How do I search all my folders -- Archive too! -- in Outlook 2007?

September 9, 2009 6:13 AM

How can I search all my folders at once in Outlook 2007?

I'm using Outlook 2007 at work and I have setup Auto Archive to ... duh ... archive my old e-mail. Simple enough, right?

Now I want to be able to do a one-click search of both my active e-mail folders and the Archive Folders. How do I do that?

And yes, I've tried selecting "search all Outlook folders." This doesn't seem to pull up anything from the Archive Folders (just the active).

Help!?

posted by zooropa to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Best answer: In your OS, go to Control Panel > Indexing Options and make sure that the Auto Archive file (more likely than not named "archive.pst") is selected to be indexed. If you have to navigate to find it, it's probably in:

XP: C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Local Settings\Microsoft\Outlook\

Vista: C:\Users\yourusername\Local Settings\Microsoft\Outlook\

and you may have to turn on "View hidden files & folders" to do so.
posted by The Michael The at 6:38 AM on September 9, 2009

You might also want to look into Outlook add-on Xobni (inbox, backwards). I have to use Outlook at work and its search feature, in my experience, is slow at best, inaccurate and incomplete at worst. Xobni is free and has much better search than Outlook. I don't really use its other features to any significant degree, but that alone is worth it. (No, I'm not affiliated with them. I think I found it via LifeHacker or similar.)
posted by notashroom at 7:31 AM on September 9, 2009

Response by poster: Sorry, no can do on Xobni. IT has a firm grip on our PC's, and adding anything to Outlook is a non-starter. I still have scars from getting slapped down the last time I tried to install an add-in without permission.
posted by zooropa at 8:29 AM on September 9, 2009

Response by poster: The Michael The -- unfortunately, this appears to be something IT has taken away as well. We use XP and there is no Indexing Options under the control panel.
posted by zooropa at 8:30 AM on September 9, 2009

Sorry about the Xobni. I forget sometimes that not everyone has the same access I do. Try talking with IT about enabling the built-in option?
posted by notashroom at 8:36 AM on September 9, 2009

On XP, you need to have Windows Search installed and enabled. Some IT depts have disabled this due to lingering memories of the performance impact of the built in Search service indexing that preceded it.

If possible get them to install Windows Search 4.0.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 11:53 AM on September 9, 2009

Best answer: To clarify slightly: Once Windows Search is installed, then what "The Michael The" says will be there in the control panel. You get the ?advantage? of being able to initiate a cross-folder search from the taskbar widget that comes with it too, if you like.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 11:54 AM on September 9, 2009

Response by poster: Wow! Thanks to all the good information here, my IT department installed Windows Search. I can now search my Archive Folders and regular folders.

This is a huge productivity boost, and I am grateful to blue_wardrobe and The Michael The for the guidance.

Thank you!
posted by zooropa at 11:05 AM on September 10, 2009