Big time! Yahoo! Mail’s search can locate what you’re looking for in a flash. Here are some tricks for getting exactly the results 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.
Search within Subjects of messages
Looking for an email titled something like Dave’s Birthday Bash? Let’s say you’re not sure if those were the exact words, but you feel strongly that “Bash” was in there somewhere.
OK, type:
subject:bash …or, subject:dave …or, subject:”dave’s birthday”
(no spaces)
Find messages from a person or company
Example: Search for messages from Roger by typing:
from:Roger
(no spaces)
Find messages about a person (or a company) but not from that person or company
Example: Search for messages that mention Laura but aren’t from Laura by typing
laura -from:laura
name(space)(hyphen)from:name
You’re telling Yahoo! Mail to search for “Laura” messages, minus any that are from Laura.
Find messages/RSS feeds containing an item, but not from a specific source
Example: Search for ‘Mexico’, but don’t show results from the Washington Post
mexico -from:washingtonpost
(search term)(space)(hyphen)from:source
You’re telling Yahoo! Mail to search for “mexico” messages, minus any that are from the Washington Post.
Messages/RSS feeds containing something, and not containing something else
Example: Search for ‘France’ but don’t show any results containing ‘Paris’.
France -Paris
(search term)(space)(hyphen)(item you want excluded)
You’re telling Yahoo! Mail to search for “France” messages, minus any that mention Paris.
Attachment file types
Example: Search for jpeg attachments.
attachmenttype:jpg
Attachment file types, not from certain senders
Example: Search for jpeg attachments that aren’t from Cindy. (Stop the madness, Cindy!)
attachmenttype:jpg -from:cindy
attachmenttype:(file type)(space)(hyphen)from:person
You’re telling Yahoo! Mail to search for .jpg attachments, minus any from Cindy. (No offense Cindy! It’s just – Hawaii was great. I get it. OK, yes. I’m jealous!)
Attachments with specific words in attachment name
Example: Search for an attachment with “Rafting” in the attachment name.
attachmentname:rafting
A certain category of file, in a certain type of application
Example: Find any résumés in your Mailbox that are attached as a .tif.
resume attachmenttype:tif
(file genre)(space)attachmenttype:(application)
Find a type of attachment linked to a message containing a search term
Example: Find all messages containing the word you’re searching for – say, lettuce – that also have an mpeg movie attached. (Lettuce…movies…great!)
lettuce attachmenttype:mpeg
(search term)(space)attachmenttype:(file type)
Find messages with a certain number of attachments
Example: Find all messages in your Mailbox that have more than three attachments.
attachmentcount:> 3
attachmentcount:>(number)
Of course, you could also search for messages with less than a certain number of attachments, too. This requires that you recall the less-than sign <. And if you have a specific number of attachments you’re looking for, such as four, you could type attachmentcount=4. That is: attachmentcount(equals)(number).
Find attachments in a certain language
Want to find messages with attachments in Italian?
attachmentlanguages:it
Here are some other language abbreviations: