How to Perform Advanced Searches in Windows 10 Mail App

   Information

The Windows 10 Mail app can be searched by typing in keywords into the search box, which will search all emails currently downloaded to the app, whether the computer is currently online or offline.

However the computer is currently online, then for certain mail providers it is possible to perform a more advanced search, which allows searching of specific fields, searching in a date range, and combining multiple criteria to narrow down the results.

This technique works differently for different mail providers and may not work for all of them. Currently I have tested it with Outlook, (including Outlook.com and Outlook within Office 365 for Business) and Google's GMail.

These two services work in a similar way, but the search criteria you can use are specific to the mail provider. Search criteria which work in Outlook are different from the criteria which work for GMail.

The computer must be online for this technique to work.

   Note

Microsoft is frequently providing update to the Mail and Calendar app. It is recommended you check the Windows Store for app updates to ensure you are running the latest version of the app.

   Tip

You can learn more about search expressions in both GMail and Outlook by using a browser to search their mail websites, and typing these expressions into their search boxes.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: Search for emails with an Outlook account
• Option Two: Search for emails with a GMail account

Option One

Search for emails with an Outlook account

1.1 Gather together information you know or can remember about an email to produce some search criteria. For instance do you know roughly when it was sent, or who sent it? Do you know a sender who the email was definitely NOT from?

1.2 Use that information to decide if you can use one or more of the keywords in the Advanced Query Search below. The format used is keyword:{search expression} and these can be combined together.

For example to find emails from David, you might use from:David.

More details of the possible keywords and expressions are below.

   Information

Outlook Advanced Query Search (AQS) keywords

Keyword	Description
From:	Searches the From field
To:	Searches the To field
Cc:	Searches the Cc field
Bcc:	Searches the Bcc field Note:You can't find messages that you received on Bcc
Participants:	Searches the From, To, Cc and Bcc fields
Subject:	Searches the subject
Body: or Content:	Searches the message body
Sent:	Searches for the date sent Search for a range of dates separated by two dots (..) Search for relative dates: today, tomorrow, yesterday, this week, next month, last week You can search for the day of the week or month of the year. It's not clear which date format to use, as the AQS web page does not correspond with actual behaviour for me in the UK. I find YYYY/MM/DD works for me
Received:	Searches for the date received. You can use the same search terms as for Sent.
Category:	Searches the Category field.
HasAttachment:yes	Return only emails with attachments
HasAttachment:no	Return only emails without attachments
IsFlagged:yes	Return only emails which are flagged
IsFlagged:no	Return only emails which are not flagged

Search Expressions

• Search expressions in double quotes match emails with all those words in the same order, so the exact expression must match
  For example From:"Ten Forums" would match emails from Ten Forums
• Search expressions in brackets match emails with all those words, not necessarily in the same order
  For example From:(Forums Ten) would also match emails from Ten Forums

Wildcards
The * character can be used as a wildcard, at the end of a search expression but can not be used at the start.

For example:
subject:windo* would match emails with a subject of Windows, but
subject:*ndows would not match any emails

Boolean expressions
The Boolean expressions AND, OR, NOT can be used to join multiple keyword searches. These need to be in UPPER CASE. The word AND is assumed if multiple keywords and expressions are used.

For example:subject:windo* NOT from:"Ten Forums"
would match emails with a subject of Windows which were not sent from Ten Forums

Source:Search Mail and People in Outlook on the web for business

1.3 Create your search expression. Some example search expressions are:

• Find emails sent by "Ten Forums"
  
  • from:"Ten Forums"
  
  
• Find emails sent last week
  
  • Received:"last week"
  
  
• Find emails sent last month
  
  • Received:"last month"
  
  
• Find emails sent on the 10th of August 2016
  
  • Received:2016/08/10
  
  
• Find emails sent between the 10th of August 2016 and the 31st of August 2016
  
  • Received:2016/08/10..2016/08/31
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', sent in July 2016
  
  • content:Upgrade AND Received:2016/07/01..2016/07/31
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', sent in July 2016 (as above but notice the word AND is not required)
  
  • content:Upgrade Received:2016/07/01..2016/07/31
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', OR emails sent in July 2016
  
  • content:Upgrade OR Received:2016/07/01..2016/07/31
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', which were not sent in July 2016
  
  • content:Upgrade NOT Received:2016/07/01..2016/07/31
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', which were not sent in July 2016 or sent by Ten Forums
  
  • content:Upgrade NOT (Received:2016/07/01..2016/07/31 OR From:"Ten Forums")

1.4 Type your search expression into the search box in the Windows 10 Mail app, and click on the search icon (the magnifying glass symbol).





1.5 If this brings back no results, the option to 'Search Online' will appear, in which case you should click on 'Search Online'.



1.6 A list of emails matching your search criteria should appear.

1.7 If you like, you can use the drop down on the right hand side to show results from the current folder or from All folders.



1.8 Click on one or more emails you want to look at, from the results.

1.9 Once you have finished searching, use the 'X' to the right of the search box to exit the search mode.

Option Two

Search for emails with a GMail account

2.1 Gather together information you know or can remember about an email to produce some search criteria. For instance do you know roughly when it was sent, or who sent it? Do you know a sender who the email was definitely NOT from?

2.2 Use that information to decide if you can use one or more of the Google Search Operators below. The format used for many keywords is keyword:{search expression} and these can be combined together.

For example to find emails from David, you might use from:David.

More details of the possible keywords and expressions are below.

   Information

Google Search Operators

Keyword	Description	Example
from:	Specify the sender	from:Forums
to:	Searches the To field	to:David
cc:	Searches the Cc field	cc:David
bcc:	Searches the Bcc field Note:You can't find messages that you received on Bcc	bcc:David
subject:	Searches the subject	subject:Windows
AROUND	Find messages with words near each other. Use the number to say how many words apart the words can be. Note that the word 'AROUND' must be in upper-case	dinner AROUND 5 friday
label:	Messages that have a certain label	label:friends
has:attachment	Messages that have an attachment	has:attachment
list:	Messages from a mailing list	list:info@example.com
filename:	Attachments with a certain name or file type	filename:pdf filename:homework.txt
in:	Messages in the named folder	in:Inbox movie
in:anywhere	Messages in any folder, including Spam and Trash	in:anywhere movie
is:important label:important	Search for messages that are marked as important	is:important
is:starred is:unread is:read	Starred, unread, or read messages	is:read is:starred
is:chat	Chat messages	is:chat movie
has:yellow-star has:blue-info	Messages that include an icon of a certain color	has:purple-star
after: newer:	Messages on or after the specified date	after:2014/04/16 newer:2014/04/16
before: older:	Messages on or before the specified date	before:2016/04/16 older:2016/04/16
before: older: after: newer:	These can be combined to find messages sent between two dates	after:2014/04/16 before:2016/04/17
older_than: newer_than:	Search for messages older or newer than a time period using d (day), m (month), and y (year)	newer_than:2d
-	Remove messages from your results	Windows -Android returns emails matching the keyword 'Windows' but where the keyword Android not does not appear
deliveredto:	Messages delivered to a certain email address	deliveredto:username@gmail.com
category:	Messages in a certain category	category:updates
size:	Messages larger than a certain size in bytes	size:1000000
larger: smaller:	Messages larger or smaller than a certain size in bytes	larger:10M
+	Results that match a word exactly	+unicorn
rfc822msgid:	Messages with a certain message-id header	rfc822msgid:200503292@example.com
has:userlabels has:nouserlabels	Messages that have or don't have a label Note: Labels are only added to a message, and not an entire conversation.	has:nouserlabels
OR or { }	Messages that match multiple terms	from:amy OR from:david {from:amy from:david}
" "	Search for an exact word or phrase	"dinner and movie tonight"
( )	Group multiple search terms together	subject:(dinner movie)

Search Expressions

• Search expressions in double quotes match emails with all those words in the same order, so the exact expression must match
  For example From:"Ten Forums" would match emails from Ten Forums
• Search expressions in brackets match emails with all those words, not necessarily in the same order
  For example From:(Forums Ten) would also match emails from Ten Forums

Boolean expressions
The Boolean expressions AND, OR, NOT can be used to join multiple keyword searches. These need to be in UPPER CASE. The word AND is assumed if multiple keywords and expressions are used.

For example: subject:windows NOT from:"Ten Forums"
would match emails with a subject of Windows which were not sent from Ten Forums

However some expressions cannot be combined with OR or NOT in this way.

For instance: subject:windows OR after:2016/07/01
looks like it should messages with either a subject containing 'windows' or sent after 1 July 2016, but this does not work; it only returns messages with a subject containing 'windows' (and probably messages containing the expression 'after:2017/07/01' as a literal text value, but such messages are less likely).

The equivalent expressions in Outlook can be combined in this way into more complex expressions.

Source:Search operators you can use with Gmail

2.3 Create your search expression. Some example search expressions are:

• Find emails sent by "Ten Forums"
  
  • from:"Ten Forums"
  
  
• Find emails sent in the last 7 days
  
  • newer_than:7d
  
  
• Find emails sent on the 10th of August 2016
  
  • after:2016/08/10 before:2016/08/11
  
  
• Find emails sent between the 10th of August 2016 and the 31st of August 2016
  
  • after:2016/08/10 before:2016/09/01
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', sent in July 2016
  
  • Upgrade AND after:2016/07/01 AND before:2016/08/01
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Upgrade', sent in July 2016 (as above but notice the word AND is not required)
  
  • Upgrade after:2016/07/01 before:2016/08/01
  
  
• Find emails containing the word 'Windows' and 'Creators' within 5 words of each other
  
  • windows AROUND 5 creators
  
  
• Find emails with a subject of 'Windows' which are NOT from Ten Forums
  
  • subject:windows -from:(Ten Forums)

2.4 Type your search expression into the search box in the Windows 10 Mail app, and click on the search icon (the magnifying glass symbol).





2.5 Normally this will bring back no results but the option to 'Search Online' will appear. Click on 'Search Online'.



2.6 A list of emails matching your search criteria should appear.

2.7 If you like, you can use the drop down on the right hand side to show results from the current folder or from All folders.



2.8 Click on one or more emails you want to look at, from the results.

2.9 Once you have finished searching, use the 'X' to the right of the search box to exit the search mode.

That's it,
David