Searching in Outlook

By | January 26, 2021
To access the advanced search tool: Go to Search (Tab) > Search Tools > Advanced FindOnce you select the search box, the ribbon changes.Use: AND, NOT, OR, <, >, =, operators (must be typed in all CAPS) to refine your search..

Search reference

Type this To find this
bob Items containing bob, bobbinbobby, BOBBY, BoBby, or any other combination of uppercase and lowercase letters. Instant Search is not case sensitive. This will NOT find items containing abcBOBdef, or 123bob.
bob moore Items containing bob, along with all of the variations listed in the previous row, or moore, along with any other words that contain moore, but not necessarily in that order.
bobby AND moore Items containing both bobby and moore, but not necessarily in that order. Note that logical operators such as AND, NOT, and OR must be in uppercase letters.
bobby NOT moore Items containing bobby, along with all variations listed in the first row of the table, but not moore.
bobby OR moore Items containing bobby, along with all variations listed in the first row of the table, moore, or both.
“bob” Items containing the exact phrase bob and not the variations such as bobby or bobbin. To search for an exact string, you must use quotation marks.
from:”bobby moore” Items sent from bobby moore. Note the use of double quotes so that the search results match the exact phrase within the quotes. You can also type from: and then the first few letters of a contact’s name and Outlook will suggest a list of contacts for you to select.
from:”bobby moore” about:”status report” Items sent from bobby moore where status report appears in the subject line, body, or attachment contents. Note the use of double quotes so that the search results match the exact phrase within the quotes.

hasattachment:yes

Items that have attachments. You can also use hasattachment:true to get the same results.
attachments:presentation.pptx Items that have attachments named presentation.pptx or an attachment that contains presentation.pptx within its contents.
subject:”bobby moore” Items whose subject contains the phrase bobby moore.
cc:”bobby moore” Items in which the display name bobby moore is on the Cc line.
cc:bobbymoore@contoso.com Items in which the e-mail address bobbymoore@contoso.com is on the Cc line.
bcc:bobby Items in which bobbyy is on the Bcc line.
category:red Items that contain a category name that includes the word red. For example “Red category” or “Redo” or “Redundant.”
messagesize:<10 KB Items whose size is less than 10 kilobytes. Note the use of the “less than” comparison operator (<).
messagesize:>5 MB Items whose size is larger than 5 megabytes. Note the use of the “greater than” comparison operator (>).
received:=1/1/2016 Items that arrived on 1/1/2016. Note the use of the “equals” comparison operator (=). Note: Support for specifying custom dates via the Expanded Search drop-down is missing from some builds of Outlook for Windows. Users can still manually enter dates in the main search box. This is fixed in builds 16.0.12126.10000 and later.
received:yesterday Items that arrived yesterday. Instant Search also recognizes the follow date values:
  • Relative dates:    For example, today, tomorrow, yesterday
  • Multi-word relative dates:    For example, this week, next month, last week, past month, coming year
  • Days:     Sunday, Monday … Saturday
  • Months:     January, February … December
received:last week Items that arrived last week. Note that if you run this query again a month from now you will obtain different results because it is a time relative query.
due:last week Items that are flagged for follow up a due date.
messagesize:tiny Items whose size is less than 10 kilobytes
messagesize:small Items whose size is between 10 and 25 kilobytes
messagesize:medium Items whose size is between 25 and 100 kilobytes
messagesize:large Items whose size is between 100 and 500 kilobytes
messagesize:verylarge Items whose size is between 500 kilobytes and 1 megabyte
followupflag:follow up Items that are flagged using the Follow Up flag.
messagesize:enormous Items whose size is larger than 5 megabytes
hasflag:true Items that are flagged for follow up.
from:bobby (received:1/7/17 OR received:1/8/17) Items from bobby that arrived on either 1/7/17 or 1/8/17. Note the use of parentheses to group the dates.
received>=10/1/16 AND received<=10/5/16 Items that arrived between 10/1/16 and 10/5/16.
Note: For received ranges, do not use a colon.
received>10/1/16 AND received<10/5/16 Items that arrived after 10/1/16 but before 10/5/16.

Note: For received ranges, do not use a colon.

sent: yesterday Returns all items sent yesterday (by anyone). This search will return items you sent to others and items others sent to you.
to:bobby Items that you sent to bobby when you are searching in the Sent Items folder.
read:no Items that have not been read. You can also use read:false to get the same results.
subject:status received:May Items received from anyone during the month of May (any year) where the subject contains status.

Calendar Searches

The following searches will only return the proper results when run from a Calendar folder.

Type this To find this
startdate:next week subject:status  Calendar items next week where the subject contains status.
is:recurring Calendar items that are recurring.
organizer:bobby Calendar items where bobby is the organizer.

Contact Searches

The following searches will only return the proper results when run from a Contacts folder.

Type this To find this
firstname:bobby Contacts that contain bobby in the First Name field.
lastname:moore Contacts that contain moore in the Last Name field.
nickname:bobby Contacts that contain bobby in the Nickname field.
jobtitle:physician Contacts that contain physician in the Job Title field.
businessphone:555-0100 Contacts that contain 555-0100 in the Business Phone field.
homephone:555-0100 Contacts that contain 555-0100 in the Home Phone field.
mobilephone:555-0100 Contacts that contain 555-0100 in the Mobile Phone field.
businessfax:555-0100 Contacts that contain 555-0100 in the Business Fax field.
businessaddress:(4567 Main St., Buffalo, NY 98052) Contacts that contain 4567 Main St., Buffalo, NY 98052 in the Business Address field. Note the use of parentheses to enclose the address.
homeaddress:(4567 Main St., Buffalo, NY 98052) Contacts that contain 4567 Main St., Buffalo, NY 98052 in the Home Address field. Note the use of parentheses to enclose the address.
businesscity:buffalo Contacts that contain buffalo in the Business City field.
businesspostalcode:98052 Contacts that contain 98052 in the Business Postal Code field.
street:(4567 Main St) Contacts that contain 4567 Main St in the Business Address Street field. Note the use of parentheses to enclose the address.
homestreet:(4567 Main St) Contacts that contain 4567 Main St in the Home Address Street field. Note the use of parentheses to enclose the address.
birthday:6/4/1960 Contacts that contain 6/4/1960 in the Birthday field.
webpage:www.contoso.com Contacts that contain the URL www.contoso.com in the Web Page Address field.