Outlook Mac 2016 not returning search results

My Outlook for Mac app recently got corrupted during an update. What happened was during the update, my Macbook froze and I had to restart. After the reboot, the Outlook app threw an error during opening. I had to delete it and reinstall again.

Outlook work after the reinstall, and I was glad I didn't have to setup the accounts again. Everything was as-is before the reinstall, except that the search was not returning all the results.

A couple of Google search and I came across this:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-sg/help/2741535/outlook-for-mac-search-returns-no-results--and-task-items-are-not-disp

Here are the contents of the above link:

Outlook for Mac search returns "No Results," and task items are not displayed

Symptoms

In Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac or Office for Mac 2011, you receive a "No Results" message when you try to search for an email message or apply a filter to a folder, and task items are not displayed in the Tasks folder. Additionally, when you search for mail items by using the Mac OS native Spotlight Search, your search is unsuccessful.

Cause

This issue may occur for one of the following reasons:


Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac:

• Spotlight Search indexing is incomplete.
• The Profile name contains special characters such as the slash mark (/).
• The Profile or one of its parent folders are added to the Privacy tab in Spotlight.
• The Outlook 15 Profiles folder is not located under ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook.
• The Spotlight Search index is corrupted.

Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011:

• Spotlight Search indexing is incomplete. 
• The Identity name contains special characters such as the slash mark (/).
• The Identity or one of its parent folders are added to the Privacy tab in Spotlight.
• The Microsoft User Data folder is not located under the ~/Documents folder.
• The Spotlight Search index is corrupted.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. If you recently created a new Outlook Profile in Outlook 2016 for Mac, or a new Identity in Outlook for Mac 2011, added a new account, or if you recently imported new data from a source such as a PST or OLM file, Spotlight indexing may not be complete. In this case, Outlook for Mac displays a "No Results" message. To resolve this issue, wait for indexing to finish, and then search again.
2. Make sure that your Profile name in Outlook 2016 for Mac or your Identity name in Outlook for Mac 2011 has no special characters, such as the slash mark (/).
   To view your Profile or Identity name:
   Outlook 2016 for Mac:
   
   1. Click Go, Applications.
   2. Right-Click Microsoft Outlook, and select Show Package Contents.
   3. Expand Contents, SharedSupport, and open Outlook Profile Manager.
   
   Note You can create an alias for the Outlook Profile Manager, and move it to your desktop or another convenient location if you prefer.
   
   Outlook for Mac 2011:
   
   To view your Identity names in the Microsoft Database Utility, hold down the Option key, and then click the Outlook for Mac 2011 icon.
3. If the Profile or Identity name contains a special character, follow these steps to change the name:
   1. Open the Outlook 2016 for Mac Profile folder or Outlook for Mac 2011 Identity folder.
      In Outlook 2016 for Mac, the location is:
      /Users/<Username>/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/
      
      In Outlook for Mac 2011, the location is:
      Users/<Username>/Documents/Microsoft user data/Office 2011 Identities/
   2. Rename the Outlook 2016 for Mac Profile folder name or the Outlook for Mac 2011 Identity folder name that contains special characters by removing the special characters.
   3. Confirm that the Profile or Identity name was changed by viewing it in the following way depending on your version of Outlook for Mac:
      
      In Outlook 2016 for Mac:
      
      1. Click Go, Applications.
      2. Right-Click Microsoft Outlook, and select Show Package Contents.
      3. Expand Contents, SharedSupport, and open Outlook Profile Manager.
      
      NOTE You can create an alias for the Outlook Profile Manager, and move it to your desktop or another convenient location if you prefer.
      
      In Outlook for Mac 2011:
      
      Open the Microsoft Database Utility by holding down the Option key, and then clicking the Outlook for Mac 2011 icon.
   4. If necessary, select the Profile or Identity whose name was changed, click the Gear icon, and then click Set as Default.
4. Verify in Mac OS that the Outlook Profile or Identity folder or one of its parent folders is not added to the Privacy tab in Spotlight. If your Outlook 2016 for Mac Profiles folder, or your Outlook for Mac 2011 Identity folder, or any of their parent folders are displayed in this tab, Spotlight does not index this folder location. Remove these locations from the Privacy tab in Spotlight, and allow for time for these locations to finish indexing.
5. Make sure the Outlook 2016 for Mac Profile or Outlook for Mac 2011 Identity data is stored under the correct default location.
    
   Outlook 2016 for Mac: Make sure that the Outlook 15 Profiles folder is stored under the ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook folder.
   
   Outlook for Mac 2011: Make sure that the Microsoft User Data folder is stored under the ~/Documents folder.
6. If the issue is still unresolved, the Spotlight index may be corrupted. To reindex the Spotlight index, follow these steps:
   1. Restart the Mac, so that it restarts the Spotlight services.
   2. Navigate to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
   3. Type mdimport -L.
   4. Important: If you see more than one instance of "Microsoft Outlook Spotlight Importer.mdimporter," delete the Outlook application that you are not using, empty it from the Trash, restart your Mac, and go back to step 1.
   5. In the Terminal, reindex your Outlook database by using the following command and substituting your own user name for the <user_name> placeholder:
      
      mdimport -g "/Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app/Contents/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft Outlook Spotlight Importer.mdimporter" -d1 “/Users/<user_name>/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/<my_profile_name>” 
      
      Note In this command, the path after "-g" is the default path of the Outlook installation. The path after "-d1" is the default path of your profile, where <my_profile_name> is, by default “Main Profile." You'll have to substitute your actual paths if you have renamed your profile or installed Outlook in a different location.
   6. Reindexing will take some time to complete. After the process is complete, exit and then restart Outlook. 

If you still cannot search in Spotlight after you follow these steps, and if you have allowed for enough time for Spotlight Indexing to be completed, you may have to uninstall Office for Mac and reinstall it. For more information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

2398768 How to completely remove Office for Mac 2011

Hope this is helpful for you as it was for me.

Using Arduino to open and close gate at home

I've had the annoying experience of rushing from home to work, and only to have the security guard in my housing area to call me and tell me that I've left my auto gate open. My suspicion is that while I have already pressed the button on my remote control to close the gate, the gate's wheel could have gotten stuck due to a pebble in the tracks which causes the closing to stop, and the gate re-opening again. Given that my office is at least 45km away from home, going back all the way to just close it is not an option for me. I normally just hope no one walks into my home and steal my shoes that I leave outside my porch.

I already have IP cameras installed at various locations in my home. One of them is pointed at the front gate, which allows me to see whether if the gate is open or close. This is useful for times when I'm driving halfway, and then having the thought of wondering whether I have closed the gate or not.
But seeing the gate open 40km away is no help as well. So I decided to blow off the dust from my knock-off Arduino Duemilanove and put it to some good use.

My gate is controlled via a 315MHz (I think) RF keychain remote control. I know there are options where I could just buy a multifunctional RF Transmitter, but I wanted to go on the cheap, and also, I needed to solve this problem fast. These remotes are relatively cheap, and I keep a spare just in case I lose the one I normally carry. You can get these remotes clone for about RM50 - RM100, depending on the style and quality of the remote.

My remote runs on 12v battery. Getting this to work with the Arduino (as I have learned painfully) requires the use of other components (as Arduino tends to run 5V). Also, the button on the remote as I've found out is a pull-up, meaning, the voltage across the button is constantly on 12V, and when you depress the button, it goes to 0V and that's when the RF signal is sent out. I've tried using the digitalWrite and analogWrite function to see if I can short the button via 2 pins on the Arduino, but to no avail.

After figuring which of the 4 pins of the button is required, I soldered the 2 wires from the 2 pins. In case you don't know, this is the bottom side of the remote. The button is on the other side.

Good thing I found couple of reference on the internet of people who were trying to do the same thing. I will put those links later when I find them again. The proper way to do this is to use an NPN transistor, in which case I used the 2N2222 923 for this. There are examples of people using a 12V relay, but given that the remote i'm using runs on a very low current, the relay is pretty much an overkill.

Before I move on, I must give the disclaimer that I have pretty much zero background in electronics. What I mean is that while I'm interested in electronics, my theory of how transistors works is pretty much useless.

Here's the remote (the case removed) sitting on an Arduino breadboard shield. This makes it easier to wire everything up.

OK, moving on. The 2N2222 923 has 3 legs. The middle one is known as the base, and that's the one you will want to connect to the arduino digital pin (i used pin 2 for this). The other 2 legs of the transistor is connected to 2 pins of the remote button. Polarity matters in this case. I can't tell for sure which goes to which, however, I noticed that if I have the polarity reversed, the pins will short and the my remote button (which has a led indicator) will light up. So all I need to do is reversed it. Then that leaves the ground cable which you will connect from the arduino ground pin (look for GND), and you need to connect that to pin 1 of the transistor (if the flat side of the transistor is facing you, then pin 1 is the one on the far left).

Here's the Arduino sketch which I use:

void setup()
{
  digitalWrite(2, HIGH);   // sets the LED on
  delay(1000);                  // waits for a second
  digitalWrite(2, LOW);    // sets the LED off
  delay(1000);                  // waits for a second
}

void loop()
{
}

I know this is extremely lazy, as I have to upload the sketch everytime I want to open or close the gate. But this is just a conceptual test. Eventually, I guess you could hook this up to a webservice and have the gate control via an Android or iOS app.

Lastly, if case you're wondering how I'm going to control this remotely, I have VNC installed on a desktop sitting in my home, and the Arduino, along with the hooked up remote control connected to it. All I need to do is just to remote home, and upload the sketch to open or close the gate.

Nifty eh? Given all this done in less than 2 hours.

Previewing Office attachments in Microsoft Outlook 2013

If you run into this issue when you're trying to preview Office files (xlsx, pptx, docx) in Outlook 2013, and see this message instead:

.. this could be due to a DCOM setting issue. To fix it, follow this steps:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Administrative Tools
3. Open Component Services and expand the tree under Console Root to Computers > My Computer.
4. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
5. Select the Default Properties tab and set the following values:
1. Default Authentication Level: Connect
2. Default Impersonation Level: Identify.

Restart Outlook 2013 and the previewer should be fixed then.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/cannot-open-word-excel-powerpoint-files-or-email-attachments-in-office-2010

Fixing the PDF preview issue in Outlook

I was facing this problem where every time I tried previewing a PDF file in Outlook 2013, I get the message
"This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer:
PDF Preview Handler for Vista
To open this file in its own program, double-click it. "

I tried googling several sites and most of them said to try this fix: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7682/how-to-fix-pdf-previews-in-outlook-or-explorer-on-64-bit-windows/

I tried it  (both the manual registry fix, and the exe file which did the registry fix) but unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem for me. Then I saw another site that said upgrading the Adobe Reader to the latest version would fix it. I was using Adobe Reader v10, and there was a version XI available. When I've done with upgrade, I then got this message in Outlook:

"This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it."

 I then tried checking the preview add-ins in Outlook via File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings >Attachment Handling>Attachment and Document Previewers and couldn't find any PDF Preview Handler value there.

Further searching on the web led me to the only working solution I can find so far: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/outlook/thread/203d7369-b11c-4b9c-a90c-729f1776bd65

The fix is simply to reset the preview option for Outlook via modifying the registry via regedit. All you need to do is change in the registry the key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\Previewers\pdf\PONTState value's data to 0 to re-enable the "always warn before previewing" for pdf attachments.

 I finally managed to preview PDF in Outlook. FYI, I'm using Windows 7 x64 with Office 2013.

"Failed To Create Profile" Error when setting up on Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook

Should you encounter this issue, try this:

1. Go to control panel
2. Select Mail
3. Select "Show Profiles"
4. Should you see any existing google mail profiles, select it, and click "remove".
5. Hit OK.

Then try setting up on Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.

I've tried this on Microsoft Windows 7 - 64 bit, running Microsoft Outlook 2013 - 64 bit as well.

Good luck!

MakerBot: Replicator 2

If you're into 3D modelling, but can't afford to get yourself a super-expensive 3D printer, then the new MakerBot: Replicator 2 may be an option for you. At USD$2,199, this is still much cheaper than the commercial 3D printers out there. The Replicator 2 uses heat extrusion method, as opposed to the more common STL (Stereolitography) method, which is much cheaper in the long run when producing your models. Previous extrusion 3D printers tend to produce very coarse results which needed post production work to smooth out the rough edges, however this new model boast a 100 micron resolution, where each layer is as thin as a piece of paper!

While the price tag could still be out of reach for most of us, expect it to drop as the demand for these printers increase. Regardless, if you already plan to buy it, check out the following link for more info: http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html

Yahoo! Mail on Outlook 2013

Do you want to get Yahoo! Mail on Outlook for free? Try this!

1. Launch your Outlook (I'm using 2013 for this example, but previous versions should work as well).
2. Select the "FILE" tab on top left corner and select "Account and Social Network Settings" under Account Information.
3. Click on Account Settings, and in the dropdown, select "Account Settings".
4. In the dialog window, under the E-mail tab, select New.
5. Under Choose Service, Select "Email Account". Then click Next.
6. Select "POP or IMAP", and hit Next.
7. Under the POP and IMAP Account Settings, fill in your name and email address.
8. For Server Information, fill in the following:
1. Account Type: IMAP
2. Incoming mail server: imap-ssl.mail.yahoo.com
3. Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.mail.yahoo.com
9. Logon Information:
1. User name: <youryahoologin>@yahoo.com
2. Password: your yahoo password
3. Check Remember Password
10. Leave "Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)" unchecked.
11. Hit More Settings:
1. Under the "Outgoing Server" tab:
1. Check "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication
2. Select "Log on using"
1. User Name: <youryahologin>@yahoo.com
2. Password: your yahoo password
3. Check Remember Password
2. Under Advanced:
1. Under Server Port Numbers:
1. Incoming server (IMAP): 143
2. Leave "Use the following type of encrypted connection:" as "None" (this can help to prevent certificate issues, which can be extremely annoying).
3. Outgoing server (SMTP): 465
4. Select "Use the following type of encrypted connect:" as "SSL".
3. Leave the rest as is.
12.  Hit OK to close the dialog and return back to the settings windows.
13. Hit Next and you should be done!

It should take a while to import all your mail, especially if you have lots of it. Your folders should also appear.

Hopefully, the settings would work for you. Let me know how it goes in the comments!