Fixing Outlook 2010's notorious 'Disabled Search Indexer' Add-in problem

I am answering my own question here. Although the Add-in is still marked as disabled I think the problem of not being able to search has been fixed.

I followed the following Procedure:

  1. Position cursor in search bar
  2. In the ribbon click Search Tools / Search Options
  3. Click the 'Indexing Options' button
  4. Remove the Outlook inboxe(es) from the list of Included Locations
  5. Close the Indexing Options window and reopen it
  6. Add the Outlook inbox(es) back to the list of Included Locations

The index for Outlook will now be rebuilt.

I don't think this procedure is the same as the 'Rebuild Index' button as that rebuilds all indexes.


I had the similar problem.

My solution.

  1. Mark / Highlight the checkbox Indexing service in "Programs and Features" "Turn Windows features on or off"

  2. Repair Office. How? Programs and features, right click on Microsoft Office 2010 and choose "change". A window will pop up and choose for "repair".

  3. After this, restart PC and indexing will start working. It can take a while, but you can already see, that you can search your emails and that you get all results you want.