Note: This article was originally published in 2009. Some steps, commands, or software versions may have changed. Check the current General documentation for the latest information.
As of late I’ve been running into problems locating the emails I am looking for. Before I was able to type a keyword or two and I could easily find the emails I was searching, but now the amount of similar emails has made search a more cumbersome task.
Gmail offers advanced search features that allow users to more easily find the emails they are looking for. I particularly use a lot the search feature that allows searching all emails with an attachment.
As users begin to have gigabytes worth of emails in their mailboxes easy searches won’t do the trick any more. Hopefully Google will begin developing a search method that weights many factors and displays relevant search results (sort of like their web search).
Here is a list of advanced search operators available for Gmail for a quick easy reference: (obtained from the (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7190 “Gmail support: Using advanced search”))
| Operator | Definition | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
| from: | Used to specify the sender | Example - from:amy |
| Meaning - Messages from Amy | ||
| to: | Used to specify a recipient | Example - to:david |
| Meaning - All messages that were sent to David (by you or someone else) | ||
| subject: | Search for words in the subject line | Example - subject:dinner |
| Meaning - Messages that have the word “dinner” in the subject | ||
| OR | Search for messages matching term A or term B* | |
| *OR must be in all caps | Example - from:amy OR from:david | |
| Meaning - Messages from Amy or from David | ||
| - | ||
| (hyphen) | Used to exclude messages from your search | Example - dinner -movie |
| Meaning - Messages that contain the word “dinner” but do not contain the word “movie” | ||
| label: | Search for messages by label* | |
| *There isn’t a search operator for unlabeled messages | Example -** from:amy label:friends** | |
| Meaning - Messages from Amy that have the label “friends” Example -** from:david label:my-family** | ||
| Meaning - Messages from David that have the label “My Family” | ||
| has:attachment | ||
| Search for messages with an attachment | Example - **from:david has:attachment ** | |
| Meaning - Messages from David that have an attachment | ||
| list: | Search for messages on mailing lists | Example - **list:[email protected] ** |
| Meaning - Messages with the words [email protected] in the headers, sent to or from this list | ||
| filename: | Search for an attachment by name or type | Example - filename:physicshomework.txt |
| Meaning - Messages with an attachment named “physicshomework.txt” Example - label:work filename:pdf | ||
| Meaning - Messages labeled “work” that also have a PDF file as an attachment | ||
| ” “ | ||
| (quotes) | ||
| Used to search for an exact phrase* | ||
| *Capitalization isn’t taken into consideration | Example - ” i’m feeling lucky” | |
| Meaning - Messages containing the phrase “i’m feeling lucky” or “I’m feeling lucky” Example - subject: “dinner and a movie” | ||
| Meaning - Messages containing the phrase “dinner and a movie” in the subject | ||
| ( ) | ||
| Used to group words | ||
| Used to specify terms that shouldn’t be excluded | Example - from:amy(dinner OR movie) | |
| Meaning - Messages from Amy that contain either the word “dinner” or the word “movie” Example - subject:(dinner movie) | ||
| Meaning - Messages in which the subject contains both the word “dinner” and the word “movie” | ||
| in:anywhere | Search for messages anywhere in Gmail* | |
| *Messages in Spam and Trash are excluded from searches by default | Example - **in:anywhere movie ** | |
| Meaning - Messages in All Mail , Spam , and Trash that contain the word “movie” | ||
| in:inbox | ||
| in:trash | ||
| in:spam | Search for messages in Inbox , Trash , or Spam | Example - in:trash from:amy |
| Meaning - Messages from Amy that are in Trash | ||
| is:starred | ||
| is:unread | ||
| is:read | ||
| Search for messages that are starred, unread or read | Example - is:read is:starred from:David | |
| Meaning - Messages from David that have been read and are marked with a star | ||
| cc: | ||
| bcc: | Used to specify recipients in the cc: or bcc: fields* | |
| *Search on bcc: cannot retrieve messages on which you were blind carbon copied | Example - **cc:david ** | |
| Meaning - Messages that were cc-ed to David | ||
| after: | ||
| before: | ||
| Search for messages sent during a certain period of time* | ||
| *Dates must be in yyyy/mm/dd format. | Example - **after:2004/04/16 before:2004/04/18 ** | |
| Meaning - Messages sent between April 16, 2004 and April 18, 2004.* | ||
| *More precisely: Messages sent after 12:00 AM (or 00:00) April 16, 2004 and before April 18, 2004. | ||
| is:chat | Search for chat messages | Example - is:chat monkey |
| Meaning - Any chat message including the word “monkey”. |
Summary
You’ve successfully learned better search emails in gmail. If you run into any issues, double-check the prerequisites and ensure your General environment is properly configured.