Enable native Outlook search experience
The Enable search index roaming for Outlook feature provides native Outlook search experience. With this feature, the Offline Outlook Data File (.ost) and the search database specific to a user are roamed along with the user profile.
Before being able to use the Enable search index roaming for Outlook feature, enable the Microsoft Windows Search Service. By default, the Microsoft Windows Search Service is enabled on Windows desktops. To enable the Microsoft Windows Search Service on Windows servers, perform the following steps:
- Open Server Manager from the Start menu.
- In the upper-right corner of the interface, click Manage and then select Add Roles and Features.
- In the Add Roles and Features Wizard, the Before You Begin page appears by default. Click Next.
- On the Installation Type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation and then click Next.
- On the Server Selection page, select the server to install the Microsoft Windows Search Service on and then click Next. If you have only one server, the server is automatically selected.
- On the Server Roles page, click Next.
- On the Features page, select Windows Search Service and then click Next.
- On the Confirmation page, click Install. It might take a few minutes to install the Windows Search Service.
- After the installation completes, on the Results page, click Close.
- Click Search from the Start menu, type services in the search box, and then press Enter.
- In the Services window, double-click Windows Search, set the startup type to Automatic, click Apply, and then click OK.
- Close the Services and the Server Manager windows.
After enabling the Microsoft Windows Search Service, perform the following steps to configure Enable search index roaming for Outlook in Group Policy Objects.
- Open the Group Policy Management Editor.
- Under Policies > Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files) > Citrix Components > Profile Management > Advanced settings, double-click the Enable search index roaming for Outlook policy.
- Select Enabled. Click OK.
If search index roaming is not configured in Group Policy Objects, the value from the .ini file is used. If search index roaming is not configured anywhere, it is disabled by default.
For your changes to take effect, run the gpupdate /force command from the command prompt, log off from all sessions, and then log on again. For details, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/gpupdate.
Note:
To make the search index roaming feature work on Microsoft Windows 10 1809 and later, and on Windows Server 2019 and later, add a DWORD value
EnablePerUserCatalog = 0underHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search. Restart the VDA to make your registry setting take effect.
VHDX files
The VHDX (Virtual Hard Disk) is a disk file format that is used to provision virtual and logical disk storage space to virtual machines. The Enable search index roaming for Outlook feature relies on VHDX files to work. VHDX files are created for each user that uses the feature. VHDX files store a user-specific profile on a separate virtual disk that is dedicated to that user’s profile. Profile Management mounts VHDX files on logon and unmounts them on logoff. There are two VHDX files:
- OutlookOST.vhdx file, containing the Offline Outlook Data File (
.ost) - OutlookSearchIndex.vhdx file, containing the search index database for the offline folder file stored in the OutlookOST.vhdx file
Note:
By default, Profile Management attaches VHDX files only when users log on. It does not reattach the VHDX files after logon, even if the VHDX files are detached. If needed, you can enable Profile Management to reattach detached VHDX files in sessions. For more information, see Automatically reattach detached VHDX disks in sessions.
Profile Management provides a default VHDX capacity of 30 GB. Plan your storage quota accordingly. If the actual usage of your VHDX exceeds the quota you configured earlier, your VHDX file is unmounted.
Automatic backup and restore of Outlook search index database
Profile Management can automatically save a backup of the last known good copy of the search index database and revert to the copy if corruption occurs. To achieve this purpose, enable search index roaming for Outlook and then enable the Outlook search index database – backup and restore policy. For more information, see Automatic backup and restore of Outlook search index database.
Prerequisites
Software requirements:
- Microsoft Windows 10 1709 or later
- Windows Server 2016 or later
- Microsoft Outlook 2019, 2016, or 2103, or Microsoft Office 365
The following versions of the Microsoft Windows Search Service (SearchIndexer.exe) have been tested and are supported:
-
7.0.17134.376
-
7.0.17134.285
-
7.0.17134.228
-
7.0.17134.1
-
7.0.16299.402
-
7.0.16299.248
-
7.0.16299.15
-
7.0.15063.413
-
7.0.14393.2457
-
7.0.14393.2430
-
7.0.14393.2368
-
7.0.14393.2312
-
7.0.14393.2273
-
7.0.14393.2248
-
7.0.14393.1884
-
7.0.10240.17443
-
7.0.9600.18722
-
7.0.1493.1593
-
7.0.1393.2125
-
7.0.1393.1884
-
7.0.1393.1770
Note:
- Concurrent sessions on multiple machines are not supported.
- This feature is expected to support the future versions of the Microsoft Windows Search Service. If you find that the feature does not support specific future versions of the Microsoft Windows Search Service, contact Citrix Technical Support.