Classic Outlook 2024 searching people is not working

Question

Classic Outlook 2024 searching people is not working

Lynn F 20

I have Office 2024 (Desktop Version) and Windows 11 Pro. This is a new install.

I have tried the steps suggested in a 3/8/2026 post to this forum in the Q&A Assist steps provided there. When those didn't work, I tried what was suggested by WinnieB.

1, Disable and re‑enable Cached Exchange Mode

Open Outlook and go to File, Account Settings, Account Settings
Select your account, choose Change, uncheck Use Cached Exchange Mode
Restart Outlook, then enable Cached Exchange Mode again and restart once more

2, Reset Outlook search folders

Close Outlook
Press Windows key + R, type outlook.exe /resetsearchfolders, and press Enter
Wait for Outlook to reopen and test people search

3, Clear the Outlook roaming cache

Close Outlook
Press Windows key + R, type %localappdata%\Microsoft\Outlook, and press Enter
Delete the RoamCache folder if present
Restart Outlook and allow it a few minutes to reinitialize

4, Run a Quick Repair for Microsoft Office

Open Control Panel
Select Programs and Features
Choose Microsoft 365 or Office, then select Change
Select Quick Repair and complete the process

5, Check Outlook search behavior in Safe Mode

Press Windows key + R, type outlook.exe /safe, and press Enter
Test people search in Safe Mode
If it works, an add‑in may be interfering

6, Temporarily turn off contact suggestions

In Outlook, go to File > Options > Contacts
Uncheck Automatically create Outlook contacts for recipients that do not belong to an Outlook Address Book
Restart Outlook and test again1, Disable and re‑enable Cached Exchange Mode

I do not see many of the suggested options. For example, In Step 1, I do not see the option to "Use Cached Exchange Mode". In Step 2, I when I run that I get a message that says "Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. The Command Line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using". In Step 6, I do not have an option to "Automatically create Outlook contacts". I have done the other steps.

Please help with more accurate steps.

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Kai-H 25,090 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi, Lynn F

Those missing options are not necessarily a problem. Cached Exchange Mode is only available for Exchange accounts, while the “Automatically create Outlook contacts” setting and /resetsearchfolders switch do not apply here.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

In Outlook, select File > Account Settings > Account Settings and check the account Type. If it is POP or IMAP, you will not see Cached Exchange Mode.

Open People, select the affected Contacts folder, then choose Folder > Folder Properties > Outlook Address Book. Make sure Show this folder as an email Address Book is selected.

Close Outlook. Open Control Panel > Indexing Options and confirm Microsoft Outlook is included. Then select Advanced > Rebuild. Leave the computer running while Windows recreates the index.

Test by creating a new email and selecting To. Choose the correct address book from the drop-down, then search by part of the person’s name or email address.

If it still fails, create a fresh profile through Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles > Add, add the account, and test before removing the original profile.

Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you.

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Lynn F 20 Reputation points

2026-08-14T18:16:28.71+00:00

I tried everything up to the point of creating a new profile and searching for a name still doesn't work. I will try the new profile but it will take some time because I manage multiple accounts in Outlook. I'll let you know if it helped.
Lynn F 20 Reputation points

2026-08-14T18:18:55.9833333+00:00

I tried everything up to the point of creating a new profile, but searching for a name still doesn't work.

I will create a new profile and see if that helps. It was my last resort as I manage 7 email addresses in Outlook and didn't have this problem in Outlook 2021.
Lynn F 20 Reputation points

2026-08-14T19:38:00.88+00:00

I have created a new profile and put one of the email accounts in it. I imported my contact list which was as a CSV file exported from Office 2021 where everything worked (same file I imported in original profile).

If I open the Address Book and start typing in a name, I have to click the right arrow to complete the search, so that is progress. But it doesn't immediately go into the list to locate that name(s). And, in an email message, the To or CC does not populate a name. In the original profile once I initiated an email by manually scrolling through the address book, I could start typing that person's name and it would show up.

So small progress but not worth the effort that it took to accomplish it on 1 email address.

Any other ideas?

Thank you
Hornblower409 13,020 Reputation points

2026-08-16T03:44:15.72+00:00

Lynn said

If I open the Address Book and start typing in a name, I have to click the right arrow to complete the search,

That is normal. The Address Book search is not "as you type". You have to click the arrow or press Enter.

But it doesn't immediately go into the list to locate that name(s)

That is not normal.

If you have multiple Contact Folders, one thing to check: Tools -> Options. What Contact folder is default?
Kai-H 25,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-16T07:12:34.8133333+00:00

Hi, Lynn F

The new profile confirms that contact search is working, but the To/Cc suggestions are a separate AutoComplete list. Importing contacts from CSV does not restore the old suggestion history; Outlook builds that list from recipients you send messages to.

Select File > Options > Mail, scroll to Send messages, and confirm Use Auto-Complete List to suggest names when typing in the To, Cc, and Bcc lines is checked.

Open one imported contact and confirm that the address appears in the Email field, not only in another field. If it is missing, import the CSV again and select Map Custom Fields, mapping the CSV email column to E-mail Address. The import process requires the CSV columns to be mapped to the correct Outlook fields.

In a new message, select To, locate a contact, add it, and send a test message. Repeat this for a few contacts. After Outlook has sent to them, their names should begin appearing as you type.

Unfortunately, rebuilding the profile also starts a new AutoComplete history, so the old instant suggestions will not return simply by importing the contact CSV.
Hornblower409 13,020 Reputation points

2026-08-16T07:55:55.5166667+00:00

@Kai-H said

the To/Cc suggestions are a separate AutoComplete list

My experience with Classic Outlook would suggest that the suggestions below the "To" line are drawn from multiple sources, including Contacts.
Kai-H 25,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-20T07:51:35.13+00:00

Hi, Lynn F

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let me know.
Lynn F 20 Reputation points

2026-08-20T13:38:28.79+00:00

No real update. In Word 2021, the search function worked perfectly without having to use the arrow to find a name. You just started typing in the search box. And all the names were included in the autocomplete as long as they were in the contacts. So I guess I am just stuck with one of Microsoft's "improvements".

Thank you for your assistance, though. I am probably not going to add the other 8 email addresses to the new profile, as the effort is not worth it to only be able to improve the search by adding the arrow functionality.
Kai-H 25,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-23T00:39:35.2666667+00:00

Hi, Lynn F

I completely understand your decision. After testing a new profile and confirming the same limited behavior, adding eight more accounts would involve considerable effort without resolving the main issue.

Also, you are correct that recipient suggestions can be drawn from personal contacts, not only from previously used addresses. The current behavior depends partly on the account type: Exchange Online uses Microsoft Search for suggestions, while POP/IMAP accounts use the traditional AutoComplete list.

Since the contacts were imported correctly and a new profile did not restore the Outlook 2021 behavior, I do not have another supported setting that would reliably return the exact “search as you type” experience. I would keep the original profile rather than spend more time rebuilding all accounts.

Thank you for your patience and for reporting the results of each test. Your comparison with Outlook 2021 is useful, and I am sorry we could not restore the behavior you previously had.