This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

In global search I'm now limited to less than 1000 results (hits). Why does it not give me more hits?

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by atomicpro

more options

In global search I'm now limited to less than 1000 results (hits). Why does it not give me more hits? This is a deal breaker. Why have a global search if it won't show all the results. I don't remember this problem in the past. Here's what I notice. I put in a common work in the global search and no matter what word I type it limits me to under 1000 hits. So with a common word I'm not able to search back further than mid 2018, because that's about 977 hits. See how useless this is. Please please fix this.

In global search I'm now limited to less than 1000 results (hits). Why does it not give me more hits? This is a deal breaker. Why have a global search if it won't show all the results. I don't remember this problem in the past. Here's what I notice. I put in a common work in the global search and no matter what word I type it limits me to under 1000 hits. So with a common word I'm not able to search back further than mid 2018, because that's about 977 hits. See how useless this is. Please please fix this.

Chosen solution

it limits you to 1000 hits due to performance reasons.

These limits are controlled by two undocumented preferences in config editor

mailnews.database.global.search.im.limit mailnews.database.global.search.msg.limit

The first is the limit on chat conversations to return and the second is email. Both are integer values with a default of 1000. Increase it at your own risk, given they were set cautiously you might get a lot further before you hit the everything is frozen for a minute wall. Note that clicking show as list will be where the real performance issues may arrive. Up until then it is just a database query being returned as a web page. Note that you probably want a 64 bit version of Windows here.

The bug that set the limit for reference https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=742236

As opening in a list required the opening of all the subject folders that are contained in the search results, this can mean 32 bit windows can actually run out of file handles to manage the files. On your average consumer dell you will be running so slowly by then that it will not matter usually before that limit is hit. lack of memory and slow disks will make your eyes water.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (5)

more options

I tried rebuilding the global database as you suggested. It still has not solved my problem. It's still limited to 1000 hits. Again 1000 is not an acceptable amount. Why does the global search have a limit? Please help me find a solution.

more options

Chosen Solution

it limits you to 1000 hits due to performance reasons.

These limits are controlled by two undocumented preferences in config editor

mailnews.database.global.search.im.limit mailnews.database.global.search.msg.limit

The first is the limit on chat conversations to return and the second is email. Both are integer values with a default of 1000. Increase it at your own risk, given they were set cautiously you might get a lot further before you hit the everything is frozen for a minute wall. Note that clicking show as list will be where the real performance issues may arrive. Up until then it is just a database query being returned as a web page. Note that you probably want a 64 bit version of Windows here.

The bug that set the limit for reference https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=742236

As opening in a list required the opening of all the subject folders that are contained in the search results, this can mean 32 bit windows can actually run out of file handles to manage the files. On your average consumer dell you will be running so slowly by then that it will not matter usually before that limit is hit. lack of memory and slow disks will make your eyes water.

Modified by Matt

more options

This works great! It adds a little delay to the search but no issues. Still way faster than looking through several folders to try and find emails. FYI: I set mine at 6000.

more options

Also, Thank you!