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Outlook Mac Version 16.103.4 show wrong search results

Luciano Pecorella 0 Reputation points
2025-12-10T15:12:35.7633333+00:00

Hello ladies, I found a new issue in the Outlook MacOS 16.103.4 (or previous 16.103.3) versions. As I search emails from a specific sender (es, from: name surname), the results are simply incomplete, and include emails where the sender was in copy or cc and was not the real sender. If I do the same search via Microsoft Edge Outlook web app, the results are correct. Is there a workaround, or is it just bugged?

Outlook | MacOS | New Outlook for Mac | For business
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  1. Hani-Ng 5,865 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-12-11T01:25:22.6366667+00:00

    Hi Luciano Pecorella

    Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum and sharing your experience.

    Based on your description, I understand that when performing a search using specific criteria in the New Outlook for Mac, the results are including emails where the user was CC’d, which differs from the precise results you see in the Outlook Web App.

    I see that you are running the very latest version of Outlook for Mac (16.103.4), which was released on December 9th. Since this issue is occurring immediately following the update and because the Web App (OWA) is working correctly, this indicates a specific behavior change or issue within this latest client update regarding how it processes the from: search operator.

    Since you are on the standard business version, here are the recommended workarounds based on the information I have, which I hope will be helpful:

    Use Strict Syntax: To force the new version to search only the sender field and ignore CCs, you can try using quotation marks around the name or the email address. For example: from:"Name Surname"

    Revert to Legacy Outlook (Temporary)

    If the syntax workaround interferes with your workflow, you can temporarily switch back to the "Legacy" interface, which uses a different local indexing method (Spotlight) that may not affected by this update.

    • Click the Outlook menu > Uncheck New Outlook (or select Legacy Outlook depending on your settings).

    Additionally, if the previous version did not exhibit this issue, you might consider temporarily switching back until the next update is released.

    Update history for Office for Mac - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn

    I hope this information proves helpful.

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