dropdown. When you do, the Field dropdown will present a flyout for "All
Contact Fields." There you will find "Notes."

On Monday, May 14, 2007 5:31 PM Dualmonitor wrote:
just tried that, Russ. did exactly what you suggested. disappointingly,
the results are the same as using the search box on the upper right of the
Outlook Contact screen - that is, virtually no results show up. i did find
one exception and it showed up only 2 contacts, even when there ought to be
around 25 if not 50 for that searched term.

so something's terribly wrong.

is there a way to put the Offce 2007 CD in and try to reinstall in hopes of
it "fixing" something? i really don't want any of my emails, contact info,
etc changed! i use it every single day and it is THE one application that i
use from morning to night.

ugh. i'm so lost on this one. this is critical for me.

thx for keeping on trying to help me, Russ. really looking forward to
hearing back from you.



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

i already did one of those "look for outlook errors and repair" it
found no error at all! so no action was taken.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

sorry, one more idea: for Outlook 2003, i recall trying to "repair"
using the function in Outlook on the PC, as well as "repair using the CD
disk inserted in the pc first". the 2nd method yielded better results by
far. those issues with my old Outlook 2003, of course, is not relevant to
my current Outlook 2007 search issues, but i was just thinking that maybe if
that "repair after inserting CD into PC" method is still an option, would
that help my situation?

the real problem is i have no idea whatsoever about what's causing this!

"Dualmonitors" wrote:

On Monday, May 14, 2007 9:55 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Did you rebuild your index?

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:32 AM Dualmonitor wrote:
Hello Russ and Diane,

thank you both for trying to help me. after trying Advanced Find, and
noticing that even that didn't work, i thought that it was time to at least
find out what re-indexing meant.

doing more search and this and that finally yielded the answer that
re-indexing is very little work! literally, one click and wait for maybe an
hour. i did it over dinner time and it was done by the time i finished
watching "24" last night on TV

Glad to report, SO glad to report, that it worked! this is very
mysterious to me. what did i possibly do to cause this?

also, rather frequently since i installed Outlook 2007 on a brand new Vista
machine, it was telling me that "outlook files did not close properly and
outlook is checking the files for errors...performance may be slowed during
this process". this message shows up when i re-open Outlook, say in the
morning when i turn the computer on. again, there was NOTHING at all
strange in the way i turned off the pc the night before, nor did i do
anything weird when i shut down Outlook prior to powering down my pc.

what might have caused that? my fear is that these little problems may
build up over time to a massive problem! any advice would be most
appreciated.

thank you for guiding me through and being patient with me vis-a-vis the
Search issue, which i believe is resolved. i will do the search more often
today to test it out.




"Dualmonitors" wrote:

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007 4:50 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
Many people are reporting these problems. No one seems to know what causes
them. They all appear harmless. Clearly Instant Search is too new to be
trouble-free.

On Thursday, June 14, 2007 11:58 AM blackgorill wrote:
funny thing is starting up Outlook in the safe mode works =(
i mean searching for stuff in the notes field using instant search
works in Outlook safe mode.
disabled stuff but still the same problem

Mos!

On Thursday, June 14, 2007 3:02 PM Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
This is an old post. Could you quote enough of the original so that we can
follow what you are talking about? There may be some interesting clues here.