# Lookeen Reviews **Vendor:** Axonic Informationssysteme GmbH **Category:** [Enterprise Search Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/enterprise-search-software) **Average Rating:** 4.0/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 32 ## About Lookeen Lookeen Desktop Search Finds Everything Your time is too valuable to waste on inefficient and ineffective search – use Lookeen to improve your productivity with its lightning fast file and email search. The Lookeen toolbar integrates itself smoothly into the Windows system tray and into Outlook. A professional solution for Outlook users with a high volume of email, or any business person with gigabytes of data to work with. If it's there, Lookeen will find it. "It" can be anything from a file or email, to a contact, task, attachment, or appointment. "There" can be in any Outlook PST/OST file and any account type — from Exchange to POP or IMAP — or any local, network or virtual drive. It solves the problem of search in VDI environments and on standard desktops. In an enterprise environment Lookeen can search external indices of shared archives and servers, while following Active Directory rights and group policies so that your data remains secure. ## Lookeen Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users love the **wildcard search functionality** of Lookeen, making it easy to find incomplete or mistyped product names. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **limited search results** frustrating when trying to access older emails that aren't displayed. (1 reviews) ## Lookeen Reviews ### 1. Wildcard function **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jeffrey B. | Marketing Manager, Manufacturing, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2025 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen have wilcard function and help me a lot to search various incomplete/mistyped product name. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Search result limited to 20,000 so sometimes when I need to search very old email, it will not shown on the result. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have huge email pst file, and sometimes I need to search old email history. Lookeen can help me to search faster than Ms. Outlook built in search. ### 2. Saves tons of time searching for files / emails **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 13, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** It combines outlook and file indexing. Simple interface which works great. And what I really like is that if you have found what you are looking for, just clicking on it and the file or email will be openend. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Initially it takes days to index your files (if you have quite a few) Searching is superfast though **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Well, retrieving files and messages which it does much better than outlook or other tools i've tried. Saves me a lot of time and enhances quality of work. ### 3. A search software with high potential **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 26, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen can search emails and documents. I am using it to index and search email in a Microsoft Exchange environment. Once you get your index, search is quite fast (but not real time as you type the query) and accurate. Searches can be ran using any of the many different fields (i.e. subject, sender, addressee, folder, date, etc etc) allowing to find relatively easily the requested content. The search results can be read directly in ther eading pane, which can be also organised in different views. From the reading pane it's possible to execute commands, such as move, copy, delete, etc. The items can be obviously opened just clicking on them. The license cost is affordable, considering the characterstics of the software, Installation is easy and does not require any particualr skill. The customer service is fast and in my experience was effective in solving my technical questions/issues. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Lookeen is certainly a very good search software and there is not so much to dislike. As a fact, I tried many search applications and eventually I settled on Lookeen. However there are few things that can be improved. The most important in my opinion is the indexing, which is painfully slow. I am working with some 50 Gb of mailbox and to complete the first index takes more than 4 days (I am working with a laptop powered by an intel i5 with a high speed internet connection to access the MS Exchange in the cloud). Other softwares in the same conditions were much faster (less than 2 days). Once the index has been created, then the daily changes are dealt with quite fast and transparently for the user. However, if you move/rename an entire folder in the mailbox expect a couple of days of re-indexing, which is quite annoying. Other minor things which an be improved are the search speed and the possibility to use boolean expressions. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** A search prgram is funamental to retrieve quickly critical information and Lookeen makes this task easy and effective. As an engineer working on several very large projects receiving and sending soemtimes hundred emails every day, I rely on the search program to make sense of all this huge quantty of data. ### 4. Definitely helps me find things I thought were missing in a timely manner **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eric C. | Owner, Media Production, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** It quickly finds all items related to my search in a wide array of locations. Basically any place I setup as a location to search. I've been looking for something like this that was quick and easy to use. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** So far so good. The indexing can take awhile but I have it indexing a lot. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it via email to search records. It finds both emails and files related to the emails. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Eric, Thank you for your feedback and for choosing Lookeen! We're delighted to hear that our software meets your needs by quickly and efficiently finding items across various locations. It's great to know you find Lookeen easy to use and effective for your search tasks. We appreciate your understanding regarding the indexing time, especially when managing extensive data. Continuous improvement is part of our commitment, and we're always looking for ways to enhance the indexing process without compromising the quality of search results. It sounds like Lookeen has become a valuable tool in managing your emails and related files, and we're thrilled to support your productivity and search efficiency. Should you have any suggestions or need further assistance, our team is here to help. Best wishes, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 5. Lookeen works very well **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 11, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** I have been using Lookeen now for multiple years now and find it invaluable for sorting through and finidng emails and documents. It is very quick and works well. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** One dislike is that sometimes it misses some tiems when indexing. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have too much data dn it helps sor througn it all ### 6. EASY TO USE **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andy S. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 23, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** We can find emails from years ago that we need to help communicate with our customers. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Nothing to dislike about Lookeen........ **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** We can find old emails easily. ### 7. I have been using Lookeen for years and it has been a very valuable tool **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Legal Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 11, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Easy to install, easy to use, automatically updates its library **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** It has at times caused problems/conflicts with Outlook. The virus scanner has also had periods of conflict with Lookeen. Nothing too frequent or too serious though. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** I work with a number of businesses and clients. The permanent stream of emails in particular would be much harder to manage without Lookeen. ### 8. File discovery made easy **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David M. | Director, Real Estate, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** After the initial indexing, Lookeen finds files and emails very quickly **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Lookeen does not index cloud files - files on demand. I understand that this feature is under development and will be available in the future. This is a much needed feature as all our business is on Sharepoint/Onedrive **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have a large number of files and they can often get misplaced, Lookeen find them **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear David, Thank you for sharing your experience with Lookeen. We're pleased to hear about the quick file and email searches post-indexing. Your feedback on cloud file indexing, especially regarding SharePoint/OneDrive, is invaluable to us. We're eager to explore this suggestion further as we understand its importance to your business operations. Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 9. Using Lookeen (and before that Lookout) for 20 years. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Scott H. | Retired, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Looks for emails everywhere, and finds them quickly. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** I believe in 2024 they will be addressing two issues which are critical to my continued use: 1). searching files in the cloud (e.g. OneDrive) 2). integration with the "new " outlook which will be mandatory in late 2024 **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Finding old emails or email addreses. I mean really old! **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Scott, Glad to hear you appreciate Lookeen's thorough and quick email search capabilities! We're actively working on cloud file search and new Outlook integration for 2024 to keep enhancing your experience. It's great to know we're helping you find those really old emails! Warm regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 10. satisfied indeed **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Wholesale | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** index the outlook email, and fast searching **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** i hope it can be a one time all life autherization include the upgraded **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** i do not want to search the email in the Outlook itself , because too littler results in our page view, and too little information for singe thread , and Lookeen solves it . **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Lookeen User, Thanks for your feedback! Thrilled Lookeen's indexing and search speed hit the mark for you. We'll consider your suggestion on licensing. Happy it enhances your email management! Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 11. Get Away from Daily Miseries **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sam V. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** To search a message is made extremely easy. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** A Server Version which will enable all Users to use it rather than individual user having to install ! **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quickly Finding messages hence saving ton of time. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Sam, Thank you for your thoughtful review on G2.com! We're delighted to hear that Lookeen has streamlined your message searching process, significantly saving you time. I'm excited to share that we do offer a server version of Lookeen as part of our Enterprise Search solution, designed to cater to the needs of all users within a company. This version allows for centralized installation and management, making it even easier for teams to access and use Lookeen across your organization. For more details on our Enterprise Search solution and how it can benefit your company further, please feel free to reach out to us or visit our website. We're here to assist you with any questions and ensure you get the most out of Lookeen. Thank you again for your feedback and for choosing Lookeen. We look forward to continuing to support your work. Best regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 12. Lookeen Server Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pravin R. | Senior Project Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 22, 2023 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen is really quick, covers every application on your computer (not only Outlook), and provides you with the results you need right away. You don't have to search through each folder separately, which saves time. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** It occasionally takes a long time to open and start. If you index server-based mailboxes, it has a significant negative impact on clients and just isn't efficient enough. This functionality is less helpful for file servers than it may be due to the absence of security pass-through on files. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** quickly locating articles that were archived a very long time ago. Less time spent on these "non-productive" tasks is pure gold! Finding information, papers, and emails takes a lot of time. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Pravin, It's fantastic to hear that Lookeen's speed and comprehensive search capabilities across your computer are saving you time and enhancing your productivity. Making your search process as efficient as possible is our top priority. We've noted your feedback regarding the initial startup time and the efficiency issues related to indexing server-based mailboxes and file server security. Our team is continuously working to address these areas and improve overall performance and convenience. Thank you for letting us know how Lookeen has helped you quickly locate long-archived items, freeing up more time for productive tasks. Your insights are invaluable as we strive to make Lookeen even better. Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 13. Have used Lookeen for many years it is the most comprehensive and accurate search tool I have found. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** J K. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Easy to use but I can use complicated search strings to find exactly what I want to find **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Slow to index nothing else I can think of **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** I only use it to find information on my computer **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear J.K., It's fantastic to hear you've been with Lookeen for many years and find it the most comprehensive search tool. Your ability to use complex search strings effectively is exactly what we strive for! We're aware of the indexing speed and are actively working on improvements. Your ongoing support and feedback help us make Lookeen even better. Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 14. Very quick search tool **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Machinery | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 22, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Very quick search tools and good filters **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** It would be great if you could grab or copy the search results. Connection to server sometimes not possible. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Find certain file among many other files. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Lookeen User, Thank you for your feedback! We're glad you appreciate Lookeen's quick search tools and filters. Your suggestion about copying search results is noted, and we'll look into connectivity improvements. It's great to hear we're helping you navigate through numerous files effectively. Best, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 15. Lookeen Server Reviews **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Balamurthy A. | Project Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2023 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen Server is very useful in Quick searches, server-based work-offloading options for clients, and the capacity to add file folders to the index Its ability to swiftly and thoroughly discover almost anything on your computer, in email attachments, or inside individual emails **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Lookeen server slows down the computer considerably. The application fails to locate the file or email message you're looking for because the index becomes damaged. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Finding information, papers, and emails takes a lot of time; any time saved on these "non-productive" tasks is very good, Business professions that need writing several different emails and having a large network of contacts find it easier. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Balamurthy, Thank you for sharing your experience with Lookeen Server. We're thrilled to hear about the positive impact it has on your quick search capabilities, especially with the server-based work-offloading and the extensive indexing options enhancing your productivity. We take your concerns about the system slowdown and indexing issues seriously. Our team is dedicated to optimizing performance and reliability, ensuring that Lookeen supports your needs without compromising your computer's efficiency. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue to improve Lookeen Server, aiming to make your information retrieval tasks even smoother and more efficient. Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 16. Looken server- Easy to access everything **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Satwik S. | System Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 17, 2023 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** The most helpful of the Looken server is its GUI interface, we can access the data easily, can edit, create, search the required data and delete with simple tools. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Exceptional case, even if it has some problems with servers, they have excellent available support and they understand the user's requirements and resolve the issues. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** The Security features in the Looken server are the best. It helps me to align data in a systematic format and they ensure the data remains secure. In my organization, data is stored in different locations and it helps me to fragment data and can access critical data in secure way. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Lookeen User, Thank you for the positive feedback on Lookeen's GUI and security features. We're glad our interface enhances your data management experience, and our support team could effectively address any server issues you encountered. Ensuring secure and systematic data access is our priority, and it's rewarding to hear how this benefits your organization. Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 17. Powerful Technology **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Halima S. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2023 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen Server come with high performance. Lookeen Server come with high speed and highest security. It is completeky reliable and safe. Where in all the companys can use it. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Not really. Everything is smooth and feasebile. It is quick and easy to install that is the main reason why it is so much easy and used by most of the organization, **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Lookeen Server come with high performance. Lookeen Server come with high speed and highest security. It is completeky reliable and safe. Where in all the companys can use it. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Halima, Thank you for your glowing review of Lookeen Server. We're thrilled to hear about the high performance, speed, and security it delivers, making it a reliable choice for companies of all sizes. It's fantastic to know that the smooth, feasible setup process significantly contributes to its ease of use and widespread adoption. Kind Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 18. Lookeen Outlook search tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen integration is great, super fast search times and great customer support. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** There is nothing I really dislike. The tool costs money but it pays off. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Slow and inclomplete Outlook searches **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Lookeen User, Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Lookeen on G2.com. We're thrilled to hear about the great integration, super-fast search times, and the customer support that met your expectations. It's rewarding to know that Lookeen has effectively addressed the challenge of slow and incomplete Outlook searches for you. We understand that cost is always a consideration, and we're glad you find Lookeen to be a worthwhile investment. Your satisfaction and improved productivity are our primary goals. If there's anything more we can do to assist you or enhance your experience, please don't hesitate to reach out. Best regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 19. Unlocking Efficiency with Lookeen Server'sPowerful search solution **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** ANKITA D. | Research Analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 22, 2023 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** It is lightning-fast search functionality. It scans through the very large amount of data and provide the presice result in very quick time. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** One thing i can see the improvement scope is its user interface. Some aspect of UI is outdated. Rest all are good. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** The most important problem it is solving is information retrieval in best possible way.It has improved our search process by reducing the time spent on out search process for critical document and emails. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Ankita, Thank you for highlighting Lookeen Server's powerful and lightning-fast search capabilities! We're glad it's significantly reducing the time you spend on searching for critical documents and emails. Your feedback on the UI is greatly appreciated. We're always looking for ways to enhance the user experience and will consider modernizing the interface as part of our continuous improvement efforts. Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 20. Lookeen helps me to find old emails in Outlook **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Writing and Editing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 22, 2024 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** The search is very fast and the interface is excellent. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Creating the index takes quite a lot of time and computer resources. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** It' s help me to find my old emails. **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Lookeen User, Thanks for the positive words on Lookeen's speed and interface! We're looking into optimizing indexing to be quicker and less resource-intensive. Glad it's helping with your emails! Best Regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 21. Awesome experience **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 17, 2023 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** The uptime was considerably better than other servers speeds stayed consistent. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** I found myself having trouble navigating through through at first until checking with YouTube. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Working on the go it allows me to work using different computers **Official Response from Peter Oehler:** > Dear Lookeen User, Great to hear about the uptime and consistent speed with Lookeen! We're focused on enhancing the user experience, so we appreciate your feedback on navigation. It's fantastic Lookeen supports your mobility across different computers. Best regards, Froher from the Lookeen Team ### 22. A good product spoiled by a deplorable customer service that doesn't care about clients. **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2022 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** The program searches messages in Outlook-related mailboxes more efficiently than the basic search function. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** I bought Lookeen 10, and just a few weeks later, Lookeen 12 was released, for the same price and I was asked to pay for the upgrade while others would have given me the upgrade for free because I bought the previous version only a few weeks before the release and they never mentioned that Lookeen 12 would be released soon otherwise I would have waited before investing in their software. If I had waited, I would have paid $69 for version 12 instead of paying about $150 for both versions. If, like most people, I had bought the product several months ago and was asked to pay for the upgrade, I would have found this normal, but in my case, it's not normal at all and the worst thing is that they don't even bother to answer questions by e-mail. This is a company that has no consideration for their customers and will make you pay for an upgrade even if you bought the previous version a few days before the release. This is theft in my opinion. They could at least take the time to answer the messages that are addressed to them. It just shows who you're dealing with. If I were you, I would look for an alternative elsewhere... I would have warned you. It's a shame because the product itself was pretty good, and I would have gladly given it a positive rating and written a positive review if the customer service was trustworthy and answered my messages, but since that's not the case, I can only advise you against this product because you have no assurance of getting answers to your questions if you have problems. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** I will only recommend Lookeen when the customer service does its job and answers the messages and is correct and transparent with its customers. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** If I had gotten help from customer service, the software was supposed to help me do in-depth searches to help me find emails with keywords. The software is supposed to be more efficient than the search system offered by Outlook. ### 23. Great Outlook Search Add-In **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 06, 2016 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** I really like how Lookeen allows you to search through multiple PST files to find what you are looking for. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Lookeen should show a better progress bar when indexing different search files. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** I highly recommend Lookeen as an alternative & better search engine for Outlook mailboxes. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Staff may have multiple mailboxes or PST files that require a search to find & locate item(s). **Official Response from Siobhan O'Rorke:** > Hi Paul, Thanks so much for your positive review! We're glad Lookeen has been so useful for your company. All the best, Siobhan Marketing Manager at Lookeen ### 24. Works great until it doesn’t. Re-indexing, re-indexing, re-indexing... **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nick D. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2020 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Search results are very fast and display them in a nice color-coded window. The software support I experienced with Lookeen was very good. Very knowledgeable, friendly and patience. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** The installation dialog needs to be changed to streamline the plugin and Desktop app. Very confusing and needed to re-install the software to get it working properly. Had two Lookeen search windows (Oulook plugin and Desktop app) appearing simultaneously with different info in the Status menu. Initial indexing took about 48 hours for 1 TB of email archives and files. Refreshing every two hours took about an hour. Also had an index corruption in one of the folders which meant having to re-index everything again. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** Windows 10 search is awesome. It is very basic but integrated into the operating system and works very well. That is, until it doesn’t. After the last update to Windows 10 version 2004, my Windows Search got messed up. Windows found only a subset of Outlook emails and PDFs had corrupted index data. During my troubleshooting, I had re-indexed and ran the search troubleshooter a number of times. Nothing worked. This was especially frustrating since I had abandoned the conventional folder hierarchy of storing email years ago. Now I just filed them in one Archive folder and use Outlook’s filters to find what I am looking for. So, I started testing a few alternate desktop search software. I was finally able to fix Windows Search, but that was after I had already purchased Lookeen. Still, if you’re looking for something more than what Windows Search does, Lookeen is a software that will search Outlook as well as all files stored on drives. It creates its own index separate from Windows Indexing so it won’t be affected by any Windows Updates. However, in my testing, I found Lookeen to experience its own index corruption as well. I’ve broken down this review in four sections: Software Installation, usage / functionality, support and overall. Software installation: 2 stars out of 5 The installation is straight forward and very easy if it is not your first time installing and know exactly how you will be using Lookeen. I ended up installing it three times till I figured out what it’s doing and how I want to use the software. The standard installation is with the Outlook plugin installed (default). So naturally, you let the software do the default and install the plugin. However, that also means that you won’t be able to use the desktop app by double clicking the ctrl key. So it’s a bit misleading. There is a way to get that functionality, but that means having to delete or rename a file in the installation directory. I preferred to just reinstall the software. The second time I installed Lookeen without the plugin, but the Outlook plugin was still working. This made it more confusing as there were two Lookeen windows with two icons in the taskbar running two separate indexing for the same files. Very confusing, and this configuration ended up crashing Outlook a few times. So I went back to the default installation without the Desktop app. As you can see, the installation needs to be polished up a bit so I gave it 2 stars. Usage / Functionality: 3 stars out of 5 The results from searches are great. It finds everything in Outlook and all drives and displays them in a nice color-coded window. The filters make the software stand out in front of others which help you drill down to just the set of files you are looking for. And unlike DocFetcher, double clicking an email opens that file in Outlook provided Outlook is opened. After indexing, Lookeen finds everything fast. Really fast. It’s almost instantaneous like using the software “Everything” by David Carpenter at Voidtools that searches as you type, but for file content as well. The initial indexing does take a long time, but you can adjust the scheduling and how much computer resources to use with a nice slider. You can pause at anytime and it will continue where it left off. It has real time indexing as well as refresh on any schedule you decide. I never experienced any computer slowdowns or resources issues while Lookeen was indexing. This scheduled indexing will refresh all the drives that were initially selected. Unlike the initial index, it doesn’t take as much time to go through them all again. But I have archives that I keep for historical reference that won’t change. So, I would prefer that Lookeen index them only once and never touch them again. There should be an option that would allow me to search those archives without refreshing the index on the schedule with my live Outlook datafiles and drive folders. For me, Lookeen took 48 hours to index about 1 TB of email archives and files. Refreshing took about an hour. Still, with the default refresh setting at a 2-hour interval, that means that Lookeen is basically indexing ALL DAY LONG!! Also, I found that Lookeen would not find new email if the email was received / created during the indexing process. So, depending which archive Lookeen is indexing at the time, you may need to wait till Lookeen refreshes the index before seeing new items show up in the search. This is especially true during the initial index which could take a long time to complete. Support: 5 stars out of 5 The software support I experienced with Lookeen was very good. The service was fast and provided personalized support on my specific discrepancies. I thought that I was getting my information from the same person who sold me the software and wrote the code to it. Very knowledgeable, friendly and patience to write emails explaining exactly what I needed to do. Overall: 3 out of 5 I would recommend Lookeen desktop search only if your Windows Search gets corrupted. This software does what it says it will do and cheaper than its competitors. At the time of this writing, X1 desktop search was at $96, Copernic Desktop Search Pro had a subscription service of $55 a year, and Lookeen Standard edition was priced at $69. Still it’s not cheap, and coupled with all the discrepancies encountered, in the end I give it an overall rating of 3 out of 5. Truth be told, I probably would not have been in the market for a desktop search software if Windows Search hadn’t corrupted itself. But the fact that there are so many third-party desktop search programs leads me to believe that I was not the only person experiencing this problem. For me, I’ll probably be going back to Windows Search now that I was able to fix the corruption. I do not need Lookeen’ s extra search capabilities and the constant background refreshing and re-indexing is annoying. Plus, I experienced index corruption with Lookeen as well which meant having to re-index everything again for another two more days. Here are a few requests I sent Lookeen for future revisions: Feature Requests • Reword or change the installation dialog to streamline the plugin and Desktop app. • Remove the ctrl double click option if the Desktop version is not installed. • Have only one Lookeen search window for both Plugin and Desktop. • Be able to prioritize the order to index the email datafiles and folders. • Introduce a capability to re-index (not refresh) a selection of files and folders. • Allow Lookeen to index historical email archives, files and drives once with the option to not refresh those locations on the scheduled interval. • Selecting only a subset of files in the options menu still shows search results from everything that was indexed in the past. • Right click context menu should have the ability to “Send To” – “mail recipient” for files in the same way Windows Search allows. Lookeen does have this in the context menu for email, but not for files. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Windows Search corruption lead me to test desktop search utilities. Lookeen has its own index and searches both Outlook email and files stored in folders. The searches are fast and can be filtered further. It's a very good software when it's working properly. ### 25. broken and support ignores my contact **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Law Practice | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 23, 2019 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** first seemed to work, then it missed files and took too many resources **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** support sent a fix instructions which I followed. It broke the app, and support refuses to respond. I cannot even reinstall **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** missed files ### 26. Does not search contents - Help has no search option **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 16, 2018 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** It finds files fast by name if you already know everything about the file. If you have partial information, it will find 2000 files so it becomes pointless. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** It does not search file contents. It is not for searching files, it really is for searching outlook email apparently. I never found anything with it I could not find with Windows. Windows search has a terrible interface. This does nothing to help. The help has no search, so using help is the same as searching every menu in the program. You have to ready every subsection of every section of help as you can not search a keyword. I am going to delete it now. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** Keep looking. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Windows help is bad as they removed all the search fields and you have to search it all on one line with cryptic options that are not consistent. (Searching *dog* or dog* gets same result, so searching for "starts with dog is not possible. And content can not be searched without searching file name, so you if your expression is 9-11, then you get every file with 9 or 11 in the title. So... this is faster, but useless. It has not offered any benefit. It was a waste of time. ### 27. Lookeen excels where Microsoft kneels **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2018 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Lookeen is lightning fast, covers everything on your computer (not just Outlook), and gives you the results you need - the second you need it. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Wish the Outlook/Windows search was as fast and flexible as Lookeen, so we would not need it. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** Lookeen is the lightning fast and flexible search solution you have been missing in Windows. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Finding and fetching the files, emails, and attachments I need for my work. ### 28. Search data and e-mails **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 30, 2018 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** With one klick you can search all of your E-Mails and included data. It saves time because you don't have to search every folder separately. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** Sometimes it needs a long time to open and start, maybe it's because of my old outlook? **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's easier for business positions who needs to write a lot of different E-Mails and with many contacts. ### 29. Lookeen **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rob B. | Head of IT, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 29, 2016 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** Fast search, server based option to offload work from clients, ability to add file folders to the index. Really useful client experience - good results, easy to filter. Did i mention it was fast? **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** High impact on client if you index server based mailboxes - just doesn't work well enough. Lack of security pass-through on files makes that feature less useful than it could be for file servers. Server component can't add shared mailboxes from Office 365. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** They're good guys - if you have issues contact support. Implementing the server side against Office 365 requires a bit of tech skill. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Finding mail across multiple mailboxes. ### 30. Much better than Outlook search **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2016 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** The fact that it can find virtually anything on your computer or in the attachments to your emails, or in the emails thamselves, very quickly and comprehensively. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** When it is indexing the computer or esp. Outlook content, it can slow down the computer considerably. That is why I have set it up to index everything outside of my work hours. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** Make sure Lookeen indexes everything first - once you install it, give it a lot of time to do it, and do not do anything on your computer during this time as it may be lagging seriously. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am easily finding items archived a very long time ago. ### 31. Works fine - for awhile. **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 19, 2016 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** I've used this program for several years and as many new releases. It takes a long time to build the index (about 20 hrs. for 200k items) and works fine for a week or two after the index is built. Then the index gets corrupted and the program doesn't find the file or email msg. you're searching for. At first you don't realize it's not working because it does find other things you search for. Tech support leaves a lot to be desired - email only, very slow to address problems/complaints. Invariably their "solution" is to "re-index" (another 20 hrs.) or install another upgrade - AND re-index. I'd give it no more than 2 stars. **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** I've used this program for several years and as many new releases. It takes a long time to build the index (about 20 hrs. for 200k items) and works fine for a week or two after the index is built. Then the index gets corrupted and the program doesn't find the file or email msg. you're searching for. At first you don't realize it's not working because it does find other things you search for. Tech support leaves a lot to be desired - email only, very slow to address problems/complaints. Invariably their "solution" is to "re-index" (another 20 hrs.) or install another upgrade - AND re-index. I'd give it no more than 2 stars. **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** Don't buy. The fix one problem & create another. Tech support is poor. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Email & file searching. **Official Response from Siobhan O'Rorke:** > Hi there, We apologize for the disappointing experience you've had recently - our customer service team is more than happy to have a look at the issue with you via TeamViewer if you just send them a quick email asking for a session. Often the solution can be found by changing some of the settings in your Lookeen client. Looking forward to helping you further, Your Lookeen Team ### 32. It is very useful.. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Fabian R. | Country Manager Germany, Marketing and Advertising, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2015 **What do you like best about Lookeen?** It simplifies something which is very complicated - and it should not be so - to look for information into your mailbox... **What do you dislike about Lookeen?** I dislike that Outlook such a bad search system has.. but of course that is a great option for the founders of Lookeen **Recommendations to others considering Lookeen:** I would recommended if you are somebody who has a great amount of email traffic... it is just useful.. **What problems is Lookeen solving and how is that benefiting you?** Looking for information, documents and emails is really a very time consuming task...less time invested in such a "non-productive" activities is just gold!!! ## Lookeen Discussions - [What file types does Lookeen support?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-file-types-does-lookeen-support) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What are the system requirements?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-system-requirements) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Lookeen pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/lookeen/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-13+23%3A37%3A21+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=3e1632ee-d3ac-4821-aad3-655bce9dbd0f&secure%5Btoken%5D=dd177b22e33fff68dd86f71e7a99367cd8e17442881871293dc804dd28ae8dbf&format=llm_user) ## Lookeen Features **Compatibility** - Windows - MacOS - Linux - File Types - Email - Drives **Compatibility** - Federated Search - File Types - Global Language Support **Agentic AI - Enterprise Search Software** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Proactive Assistance - Decision Making **Usability** - Fields - Hotkeys - Application Launch - Mobile App **Search Queries** - Typo Tolerance - Faceted Search - Synonyms - Highlighting - Natural Language **AI powered search - Enterprise Search Software** - Generative RAG (Retrieval augmented generation) - Relevance Tuning - NLP & Semantic search **Performance** - Speed - Efficiency - Resources - Interruptions - File Limit **Functionality** - Personalization - Search Analytics - Integrations **Compatibility - Enterprise Search Software** - File Types - Federated Search - Global Language Support **Functionality - Enterprise Search Software** - Personalization - Search Analytics - Integrations **Search Queries - Enterprise Search Software** - Highlighting - Faceted Search - Typo Tolerance - Synonyms ## Top Lookeen Alternatives - [X1 Search](https://www.g2.com/products/x1-search/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (63 reviews) - [Copernic Desktop Search](https://www.g2.com/products/copernic-desktop-search/reviews) - 3.5/5.0 (16 reviews) - [Agent Ransack](https://www.g2.com/products/agent-ransack/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (20 reviews)