Just need to vent and see if anyone else feels my pain here. Why is Apple Mail’s search function still so bad? I mean, we’ve seen tons of updates over the years, but when it comes to finding an old email, it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.
I use Outlook at work and it’s a dream. I can find anything I need in seconds, no matter how old. But with Apple Mail? Forget it. Half the time, I end up thinking I’ve deleted something important because Mail just can’t seem to find it. But it’s not just me being clumsy with the delete button – Apple Mail’s search is just not up to snuff.
Apple engineers please have nothing on the horizon!
Because you already bought the phone, they hate you and just want your money. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. Source: I’m a victim of this as well.
My favorite is getting different search results between my iPhone and my MBP… good times. Mail search is the worst.
People, myself included, have experienced problems with the spotlight generated database of the mail library. There are various solutions posted on StackOverflow and other sites.
Do you use Google for your email? If so, switch to Mimestream. Still feels like Apple Mail, but with none of the shittiness.
The regression of mail the past 5 years has been awful. Search is the #1 culprit and it’s on all platforms. I don’t even use it for search on iOS. I launch outlook on my iPhone to find emails.
I’m actually super confused because I search through 2 decades of hundreds of thousands of emails, and I never have issues. I do this daily.
I honestly feel like I’m going crazy with more than half of the complaints on this sub.
100% agree! I use my Gmail account with Apple Mail and have downloaded the Gmail app literally only to use the search function because at this point I refuse to use Apple Mail’s.
I just gave up and use outlook on iOS. I suggest you do the same since you already use outlook at work. It’s so much better. Stop trying to make everything Apple. Not everything they make (especially software) is the best.
On Mac it’s decent. On iOS it is indeed a steaming pile.
For a variety of reasons I’m currently juggling 7 email accounts, so while Mail has a lot of flaws this would be a game changer for me. I used to use Spark and it did it perfectly, but the privacy/anti-tracking features of the Mail app lured me over, and while that part is great, it’s just so lacking in features that it’s a chore.
Just give me color-coded inboxes and I’d be happy :(
Yeah it’s really really shit and I feel like it got worse when MacOS 13 came out. It was usable on MacOS 12
mail on Mac is a random shit show where its own unread count feature cannot be counted upon or worse a smart mailbox whose only filter is, messages not read, clearly shows messages that have been read.
and then every update my auto complete for addresses decides a new email address is the one I want even though I have not used it in years.
Threw in the towel long ago and have been using AirMail for the past three years.
Agree! It’s amazing (in a a bad way) how many times the mail item I was searching for shows up a week or two later. :(
Mail is awful for search. AWFUL