1/7/2019 How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search Operators

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How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search

Operators
Including Clever Search Operators

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Google Inc.

by Heinz Tschabitscher
Updated September 07, 2018

If you're good at collecting emails, the Archive button in Gmail is really helpful. Fortunately,
most of these archived emails are never to be seen or searched again. But others we need to
get back to later. Using easy search and clever operators, Gmail lets you ind emails precisely
and fast.

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1/7/2019 How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search Operators

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1/7/2019 How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search Operators

Usually, the big search ield that runs across Gmail's top border works. Sometimes, however,
the number of emails returned is just too large. Maybe you can add a further term or the name
of the sender? That's possible, but do it wisely. Using some clever search operators, you can
narrow your search signi icantly and precisely. You can search in the Subject line only, for
example, or combine that with a date range, a particular sender, and exclude all messages
with attachments.

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Search Mail in Gmail

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1/7/2019 How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search Operators

To ind messages in Gmail:

Type search terms in Gmail's search ield.

You can go to mail search quickly by pressing /.

Hit Enter or click the magnifying glass button.

Gmail Search Options

To specify some search criteria for narrowing results in your Gmail search:

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Click the Show search options down arrow in the Gmail search ield.

Search senders' email addresses and names using the From ield.

Search direct (To: ield) recipients' names and addresses using the To ield.

Search email subjects using the Subject ield.

Search emails' body text using the Has the words ield.

Search for a phrase with quotation marks.

Search for emails that contain one word (or phrase) or another, use "OR".

'"shepherd macaroni"' (excluding the outer quotation marks) inds all

emails that contain the phrase "shepherd macaroni", for instance;

'shepherd macaroni' (again excluding the quotation marks) inds all

emails that contain both words, but not necessarily in that form;

'shepherd OR macaroni' (without the quotation marks), inally, inds all

emails that contain either "shepherd" or "macaroni" (or both).

Search for emails that do not contain certain words in their text using the Doesn't have
ield.

Make sure Has attachment is checked to ind only emails that contain attached iles.

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1/7/2019 How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search Operators

Search emails' sent date using the Date within ields.

Click the Search Mail button below the search ields.

You can now narrow your search further in the main search ield using the
operators below.

Of course, multiple search options can be combined to ind, say, emails from a
certain sender that contain attachments and were sent during the past year.

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1/7/2019 How to Search Mail in Gmail With Search Operators

Gmail Search Operators

In the Search Mail ield, you can use the following operators:

subject: - Search the Subject line.

Example: "subject:bahamas" inds all messages with "bahamas" in the Subject.

from: - Search Gmail for sender name and email address. Partial addresses are okay.

Examples: "from:heinz" inds all messages from "heinz@example.com", but also

all messages from "your.heinz@example.com"; "from:me" inds all messages
sent by yourself (using any address set up for use in Gmail).

to: - Search the To line for names and addresses.

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Example: "to:quertyuiop@gmail.com" inds all messages sent directly (not via

Cc: or Bcc:) to quertyuiop@gmail.com.

cc: - Search recipients in the Cc ield.

Example: "cc:quertyuiop@gmail.com" inds all messages that were sent to

quertyuiop@gmail.com as a carbon copy.

bcc: - Search Gmail for addresses and names in the Bcc ield. Note this only works with
emails you sent to Bcc recipients from Gmail.

Example: "bcc:heinz" inds all messages that you sent with, for example,
"hein@example.com" in the Bcc ield.

label: - Search Gmail for messages assigned a label. (Replace whitespace characters in
label names with hyphens.)

Example: "label:toodoo-doll" inds all messages labeled "toodoo doll".

has:userlabels - Search Gmail for emails that have any labels except those used by
default (i.e. not including labels such as "inbox", "trash" and "spam" but including Smart
Labels).

has:nouserlabels - Search for messages that have not been labeled with any labels
except those that Gmail uses by default.

is:starred - Search Gmail for messages that are starred.

Further stars:

has:yellow-star - Search Gmail for messages with a yellow star.

has:red-star - Search Gmail for messages with a red star.

has:orange-star - Search Gmail for messages with an orange star.

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has:green-star - Search Gmail for messages with a green star.

has:blue-star - Search Gmail for messages with a blue star.

has:purple-star - Search Gmail for messages with a purple star.

has:yellow-bang - Search Gmail for messages with a yellow exclamation mark.

has:red-bang - Search Gmail for messages with a red exclamation mark.

has:purple-question - Search Gmail for messages with a purple question mark.

has:orange-guillemet - Search Gmail for messages with two orange forward

arrows.

has:blue-info - Search Gmail for messages with a blue i.

is:unread - Search Gmail for new and unread messages.

is:read - Search Gmail for messages that have already been opened.

is:important - Search Gmail for messages that are marked important for Priority Inbox.

has:attachment - Search Gmail for messages that have iles attached to them.

ilename: - Search within ile names of attachments. You can also search for ile name
extensions to restrict your search to certain ile types.

Example: " ilename:.doc" inds all messages with word processing attachments.

is:buzz - Search Gmail for Google Buzz posts.

is:chat - Search Gmail for chat logs.

in: - Search in a standard "folder". You can search in Drafts, Inbox, Chats, Sent, Spam,
Trash and anywhere (for everything, including Spam and Trash).

Example: "in:drafts" inds all messages in your Drafts folder.

circle: - Search mail sent to you from people in the given Google+ circle. (Use quotation
marks to specify Google+ circles that include a whitespace in their name; escape
quotation marks in the name with a backslash (\) immediately preceding each quotation
mark.)

Example: 'circle:"my \"sailing\" circle" turns up all emails from people in your 'my
"sailing" circle" Google+ circle.

has:circle - Search Gmail for messages from somebody in any of your Google+ circles.

after: - Search for messages sent on or after a date. The date must be given in
YYYY/MM/DD format.

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Example: "after:2005/05/05" inds all messages sent or received on or after (i.e.

including) May 5, 2005.

before: - Search Gmail for messages sent before a date.

Example: "before:2005/05/05" inds all messages sent or received on May 4,

2005 and earlier.

larger: (or larger_than:) - Search for emails exceeding the given size. (Specify the size in
bytes without su ix or using "k" for kilobytes (as 1,000 bytes) and "m" for megabytes (as
1,000,000 bytes.)

Example: "larger_than:200k" inds all messages that exceed 200,000 bytes in

size.

size: - Search for messages exceeding the given size in bytes.

Example: "size:500000" inds emails bigger than 500,000 bytes or half a

megabyte.

smaller: (or smaller_than:) - Search for messages smaller than the speci ied size.
(Specify the size in bytes (no su ix) or using "k" for 1,000 bytes and "m" for 1,000,000
bytes.)

deliveredto: - Search Gmail for email with a certain email address in a "Delivered-To:"
header line.

Example: "deliveredto:me@example.com" inds messages that have

"me@example.com" in a "Delivered-To: header, because it has been forwarded
from that address, for example.

rfc822msgid: - Search for the message with the — just about certainly unique —
message ID. Gmail will not search for messages that refer to the message ID (replies, for
example). Example: "rfc822msgid:wW28 b6uf@mail.example.com" inds the message
with "wW28 b6uf@mail.example.com" in the "Message-ID:" header ield.

How to Combine Operators and Search Terms

Operators and search terms can be combined with the following modi iers:

By default, Gmail combines terms with (an invisible) "AND".

Examples: "shepherd macaroni" inds all messages that contain both "shepherd"
and "macaroni"; "before:2005/05/05 AND after:2005/05/04" inds all messages
sent or received on May 4, 2005.

"" - Search for a phrase. Case does not matter.

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Examples: "shepherd's macaroni" inds all messages containing the phrase

"shepherd's macaroni"; 'subject:"shepherd's macaroni' inds all messages that
have "shepherd's macaroni" in the Subject ield.

+ - Search for a term exactly as typed.

Example: "+shepherds" inds all emails that contain "shepherds", but not those
containing just "shepherd" or "shehperds" alone.

OR - Search Gmail for messages containing at least one of two terms or expressions.

Examples: "shepherd OR macaroni" inds messages that contain either

"shepherd" or "macaroni" or both; "from:heinz or label:toodoo-doll" inds
messages that either come from a sender that contains "email.guide" or appear
under the label "toodoo doll".

- - Search Gmail for messages that do not contain a term or expression.

Examples: "-macaroni" inds all messages that do not contain the word
"macaroni"; "shepherd -macaroni" inds all messages that contain the word
"shepherd" but not "macaroni"; 'subject:"shepherd's macaroni" -from:heinz'
inds all messages with "shepherd's macaroni" in the subject that were not sent
from an email address or name containing "heinz".

() - Group search terms or expressions.

Examples: "subject:(shepherd macaroni)" inds messages that have both

"shepherd" and "macaroni" somewhere in the Subject line (but not necessarily
as a phrase); "from:heinz (subject:(shepherd OR macaroni) OR label:toodoo-
doll)" inds all messages from a sender who has "email.guide" in their name that
either have "shepherd" or "macaroni" (or both) in the Subject line or appear
under the label "toodoo doll".
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Historical Gmail Search Operators

Gmail once included support for the following search operates that, sadly, no longer work:

lang: - Search Gmail for messages in a particular language. (Specify the language in
Here to help life go right. ®
English; "Chinese" worked, but "中文", "Putonghua" or "Mandarin" do not, for example.)
Find An Agent
Example: "lang:French" returned all emails that contain at least un peu de
Français.

Saved Searches
You can also bookmark Gmail searches easily for later repetition.
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