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Outlook for Mac importer missing? [message #845] Fri, 15 February 2019 20:08 Go to next message
Steve Denney
Messages: 4
Registered: May 2018
Junior Member
I'm using FT Personal version 6.6 build 1926. At one time, there used to be
a selection check box for "Outlook" under Preferences - Files - Predefined
locations. But at some point, the importer for the Outlook application
seems to have vanished. How can I get it back? (My workaround was to select
the entire "Library" check box, but that also indexes a lot of system files
and garbage that I don't want.)

Is there a way to re-add Outlook as a known "predefined location" in the
Preferences menu?

Thanks in advance!
Re: Outlook for Mac importer missing? [message #846 is a reply to message #845] Sun, 17 February 2019 12:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 406
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
Steve Denney wrote:

> But at some point, the importer for the Outlook application
> seems to have vanished. How can I get it back? (My workaround was to select
> the entire "Library" check box, but that also indexes a lot of system files
> and garbage that I don't want.)
>
> Is there a way to re-add Outlook as a known "predefined location" in the
> Preferences menu?

There are two different things here:

- the predefined location, which appears in the indexed locations when FoxTrot finds the Outlook folder where it expects it to be (i.e. in "{home folder}/Documents/Microsoft User Data" or "{home folder}/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook").

- the metadata importer, which appears in the First Aid window if the Outlook application is properly installed. You can type the following command in a Terminal.app window to see the currently installed metadata importers:
mdimport -L
Note that there is a "Microsoft Office.mdimporter" located in the "/Library/Spotlight" folder, which is bundled with macOS. It is pretty outdated (2007) and does not handle Outlook data.

If you manually index the folder containing the Outlook data (or one of its parent folders, such as "{home folder}/Library"), but no longer have a properly installed Outlook application, then Outlook data will only be indexed by filename, and not by content.

Which version of Outlook are you using? Office 365 or not? Have you downloaded it from the Mac App Store or not? Have you upgraded Outlook recently (or "at some point")? If so, have you launched Outlook since you have upgraded it? Does the following folder exist: "{home folder}/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook"?


Jérôme - CTM Engineering

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Re: Outlook for Mac importer missing? [message #847 is a reply to message #846] Mon, 18 February 2019 16:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Steve Denney
Messages: 4
Registered: May 2018
Junior Member
Hi Jérôme, thanks for responding!

I am currently using Office v16.22 (190211) Office 365 Subscription.
However this issue with the missing "predefined location" predates that; I
reported the same issue back in May 2018
( https://groups.google.com/d/msg/foxtrot-search/NDagwEBKNI4/h yVFkGlTAgAJ)
and at that time I was using Outlook for Mac 2016 (v16.11). This is a
corporate installation, so was pushed out by our IT folks instead of
downloading from App Store.

Output of mdimport -L shows (excerpt):
/Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app/Contents/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft
Outlook Spotlight Importer.mdimporter

Based on your suggestion, the "{home folder}/Library/Group
Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook" dir does indeed exist, and I have
manually added it as a custom search location; also unchecked "Library"
and rebuilt the index (screen shot attached). This now seems to be working
properly in terms of indexing (and has thankfully removed all of those
unwanted results from "Library"). Still a bit of a mystery why Outlook does
not show up as a predefined location, but at this point it's a cosmetic
issue, as the functionality is now what it should be. (One tip for others
who might need it: That Outlook folder is a bit tricky to navigate to in
the "add custom folder" dialog; I had to search for "UBF8T346G9" within the
dialog to show the needed path in the finder.)

Thanks for your help; I'm going to call this good for now. Love Foxtrot;
can't live without it :)
Re: Outlook for Mac importer missing? [message #849 is a reply to message #847] Tue, 19 February 2019 09:12 Go to previous message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 406
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
Steve Denney wrote:

> Based on your suggestion, the "{home folder}/Library/Group
> Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook" dir does indeed exist, and I have
> manually added it as a custom search location;

Oh, in fact FoxTrot expects to find a "Main Profile" in the "Outlook 15 Profiles" subfolder. Your profile probably has a different name, maybe because of the corporate installation, so FoxTrot currently can't find it automatically.


Jérôme - CTM Engineering

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