Searching for Messages

Quick Searches Searching for Messages Narrowing Your Search Results More Search Tips

Narrowing Your Search Results

If your search turns up lots of results, you can use the Narrow Results module on the right side of the search results to refine your results.

The module divides the search results into several categories that organize them by sender, folder, date (year), attachment type, and message status. Within each category is a list of all the options for that category in the current search results, with a count next to each showing the number of messages for that option.

An example of the Narrow Results module

 

Here’s How

  1. Examine the list of result options to see which ones might help you best narrow your search for that elusive message. If the list of options in a category is long, only the most frequent options are shown initially. You can see the complete list by clicking the View All link.

    Click View all to see all the options

  2. Click any link to see only those messages that fall into the option you select.

    For example, if you click the High School folder:

    Click a folder name to see the associated search results.

    the results are narrowed to show only messages in the High School folder that meet the original search criteria (in this case, "concert"). The links in the Narrow Results pane also update to reflect the refined search results.

    An example of the search results in a selected folderEnlarge

  3. You can narrow this set of search results further by clicking another link, for example, a year under the Date section.

    Click a year to narrow the search further

    The results redisplay to show only those meeting the new, narrower criteria (that is, messages with the string "concert" from 2006 in the High School folder).

    The results redisplay to showEnlarge

  4. If the search becomes too narrow to be useful, you can eliminate a narrowing option by clicking the gray circle with an X (Omit search criteria icon) next to it in the Results narrowed section.

    Click the gray circle to eliminate a narrowing option.

 

What’s Next

You can also narrow your search by entering search modifiers with the search string.

Help Topics


Was this tutorial helpful?   Yes   No

Tell us what you liked or didn't like about this tutorial

 

Words to Know

  • Attachment: a separate file included as part of an email message; for example, a multimedia or document file.
  • Folder: a container that holds individual elements specific to the context; for example, email messages in AT&T Mail or bookmarks in the Bookmarks Sidebar module.