Mac Mail Search Not Working: Fixes and How to Re-index

When Mac Mail search returns nothing, or misses messages you can see in the mailbox, three things are usually behind it: the search scope is set to the wrong mailbox, the message bodies were never downloaded to your Mac, or the Spotlight index that Mail leans on has gone stale. Each has a different symptom and a different fix, and the table below sends you to the right one. Do the two-minute quick fixes first, since they cost nothing.

Quick fixes first (2 minutes)#

These are what most guides lead with, and they resolve a share of cases without touching an index.

1. 1

   Quit and reopen Mail

   Choose Mail > Quit Mail (or Apple menu > Force Quit if it is frozen), then reopen it and search again.

2. 2

   Restart the Mac

   A restart clears stuck background indexing processes. Wait a few minutes after logging back in before you judge the result.

3. 3

   Update macOS

   Open System Settings > General > Software Update and install any pending update. Apple fixes search and indexing bugs in point releases, and search problems after a major upgrade are common.

4. 4

   Check that Mail is included in Spotlight

   Open System Settings > Spotlight and make sure Mail is switched on in the list of results from apps. Labels differ slightly between macOS versions.

5. 5

   Free some disk space

   Fix 2 below re-downloads mail to your Mac, so leave room for it. If your drive is nearly full, clear space first.

Which fix do you need?#

Match your symptom to a cause before opening Terminal. A fix aimed at the wrong layer wastes time.

Fix 1: Check and expand the search scope#

When you start typing in Mail's search field, a row of scope options appears under the toolbar. If it is set to a single mailbox rather than All Mailboxes, messages in other folders or accounts will not show. It takes ten seconds to rule out. The labels vary a little by macOS version.

1. 1

   Click the search field and type a word

   Use a specific word from a message you know exists, such as a sender's name or project name. The scope options appear once you start typing.

2. 2

   Pick All Mailboxes

   If the scope shows only the current mailbox, click All Mailboxes. Results should widen straight away.

3. 3

   Look for a search token in the field

   If a search suggestion has turned into a token limiting the search to one field, such as the sender or subject, remove it so the search covers message content again.

Fix 2: Download message bodies with Mailbox > Rebuild#

On IMAP accounts such as Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and Fastmail, Mail can list a message while its body is still on the server. Spotlight can only index text stored on your Mac, so that message shows in the list but not in body searches. To check, click a message that should match: if its body is slow to load or blank until Mail fetches it, the body is not local.

Apple's Mail guide describes Mailbox > Rebuild for exactly this: for IMAP and Exchange accounts it discards the locally stored messages and attachments for that mailbox and downloads them again from the server, and Apple lists missing search results among the reasons to use it. The mailbox looks empty until the download finishes, and a big one can take a long time. Check progress under Window > Activity. For more on what Rebuild does, see Rebuild a mailbox in Apple Mail.

1. 1

   Select the mailbox

   Click the folder in the sidebar where the missing messages should be: Inbox, Sent, a custom folder.

2. 2

   Choose Mailbox > Rebuild

   Mail clears its local copy and re-downloads from the server. Leave Mail running and online until it finishes.

3. 3

   Repeat for each affected mailbox

   Rebuild works on one mailbox at a time, so run it for each folder with missing results.

4. 4

   Give Spotlight a few minutes

   The bodies are on disk now, but Spotlight still has to index them before search finds them.

Fix 3: Rebuild the Spotlight index for Mail on macOS#

If the scope is right and the bodies are stored locally but search is still empty, the index may be stale. It happens most often after a major macOS upgrade, a migration to a new Mac or a restore from backup. Two methods work: a targeted one in System Settings, and a Terminal command that rebuilds the whole disk.

Method A: System Settings, Search Privacy (no Terminal)#

Apple's Mac guide puts the setting at System Settings > Spotlight > Search Privacy. Adding a folder there tells Spotlight to skip it, and removing it makes Spotlight index it again. Doing both in sequence for the Mail folder is a widely used way to force a re-index of Mail without rebuilding everything. Apple describes the Search Privacy list itself, not this trick, so treat it as a community method.

1. 1

   Quit Mail

   Mail > Quit Mail. Use Force Quit from the Apple menu if it will not close.

2. 2

   Open System Settings > Spotlight > Search Privacy

   Click Spotlight in the sidebar (scroll down if you need to), then Search Privacy near the lower right of the pane. On macOS 12 Monterey and earlier it is System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy.

3. 3

   Add the Mail data folder

   Click the + button, press Command+Shift+G in the file browser, type ~/Library/Mail and press Return, then select the Mail folder and click Choose.

4. 4

   Remove it again

   After a few seconds select the Mail entry in the list and click the Remove button. Spotlight starts indexing the folder again.

5. 5

   Wait, reopen Mail and test

   Indexing a large mail library can take from minutes to hours. Reopen Mail once the Spotlight menu-bar indicator stops showing indexing, then search for a message you know exists.

Method B: Force a re-index from Terminal#

The mdutil command asks Spotlight to erase and rebuild its index for a volume. This one rebuilds the whole startup disk, not just Mail, so expect everything Spotlight finds to be limited while it runs. You need an administrator password.

1. 1

   Quit Mail and open Terminal

   Press Command+Space, type Terminal and press Return, or open Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

2. 2

   Run the command

   Type the command below and press Return, then enter your password when asked. The -E flag erases the index and starts a rebuild.

3. 3

   Wait for indexing to finish

   A full-disk re-index can take from half an hour to several hours depending on how much is on the Mac, and it uses battery on a laptop, so plug in. Then reopen Mail and test.

Still broken? Last resorts#

Restart in safe mode. Apple documents safe mode as a way to isolate software problems, and it runs some system checks at startup. Restart normally afterwards and test search again. I cannot promise it fixes search, but it is cheap to try.

Remove and re-add the account. In Mail > Settings > Accounts, select the account and remove it, then add it again and let Mail download everything. Do this only for accounts that keep all their mail on the server, such as Gmail, iCloud or normal IMAP. Removing an account removes its local copy, so avoid it for any account that holds mail only on your Mac.

Why does Mac Mail search stop working after a macOS update?#

A major upgrade can leave the Spotlight index for Mail out of date, and the index can take hours to rebuild in the background. Leave the Mac on, plugged in and with Mail open for a while, then test. If search is still empty after that, run Fix 3. If Mail itself is slow or stuck syncing after an upgrade, see Mail slow or not syncing on Mac.

A different approach: search that does not depend on Spotlight#

Apple Mail's search leans on a local index that has to stay in sync with the server. We build AI Emaily, an email client with its own search: it indexes your synced mail (keyword and semantic, so you can search by meaning) across Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365, iCloud and IMAP accounts, so it does not depend on Spotlight and there is no Mac-side index to rebuild. Ask AI answers questions about your mail with citations. The first sync covers about the last 60 days, so very old mail may not be in the index, which is a real limit. Use Smart Search or the pricing page to see more. There is a 7-day free trial on Pro or Autopilot, and a 14-day money-back guarantee.