Searching email in Outlook on the web

How to search for specific email by sender, topic, date, etc. is a common need in email. Basic techniques and some advanced search terms are provided in this article.

 Objective

Searching for specific email by sender, topic, date, etc. Basic techniques and advanced search terms are provided in this article.

 Audience

• Students
• Faculty
• Staff

 Environment  

Outlook on the web

 Procedure

Basic search  

1. Sign in to the Outlook Web App.
2. In the Search box, type your search criteria (a phrase, name, or eID) and press Enter (or click the search button).
3. To search by specific folders, click in Search and click All.
4. To tailor your search, click Filter and select from these categories:
    
   • All -- (default) search all email stored in the Inbox   
   • Unread -- search only email you haven't read
   • To me -- search email that lists you in the To line
   • Flagged -- search email on which you have clicked the Flag icon
   • Has files -- search email that has attachments
   • Mentions me -- search email that mentions me
      
5. As you type, the web app displays options based on previous searches. To tailor the search, select a suggestion and press Enter. 
6. The resulting list of emails is ordered by Date by default.
7. At any time, you can click Filter and select Sort from the menu to display email results in a different order such as Date, From, Size, Important, Subject, etc.

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Advanced search 

Use these search formats to obtain more precise results.

• attachment:filename - search for an attachment by name (example: attachment:welcome.pdf)
• body:term - search for a word or phrase in the email contents (aka content:term)
• cc:person - search for someone listed in the CC line
• from:person - search for who sent the email (by eID or by name)  
• has:flag - find email that you have flagged (clicked the Flag icon) 
• has:attachment - find any email that has one or more attachments
• participants:name - search for someone across the To, CC, and BCC fields
• received:date - search for the date you received the email; uses same date format as Sent
• sent:date - search for the date the email was sent, by you or others
  • sent:today - find email sent today 
  • sent:last week - find email sent the previous week  
  • sent:this week - find email sent during the current week
  • sent:may - find email sent in May 
  • sent:may2013 - find email sent in May 2013 
  • sent:10may2013 - find email sent May 10, 2013
• subject:term - search for a word or phrase in the Subject line 
• to:person - search for whom the email was sent to (by eID or by name)