Email Searching in Gmail with Operators
Gmail’s best feature is its email searching capabilities. Search terms or Operators help us finding mails more easily, effectively and conveniently. Thanks to Google’s proprietary search algorithms, we can find mails hidden deep inside. For example: Just adding after: or before: keyword, we can find mails within particular dates. Here are some more search terms that you might find useful in daily usage.
| 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 |
| OR | Search for messages matching term A or term B*
*OR must be in all |
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 |
| 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 Example: from:david label:my-family Meaning: Messages from David that |
| has:attachment | Search for messages with an attachment |
Example:
from:david has:attachment Meaning: Messages from David that have |
| list: | Search for messages on mailing lists | Example: list:info@example.com
Meaning: Messages with the words info@example.com 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 Example: label:work filename:pdf Meaning: Messages labeled |
| ” ” (quotes) | Used to search for an exact phrase*
*Capitalization isn’t taken into consideration |
Example: “i’m feeling lucky” Meaning: Messages containing Example: subject:”dinner and a movie” Meaning: Messages containing |
| ( ) | Used to group words Used to specify terms that shouldn’t be excluded |
Example: from:amy(dinner OR movie) Meaning: Messages from Amy Example: Meaning: Messages in which |
| in:anywhere | Search for messages anywhere in Gmail*
*Messages in Spam and Trash are excluded from searches |
Example: in:anywhere movie Meaning: Messages in All Mail, |
| 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 |
| 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.* |
| is:chat | Search for chat messages | Example: is:chat monkey Meaning: Any chat message including the word “monkey”. |
| deliveredto: | Search for messages within a particular email address in the Delivered-To line of the message header | Example: deliveredto:username@gmail.com Meaning: Any message with username@gmail.com in the Delivered-To: field of the message header (which can help you find messages forwarded from another account or ones sent to an alias). |
Via Google support
Related: Google Search Prefix Operators
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