How to fix Apple Mail full message index in Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)?

Question

I've tried all the solutions proposed in the past five years for this recurring failure of Apple Mail.
Many of those no longer apply because the OS X has evolved.
In April 2013 is their an effective fix or am I forced to migrate to Thunderbird?
Surprising that Apple has allowed this problem to continue for soooooo long.
Or is there an APP that can find messages in mail for me? EasyFind doesn't seem to work.
Thank you for suggestions.

Answer 1

The "issue" is the need to spend my time answering inquiries smoothly, efficiently, effectively with no headaches, no hassles, no downtime. THAT's why I dumped my Windows machines and re-invested in my Macs after a long stint in Windows World.
Fixing Apple Mail is NOT my job and certainly not "my" issue. Getting work done is my issue.
Happy users don't try alternative software.
Obviously the shortcoming of Apple Mail prompted you to get Postbox and "try it very briefly".
Calling Postbox rubbish is utter nonsense. Apple Mail is not "my own" and Postbox is not "my own".
Hardware and software are just tools to do a job and achieve an end and reach a goal.
Plenty of torrents offer Postbox for free.
But I was so impressed with its ease of use and comprehensive indexing that the company certainly deserves compensation for their efforts and I paid for it on the first day of a 30-day free trial.
Religiously supporting Apple regardless of extensive and widespread reporting of Apple Mail's multiple indexing problems, aside from all of Spotlight's widely reported indexing problems and CPU power consumption, but offering NO ACTUAL help, only stating the obvious -- "You have a problem." -- is not the purpose of Apple Support Communities. That is not support.
You offered no "steps to troubleshoot it now". You suggested no "simple but effective measures." You suggested no "maintenace tools".
THAT'S what I needed. THAT'S what lot's of other Apple Users need. That's what you should post here and lots of people would give you plenty many points.
All of the MANY fixes I tried were specific suggestions from the Support Community here and elsewhere trying to offer solutions that worked for them in the past -- support. Unfortunately, most of those suggestions were dated and didn't solve the problem. None of them solved the problem.
But they did offer well-intentioned, specific "simple but effective measures" and "steps to "troubleshoot" the problem. That's what people are looking for here, not just commentary.
In this case, best solution for me that got work (helping people) back on track was effortlessly slide into a great app that does the job with no problems whatsoever (so far).
The APP cost LESS than a drive to the Apple Store.
The REAL issue is solved. The REAL issue is fixed.
And I hope this one more additional option helps other Apple users get on with USING their machine, not trying to find fixes for buggy Apple apps.
Apple does not do all things the best.
Apple Mail worked OK until the last quarter's multiple software updates which I accepted believing they were fixes and improvements. The Apple experience degraded.
Any Apple Mail users experiencing problems with it should DEFINITELY consider moving to Postbox. It's great. And it's FREE for 30 days.
It is NOT HERESY to suggest Postbox works much better than Apple Mail. It's the truth.
Apple Mail working properly is still not as good as Postbox IN MY OPINION based on my personal experience.
I don't sell Postbox. I don't sell apps. I'm just posting a solution for other users to consider because it was such a relief to be able to "just use" my Mac again.