How 
compares
Outlook search that you buy once, that runs entirely on your PC, and that finds every message. Here it is next to Outlook's own search and the three best-known paid alternatives.
What this page says about other products comes from their makers' own websites, manuals and licence terms, checked on 24 September 2026 and linked at the bottom. Products and prices change; check before you buy.
Price and licence
| Outlook built-in search | Lookeen | Copernic Desktop Search | X1 Search | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | One-time purchaseNo renewal, ever | Included with Outlook | Subscriptionbilled yearly, renews automatically | Subscription1, 2 or 3 years at a time | Term licenceends after 1 or 3 years |
| Price for one person | $9.99 (Sale) / $19.99 Retailsale price for everyone, with or without the trial | $0 | $10.32 per month€9, billed yearly: $124 a year for the cheapest edition | $28.99 a yearBasic edition, which includes Outlook | $79 for 1 year$189 for 3 years |
| What 3 years cost | $9.99 (Sale) / $19.99 Retail, once | $0 | $372€324 at the yearly price | $64.993 years paid up front; $86.97 paid yearly | $189 |
| PCs per licence | 2move it yourself, no call to support | your Office licence | 1one computer, per its licence terms | 1one device, per its licence terms | 1one device, per its licence terms |
| Free trial | 7 days, full product, no cardindexing continues after; a key unlocks the finished index | n/a | 14 days | 30 dayse-mail address, no card | 14 dayse-mail registration, no card |
| Updates | Free for lifeevery future version, for as long as AllMailFound is sold | with Office | while subscribeduse ends when the subscription does | while subscribedthe licence ends when the subscription does | while the term runsthe licence ends with the term |
Privacy
| Outlook built-in search | Lookeen | Copernic Desktop Search | X1 Search | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where your mail is processed | Only on your PC | your PC and Microsoft's cloudMicrosoft 365 mail is mostly searched on Microsoft's servers; the new Outlook syncs Gmail and Yahoo mail through Microsoft's cloud | your PCits optional AI sends the content you select to an AI provider | your PCcloud connectors optional; its AI sends content to the provider you connect | your PCcloud connectors optional; its AI runs on the PC |
| AI model reads your mail | No AI model at allnothing is ever sent to one | Copilotpart of Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium | Optional ChatGPT assistantin every edition | Advanced and Elite editions add "AI powered by Google Gemini or OpenAI"with your own API key | Optional AI on your PCX1 Search 11 sorts items into categories |
| Account or sign-in needed | Nonea licence key, that is all | Microsoft or work accountto activate Office; volume licences activate differently | nolicence key | nolicence file | nolicence ID and password |
| Search index on disk | Encrypted, key held by Windows for your account | Windows Search indexMicrosoft advises BitLocker for it if encrypted files are indexed | not documented | encryption claimedin a 2024 vendor blog post, without detail | not documented |
| Telemetry | Nonecrash reports only if you choose to send one | Office diagnostic datarequired service data is always sent | licence data onlyper its FAQ; error reports only if you send them | anonymous usage datacan be turned off | usage statistics and error logscan be turned off |
Finding the message
| Outlook built-in search | Lookeen | Copernic Desktop Search | X1 Search | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works with Outlook closed | Yesreads PST and OST files directly, even while Outlook has them open | NoWindows Search indexes Outlook data only while Outlook runs | yesreads PST and OST files directly; the Outlook add-in is optional | PST filesand its Outlook 365 connector; mail in the Outlook profile not documented | yesthrough its mail and PST connectors |
| Shows every match | All of them15,000 hits in 32 ms on a 300,000-message index | 250 by default1,000 at most | 5,000 by default20,000 at most | not documented | no cap documentedshows the total number of matches |
| Archive PSTs anywhere on disk | Yes, add any file | Only when opened in Outlook | yesincluding PSTs not connected to Outlook | yesif not open in Outlook | yesthrough its PST files connector |
| Exported mail: .eml, .msg, mbox, Thunderbird | All four | Noit searches Outlook items only | .eml and .msgmbox and Thunderbird not documented | .eml and .msgThunderbird from Advanced; mbox not listed | .eml, .msg and mboxThunderbird not supported |
| Inside attachments | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, text, HTML | many typesthrough Windows Search filters | yes60+ file formats | yes | yesin its Attachments view |
| Whole conversation in one click | Yes, across folders and accounts | yesother folders with the Show Messages from Other Folders option | yesTopic and Conversation buttons | not documented | not documentedfor e-mail |
| Duplicates collapsed | Yes | not documented | yesconfigurable | not documented | not documented |
| Reply, forward, move, flag from results | Yes, through Outlook | yes | reply, forward, moveflag not documented | reply and forwardmove and flag not documented | reply, forward, moveflag not listed |
| New mail indexed | Within secondsof arriving in Outlook | when Windows Search catches upMicrosoft 365 mail is searched on Microsoft's servers | automaticallyin repeated incremental passes | on a schedulee-mail every 2 days by default | in real timewhile Outlook runs |
| Focus | Your mail, nothing else to configure | Outlook, Exchange, Microsoft 365 and files | 170+ file types, cloud drives | mail, files, Teams, Slack, cloud drives |
Everything in the other columns comes from each maker's own website, manual and licence terms, checked on 24 September 2026 and listed under Sources. "Not documented" means that material does not say either way. If we have something wrong, tell us and it will be corrected.
Why people pick
Pay once, free upgrades
A subscription to search your own mail never made sense to us. One purchase, two PCs, and every future version is a free upgrade, for as long as AllMailFound is sold. No renewal, ever.
Nothing leaves your PC
No cloud, no account, no AI model. The index is encrypted on disk with a key Windows keeps for your Windows account. Confidential mail stays confidential.
Every message, every time
Outlook's search shows 250 results by default and at most 1,000, and its index of the mail on your PC updates only while Outlook runs. AllMailFound reads the data files directly, with Outlook open or closed, and shows every hit.
Old archives included
The PST from a previous job, an exported folder of .msg files, a Thunderbird profile: add it and it is searched with everything else, duplicates collapsed.
Built for Outlook
It is not a general desktop search with a mail plug-in. It understands accounts, folders, conversations, flags and attachments the way Outlook does.
Small and quiet
A 62 MB installer, no administrator rights, no services to babysit. It sits in the tray and answers in milliseconds.
Common questions
- Is there an Outlook search tool without a subscription?
- Yes. AllMailFound is a one-time purchase: $9.99 for two PCs, with free upgrades for life. Lookeen and Copernic Desktop Search are subscriptions, and X1 Search sells term licences that end after one or three years (each maker's own pages, checked on 24 September 2026).
- Can I search Outlook mail and PST files without Outlook running?
- Yes. AllMailFound reads PST and OST files directly, so it indexes and searches whether Outlook is open or closed. For mail on your PC, Outlook's own search relies on Windows Search, which indexes Outlook data only while Outlook is running.
- Why does Outlook's search not show all my results?
- Microsoft's help pages say Outlook shows 250 results unless you turn off the option to improve search speed by limiting the number of results shown, and that it returns only the first 1,000 results. AllMailFound shows every match.
- Does AllMailFound send my e-mail to the cloud or to an AI model?
- No. Indexing and searching happen only on your PC, no AI model is used, and the search index is encrypted on disk with a key Windows protects for your account.
- How fast is AllMailFound?
- Results appear as you type. On the developer's PC, a search across about 300,000 messages that returns more than 15,000 matches takes around 30 milliseconds.
Where the other products are a better fit
AllMailFound is for people whose mail lives in classic Outlook on Windows. If you need to search Teams, Slack, SharePoint and cloud drives in one box, X1 Search or Copernic Elite do that and AllMailFound does not. If you want an AI assistant for your mail, Copilot, Lookeen and Copernic's Advanced and Elite editions offer one through a cloud AI service, and X1 Search 11 has optional AI that runs on your PC. If your mail lives only in Microsoft 365 and you use the new Outlook, which keeps no local data files, AllMailFound cannot help yet; Lookeen, Copernic Advanced and Elite, and X1 Search can index Microsoft 365 mail through their own connectors.
Sources
Each maker's own pages, checked on 24 September 2026. Euro prices are shown in dollars at $1.147 per euro, the rate on 22 September 2026.
- Outlook: 250-result default, first 1,000 results and attachments, indexing only while Outlook runs, Microsoft 365 mail searched by the service, PST files, conversations, Microsoft cloud sync, Copilot plans, activation, diagnostic data, index encryption guidance
- Lookeen: pricing and AI allowance (Basic €9 per month per user, annual billing, VAT included), FAQ, licence terms (one computer per licence; AI data processing), user manual (works without Outlook, result limits, duplicates, file formats)
- Copernic Desktop Search: pricing (Basic $28.99 a year or $64.99 for 3 years; "AI / Powered by Google Gemini or OpenAI" from Advanced), licence agreement, free trial, FAQ, privacy policy, file types, PST indexing, scheduled indexing, updates, activation, reply and forward, encryption claim
- X1 Search: purchase options ($79 one-year licence, $189 three-year licence), licence agreement, trial, support and upgrades, product, AI features, privacy policy, help centre, activation, PST connector, file types, actions on results, real-time indexing, Thunderbird