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10.3. About Windows Desktop Search

Windows Desktop Search (WDS) indexes all data in .ost files and .pst files. However, the indexing of Outlook data occurs only when Outlook is running. Therefore, you may have to leave Outlook running overnight to determine whether performance issues are related to the building of your search indexes.

Performance issues may increase when Outlook is running in online mode. Such performance issues occur because running Outlook in online mode increases the load on the Exchange server. This performance issue is especially noticeable when Outlook is configured in a nondefault state to index the items from the Exchange server to the local client index, and if more than one user indexes the Outlook data at the same time by using Windows Desktop Search.

To determine the indexing status for Outlook data in Outlook 2010, follow these steps:

1. Click the search box above the list of email messages. The Search tab is enabled as soon as you do this.
2. In the Options section, click Search Tools, and then select Indexing Status.
3. In the Indexing Status dialog box, view the number of items that remain to be indexed.

The built-in back-off mechanisms in the indexing component of Windows Desktop Search pause the indexing of Outlook data when the system is under heavy use. The easiest way to let the indexing finish is to leave Outlook running overnight.

Additionally, you can reduce performance issues by running Outlook in Cached Exchange Mode. In this mode, Windows Desktop Search searches the local copy of the mailbox instead of the mailbox content on the server.