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Inconsistent search results after a content index is rebuilt in Exchange Server

Article ID: 2704862 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

You install Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
You rebuild the content index for a database.
You run a search on a client computer. For example, you run a search by using Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Web App, or Windows Mobile.
You run a second search by using the same search term.
You run a third search by using the same search term.

In this scenario, the results that are returned by each search may be inconsistent. For example, if the database contains 10 instances of the search term, the first search may return two instances, the second search may return eight instances, and the third search may return 10 instances.

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Cause

This issue occurs if the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service is started when the index that is to be rebuilt is deleted.

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Resolution

To prevent this issue, stop the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service when the index that is to be rebuilt is deleted.

Note We recommend that you run the ResetSearchIndex.ps1 script to stop the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service, delete the old index, and then restart the service. This forces Exchange Server to re-create the full-text index catalog.

Note The ResetSearchIndex.ps1 script is located in the \Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Scripts\ folder.

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More information

The problem that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section occurs because the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service maintains a cache of property mappings for specific items that are in the index. Typically, a subset of the properties is assigned the same property ID.

However, the properties may be in use if the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service is not restarted before the index is rebuilt. Therefore, Microsoft Exchange (Search) may put common properties in other locations. This causes the symptoms that are mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

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References

For more information about how to rebuild the full-text Index catalog in Exchange Server 2007, visit the following TechNet website:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995966(v=exchg.80).aspx

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995966(v=exchg.80).aspx)

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