It fully indexes and searches content, while providing rich and intelligent search features that have become an industry norm. This is where Microsoft Search comes into the picture. This shift has resulted in a clear need for server- and service-powered search solutions. Although WDS provides excellent performance using the indexes on the local disk, mailbox sizes have increased while less mailbox data is synchronized to the local disk. These data files are normally stored on the local disk, as are the WDS search indexes. Starting with Outlook 2007, Outlook has utilized Windows Desktop Search (WDS) to index Outlook Data (.pst) and Offline Outlook Data (.ost) files. In its earliest versions, Outlook supported basic filters based on MAPI restrictions.

It’s hard to imagine an Outlook without search.

There are plans for later builds to also query the Calendar, files, and other items within Outlook.įor general information on Microsoft Search, see Overview of Microsoft Search. When searching in Outlook, Microsoft Search is used to search email messages that are in your mailbox.

In Microsoft 365, Microsoft Search returns search results based on the context of the application that you are searching from.