Some Windows 10 and 11 users have been suffering at the hands of a strange Outlook bug which affects the search facility in the desktop email client, but a resolution has now been applied by Microsoft.

The bug affected those who installed the November 2021 preview cumulative update (KB5007253) or later (so that includes the December update, of course), and means that when searching in the Outlook app, recent emails may not be returned in a search when they should be.

Microsoft explains: “This issue is related to emails which have been stored locally in PST or OST files. It might affect POP and IMAP accounts, as well as Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft 365 hosted accounts. If the default search in the Outlook app is set to server search, the issue will only affect the advanced search.”

The problem can hit those using Windows 11 and Windows 10 21H2, or Windows 10 21H1, 20H2, or 1809 (and also Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019).

As mentioned, the good news is that Microsoft has now cured the problem with a ‘Known Issue Rollback’ which is currently being delivered, although it may take up to 24 hours to arrive on any given PC (given the announcement was penned yesterday, at the time of writing, the fix should be deployed everywhere within the next eight hours or so).

Analysis: Automatic fix should be imminent

A 'Known Issue Rollback' just means Microsoft is applying a targeted fix for one specific bug in a cumulative update, rolling it back to how it was before. And at least consumers won’t have to worry about anything in order to fix this problem – the cure will just automatically apply itself to your PC. If you still haven’t got it within the next 8 hours – which you should do, as mentioned – then rebooting your PC may help to grab it (this is certainly worth a try).

As for enterprise PCs, that’s a different situation as you might expect, and those looking after these systems will need to go the route of installing a special Group Policy, with the software giant providing further details here.

Via MS Power User