Even when you know the basics of searching in Lion ’s Mail , sometimes an email message you clearly retrieve stubbornly stays lose . If a Mail lookup does n’t display subject matter that you know it should — and you ’ve ruled out user misplay such as selecting the unseasonable postbox , or choosing a coping instead of subject matter contents — there are several potential lawsuit . Which solution to utilize depends on whether error hap look message contents ( the body of your subject matter ) or headers ( the table of contents of the To , CC , BCC , From , and Subject fields ) .
Problems searching headers
When you type a condition into Mail ’s Search field of study , you could optionally select a person , subject , or other category from a pop - up carte to create a token that Mail uses to search one or more headers alone ( such as To , From , and Subject ) . ( If you do n’t explicitly select a head , or if you do but change the search token to say Entire content , Mail searches message bodies as well as headers . ) Surprisingly , Mail ’s system for indexing and searching lintel is separate from its system for indexing and look message contents , so search for lintel text ( say , message from a certain carbon monoxide gas - worker ) could give way even if the same subject matter is matched during a search of its contents .
Mail uses a set of files collectively called the Envelope Index to index and search message headers . So , if you ’re unable to find messages when seek headers , there ’s a salutary chance the Envelope Index is having trouble . The sure answer is to force Mail to rebuild the intact Envelope Index .
To do this , first quit Mail . Then , in the Finder , hold down Option and choose Go - > Library . voyage to~/Library / Mail / V2 / MailDataand drag the following file to the Trash : Envelope Index , Envelope Index - shm , andEnvelope Index - wal . Open Mail again , and you ’ll see a message that Mail has to import your message . fall into place Continue and let it do so ; what it ’s really doing is rebuilding your Envelope Index . When this outgrowth finishes , try your search again .
If Mail fails to find the right messages when you search for words in the To, From, or Subject field, a bad Envelope Index could be to blame. If you need to delete your envelope index, these are the files to select.
If Mail fails to find the good messages when you search for password in the To , From , or Subject field , a uncollectible Envelope Index could be to pick . If you need to delete your gasbag index , these are the files to pick out .
Problems searching message contents
On the other hand , suppose you stick with the Entire Message option to look for word of honor in the table of contents of message bodies , because you are n’t sure who institutionalise the message or when , or because the number of matches using headers alone is too great . research for unusual , specific keywords you remember from the substance ( “ furlong , ” “ fortnight ” ) or full phrase ( “ lose in the mist of time ” ) can often lead you right to the subject matter you want — unless full - text searching happens to be broken .
ring armour uses OS X ’s Spotlight feature to index and research the contents of messages , so if you have trouble with search message contents , the most likely case is a job with your Spotlight index . Try the follow potential therapeutic , in this social club , retrying your search after each until you ’re successful :
Check for privacy problemsOpen the Spotlight pane of System Preferences , go to the Privacy tab , and make certain it does n’t show your~/Library / Mailfolder or any of its parent folders ( such as your entire domicile leaflet ) or the mass on which it ’s locate . If it does , select that folder or volume and click the negative ( - ) button to allow Spotlight to index it ( which may take some time ) .
If Mail fails to find the right messages when you search for words in the To, From, or Subject field, a bad Envelope Index could be to blame. If you need to delete your envelope index, these are the files to select.
Tweak settingsFor host - based accounts ( IMAP , Exchange , iCloud , and MobileMe ) , verify Mail is set to download intact subject matter — if it does n’t , Spotlight ca n’t index them . Go to Mail - > Preferences , sink in Accounts , select an account , and get across Advanced . Make trusted the Keep Copies Of Messages For Offline Viewing pop - up computer menu tell All Messages And Their Attachments .
For every host - base account , go to this preference pane and ensure this start - up menu is typeset to one of the “ All Messages ” options ( preferably with attachments ) to make trusted Spotlight index all your mail .
Re - indicator your messagesOpen Terminal ( in /Applications / Utilities ) and typecast this command , followed by Return : mdimport -r /System / Library / Spotlight / Mail.mdimporterThis causes spot to re - index all your postal service content , leave the relief of your limelight indexes ( for other types of data ) integral .
For every server-based account, go to this preference pane and make sure this pop-up menu is set to one of the “All Messages” options (preferably with attachments) to make sure Spotlight indexes all your mail.
readjust your Spotlight indexIf the other Spotlight localization do n’t shape , you might want to reset your entire Spotlight index , although rebuilding it will take quite a bit of time — many hours if you ’ve induce a large hard drive full of files . In Terminal , enter this command and then press Return : sudo mdutil -E /Enter your OS X account countersign when prompt . ( Note that only an account with administrative admission can use this bid . )
Re - download or rebuildA net possibility , which again apply only to server - based story , is that the messages in one or more mailboxes were n’t download aright or wholly in the first position . To ready this , first choose Mailbox - > Synchronize to check that server - base accounts are update . Give Mail some sentence to process — you’re able to view Mail ’s Activity window , via Window - > Activity , to supervise progress — and then essay your hunt again .
If that does n’t work , select each mailbox take messages that are n’t being searched properly , and then choose Mailbox - > Rebuild . This erases the local copy of all the message in that letter box and forces Mail to download them again from the server . In some situations , this can take even longer than rebuilding your Spotlight index number , but it may be the only mode to fix certain mailbox problem .
