Mail’s Search is poised to find anything in your entire account – messages, attachments, names, words. Here’s how to make the most of it:
See the rectangular window in the upper-left corner under Check Mail and Compose? With a magnifying-glass icon inside, and the words "Find messages..." That's the search window.
Click there and type what you're looking for – a name, a word in a message or attachment, a Subject. If you’re really in the mood to go turbo, use one of the shortcuts outlined below (smarty!). After you type, click Go or press Enter.
A new tab opens and lists all the messages containing what you’re looking for – even results found within attachments. Results show the sender (From), the Subject, the Date and the Location (folder). Underneath, they include the text surrounding the word or phrase you're searching for. The search term itself is highlighted in green.
Search Shortcuts
Here are some tricks for getting exactly the result you want, quick.
Find a phrase
Put the phrase in quotes. “Bike for sale”. “Desktop application”. “Practice times”. Etc. Mail searches for those words – together – in that order.
Header Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description | Examples |
| To:, Cc:, Bcc: | The to:, cc: and bcc: shortcut can be used to search your folders for a specific recipient. You can use a name, a fragment of a name, or a full first and last name in quotes (if the mail was sent with the full name in the to: field). No space after the colon. | to:mary bcc:ma cc:“Mary Poppins” |
| From: | The from: shortcut can be used to search for a specific sender. You can use a name, a fragment of a name, or a full name in quotes (if the mail was sent with the full name in the from: field). No space after the colon – and use quotes for full names. | from:dolores from:do from:“Dolores Kirkenheimer” |
| Subject: | The subject: shortcut can be used to search for messages containing certain words in the subject. No space after the colon. Multiple-word subjects should be placed inside of quotes. | subject:fonzi subject:“favorite route” |
Attachment Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description | Examples |
| attachment: | The attachment: shortcut can be used to search for words inside any attachment. It only works with text attachments (it won’t search through an image, for instance). Put multiple words in quotes. No space after the colon. | attachment:reservation attachment:“great year” |
| attachmentname: | The attachmentname: shortcut can be used to search for messages containing attachments with a certain word in the filename. Put multiple words in quotes. No space after the colon. | attachmentname:reservation attachmentname:resume attachmentname:“final results” |
| attachmentcount: | The attachmentcount: shortcut can be used to search for messages with an exact number of attachments, or to find messages with more or less than a certain number of attachments. For that, use greater-than or less-than to indicate what you’re looking for. No spaces, and don’t forget the colon! | attachmentcount:1 attachmentcount:>0 attachmentcount:<5 |
| attachmenttype: | The attachmenttype: shortcut can be used to search for messages containing a certain type of attachment (PDFs, for example). No space after the colon. | attachmenttype:pdf attachmenttype:msword attachmenttype:excel attachmenttype:text attachmenttype:image attachmenttype:jpeg |
| attachmentlanguages: | Search for attachments in a specific language. | attachmentlanguages:it * it = italian Chinese: cn French: fr German: de Indian: in Japanese: jp Korean: kr Spanish: es |
Target specific messages to reduce clutter and time spent searching
All search shortcuts work with the minus (“-”) modifier, allowing you to remove specific messages from your search results.
Find messages about a person (or a company) but not from that person or company
Example: Search for messages that mention Laura, minus any that are from Laura. Type:
laura -from:laura
name(space)(hyphen)from:name
Find messages containing an item, but not from a specific source
Example: Search for ‘Mexico’, minus results from Greg. Type:
mexico -from:greg
(search term)(space)(hyphen)from:source
Messages containing something, and not containing something else
Example: Search for ‘France’ minus any results containing ‘Paris’. Type:
France -Paris
(search term)(space)(hyphen)(item you want excluded)
Use multiple shortcuts!
Combine shortcuts to really pinpoint your searches.
Attachment file types, not from certain senders
Example: Search for jpeg attachments minus any from Cindy. (Stop the madness, Cindy!) Type:
attachmenttype:jpg -from:cindy
attachmenttype:(file type)(space)(hyphen)from:person
(No offense Cindy! It’s just – Hawaii was great. I get it. OK, yes. I’m jealous!)
Attachment type, linked to a message containing a search term
Example: Find all messages containing the word you’re searching for – say, “yellow” – that also have an mpeg movie attached. Type:
yellow attachmenttype:mpeg
(search term)(space)attachmenttype:(file type)
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