All of a sudden I'm having problems with search in my primary Inbox / pst file, this is a relatively new computer but it's top of the line i9-13900K, 32gb ram, 2tb Samsung 990 Pro nvme ssd, Windows 11 pro etc. It seemed to start last week with me getting the message something like "17000 messages left to index" and not being able to find items that I know are there. I repaired my pst file and before going to bed initiated a reindex of my pst file and yet when I open Outlook and try and search it's still saying that xxxxxx items left to index despite it having 12 or more hours to reindex. My pst file is well below the maximum 50gb maximum size.




Does anyone have any idea's on how to fix this problem?

I posted this a week and a half ago and I still haven't received any advice, can I get a little help here?

I find that Outlook data files are both robust and persnickety. They survive crashes and corruptions, but can be very particular!



I seem to have fewer problems since I began doing these maintenance steps:





1. Once in a while, review your messages and reduce their numbers. For example, delete the messages in the "Deleted Items" folder, and delete messages in the Inbox that have large attachments that you don't absolutely need to keep.


2. Once in a while, compress the data files. Deleting messages will not reduce their size. Only compression does that. In the main Outlook user interface, right click the account, choose "Data File Properties...", "Advanced", and then "Compress Now."



3. Regularly backup your data files. I use a backup system that copies my .pst files to the cloud at least once every day or two. A couple of times, I've restored day or two day old .pst files.


I avoid repairing .pst files unless there are no alternatives. Once or twice, I restored a .pst file from backup and ran scanpst.exe. Outlook is still working on my machine, so I guess I did something right... or almost right!