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Performing an advanced search
Who is this article for?User searching their email messages.
No special access or permissions are required.
Searching allows you to quickly find messages in systems supported by Mail Manager, such as local and network folders, Microsoft SharePoint, etc.
The advanced search functionality provides more complex and powerful queries that can be run to find the messages you need.
This article outlines how to use the search functionality to find filed mail.
1. Search considerations
- The following words are ignored when searching: the, and, in, is, a, of, I.
- The following symbols are ignored when searching: £, $, %, #, @.
- Terms: Multiple words and phrases surrounded by double quotes, e.g. "phase 2".
- Fields: field names are case sensitive and need to be followed immediately by a colon ":" e.g. Subject:"Phase 2" or Subject:Phase.
- When searching for letters and numbers use a wildcard search e.g. RFI-3*
2. Searchable fields
The following fields are searchable only in the single query field (Search For Any Keywords):
|
Field Name |
Multi-field Search |
Data Type |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Body |
Y |
Text |
Message Contents |
|
From |
Y |
Text |
|
|
To |
Y |
Text |
|
|
Cc |
Y |
Text |
|
|
Bcc |
Y |
Text |
|
|
SentDate |
N |
Date |
See 3.2 Date Fields |
|
Subject |
Y |
Text |
Not sortable. See "Normalised_Subject" for a sortable subject field |
|
Normalised_Subject |
N |
Text |
Subject without "Re:", "Fwd:" etc. Language neutral. Used during subject sort operations |
|
SenderEmailAddress |
N |
Text |
One email address only |
|
ToEmailAddresses |
N |
Text |
One or more email addresses space separated |
|
CcEmailAddresses |
N |
Text |
One or more email addresses space separated |
|
BccEmailAddresses |
N |
Text |
One or more email addresses space separated |
|
Comment |
Y |
Text |
|
|
EmbeddedAttachments |
N |
Numeric |
|
|
NonEmbeddedAttachments |
N |
Numeric |
|
|
Attachments |
N |
Text |
|
|
Categories |
Y |
Text |
|
|
LastWriteTime |
N |
Date |
Windows Explorer "Date modified" see 3.2 Date Fields |
|
Size |
N |
Numeric |
Size in bytes |
|
Location |
N |
Text |
|
3. Advanced Options
| Search Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes | Using quotes will search for that exact term. |
Entering "Company Newsletter" (in quotes) will return only the emails that include the phrase "Company Newsletter". Removing the quotes will display results that include either term. |
| Wildcards |
Wildcard symbols can be used to widen the scope of results or to replace individual characters * = multiple character wildcard ? = single character wildcard |
"Manage*" will search all emails that contain words starting with Manage e.g. Manager, Management etc. "RFI-3???" will search for RFI's in the the 3000 series |
| Fuzzy Search | The search will include words that are spelled similar. | "Licence~" will return any email with "Licence" or "License" (plus any other incorrectly spelled versions of the word. |
| Proximity Search | Finding words that are within a specific number of words away from each other. |
"bridge collapse"~6 will show any messages where the words bridge and collapse appear within six words of each other (e.g. We need to investigate what caused the bridge to collapse). |
| Boosting a Term | Messages with this term will appear higher in the search results. | "Payment^4 demand" will mean messages with the word payment will be more prominent. |
| Logical Operators | A search criteria can be created using operators to cover multiple conditions see: 3.1. Logical Operators for more details. | "Fire AND escape" will mean that results will only include messages containing both the words "fire" and "escape". |
| Escape Characters | Advanced search queries use characters to build the query (such as & or brackets) but if you need to search for those characters in an email you need to escape the character. |
"Permissions & Security" will be searched for as "Permissions \& Security". "Permissions (& Security)" will need to be searched for as "Permissions \(\& Security\)". |
3.1. Logical Operators
The below operators can be used in the Keyword search filter at the top of the Search window:
Logical Operators cannot be used in the Search filters running down the left-hand-side of the Search window - only the Keyword search at the top can be used.
| Logical Operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Requires multiple words/phrases to be included in the messages. | "Fire AND escape" will mean that results will only include messages containing both the words "fire" and "escape". |
| OR | Requires at least one condition to be present. | "Fire OR inferno" will mean that results will include messages that include either "fire" or "inferno". |
| NOT | Messages will be ignored if they include a word. | "NOT server" will mean any messages with the word "server" will not be returned. |
3.2 Date Fields
When specifying date queries, such as SentDate and LastWriteTime, you can use the following terms to define the range:
- minimum
- maximum
- tomorrow
- today
- yesterday
- -1s (minus one second)
- -1i (minus one minute)
- -1h (minus one hour)
- -1d (minus one day)
- -1w (minus one week)
- -1m (minus one month)
- -1y (minus one year)
Example
LastWriteTime:[today TO tomorrow] will display messages filed today.
The date range is applied after the above filters.