Search in Outlook website

[Oaktech]

I've got a single user who can't search her emails using the Outlook website.

 

Works on app for IOS (school iPad in InTune), works on Android (personal phone), works in Outlook app for both New and Classic versions but searching in any browser returns just 'something went wrong'. Searching a mailbox she has delegate access to works fine.

 

Steps taken so far...

 

Signed out and back in with MFA

Cleared cache and cookies in all normal browsers (chrome, edge)

Tried a new browser (firefox)

Tried a fresh windows device

Tried in incognito on someone else's device

 

Anyone got a clue before I open a case with MS?

[gbtb]

We have the exact same issue, MS had an issue which appeared to be similar to the issue we are experiencing however this has since been resolved but the user is still unable to search. I had planned to open a case with MS when i get chance.

[Oaktech]

We have the exact same issue, MS had an issue which appeared to be similar to the issue we are experiencing however this has since been resolved but the user is still unable to search. I had planned to open a case with MS when i get chance.

 

 

Not got an apostrophe in their surname have they... Mine has!

 

Users with apostrophes in their surname in Exchange Online may be unable to search for other users

Issue ID: EX1015252
Affected services: Exchange Online
Status: Service degradation
Issue type: Advisory
Start time: Feb 24, 2025, 11:26 AM GMT

Scope of impact
This issue may impact any user with an apostrophe in their surname in Exchange Online that's searching for other users.

Root cause
The URL utilized by the Outlook service when performing searches is malformed due to the code not providing the full email address of users with apostrophes in their address when submitting the request.


Current status
Feb 25, 2025, 8:37 PM GMT
While we've completed the development of our fix, we're validating its efficacy in a test environment before we apply it broadly. We anticipate that our validation process should be complete by the time of our next scheduled communications update, at which point we'll be better equipped to provide an expected remediation timeline.
Next update by:
Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 10:00 PM GMT


History of updates
Feb 24, 2025, 11:26 PM GMT
We've confirmed that the issue is the result of the URL utilized by the Outlook service when performing searches being malformed due to the code not providing the full email address of users with apostrophes in their address when submitting the request. We're preparing a fix that will force the URL to encode the User Principal Name (UPN) in the URL before sending the request to the service responsible for performing the search in order to resolve the issue. Once this code update is developed, we'll prepare a timeline for the deployment of the new code and impact resolution.
Feb 24, 2025, 9:51 PM GMT
As we continue to investigate the potentially impacting change, we've identified further that the URL utilized by the Outlook service may be malformed, resulting in the impact. This may be due to the code not providing the full email address of users with apostrophes in their address when submitting the request. We're working to confirm this theory as well to determine the source of the issue and assist our remediation efforts.
Feb 24, 2025, 7:36 PM GMT
We've identified that the requests to authenticate are delivered to the responsible API as expected, however the API fails to respond. We suspect this may be due to a recent configuration change regarding how authentication requests are processed. We're reviewing this change while performing additional reproductions to confirm our theory and determine our next steps.
Feb 24, 2025, 5:49 PM GMT
We've successfully reproduced the issue in our internal testing environment. After analyzing the results of our reproduction, we've confirmed the request to get search results fails during the authentication process. We're investigating the source of this failure to assist with determining the root of the issue and formulating potential remediation options.
Feb 24, 2025, 12:34 PM GMT
We're analyzing HTTP Archive format (HAR) files to isolate the root cause and develop a mitigation plan. In parallel, we've requested provision of network trace logs and additional contextual details from your representatives to aid our investigation.
Feb 24, 2025, 11:28 AM GMT
We've identified that some impact associated with EX1012721 persists. We're reviewing the information provided in the support case to isolate the root cause, and determine the next steps needed to resolve this issue.

[gbtb]

They do yes, good find I hadn't spotted that status update. Oddly this has been an issue for a couple of weeks and not just recently so I thought it was the more generic users unable to search mailboxes issue which was previously closed.

[Oaktech]

They do yes, good find I hadn't spotted that status update. Oddly this has been an issue for a couple of weeks and not just recently so I thought it was the more generic users unable to search mailboxes issue which was previously closed.

 

 

Ours has as well, I rather assumed it was a corrupt cache or a transient error but apparently not.

 

It does however seem to be related to that issue.

 

"Feb 24, 2025, 11:28 AM GMT

We've identified that some impact associated with EX1012721 persists."

[Fox]

We also had this and put it down to the issues they were having. It sorted itself out for my user after a few days.