Defining search criteria

The search types available in Sender, Recipients, Subject, and Free text fields are:
  • Term – typically searches for a single word that exists in some text. Example: summer
  • Phrase – a sequence of terms, which can be search by quoting a set of terms. Example: “summer holiday”
  • Wildcard – a search that makes use of the ? (question mark) and * (asterisk) characters to search for one or more unknown characters. Example: p?rt, m*ger
  • Prefix – a variant on Wildcard which is just a term with trailing wildcard (*), week*
  • Fuzzy – a search type that can search for words that are ‘spelt like’ the specified term. Uses the ~ (tilde) character to denote a fuzzy search. Example: dubble~
  • MUST – can require that a search element MUST exist in a message. Uses a + (plus) symbol. Example: project +meeting
  • MUST NOT – can require that a search element MUST NOT exist in a message. Uses a – (minus) symbol. Example: project - status
  • Bracketing – simple bracketing can combine AND/OR elements in a search. Example: project (meeting status)
Note: The administrator may have prevented certain types of search. For example, he can restrict fuzzy and wildcard searches.
Searches are case-insensitive. For example, you can type john smith to search for John Smith.
It is possible to specify search criteria in more than one of the search fields at the same time. The criteria are combined with AND.
The criteria specified in all used fields must match in the result. Example: A search with John Smith in Sender field and budget in Subject field matches to messages with the word budget in the subject that were sent by John Smith.
In Online Search the Method box includes Contains word, Starts with, and Exact match methods.
Note: Contains word means that the search term must exist in the result as given in the search field. For example, the search term week matches to week, but not to weekdays or weekend. Starts with method requires complete words.
Sender, Recipient and Subject searches
You can specify more than one search choice in Sender, Recipient and Subject fields. Separate the search choices with the character that you have selected as your list separator in Common Preferences (comma by default). The meaning of the separator is to denote optional search criteria. Example: Smith, Jones matches with either Smith or Jones. Example: meeting minutes, meeting agenda matches with either meeting minutes or meeting agenda. Within a single search clause if there is more than one term, the operator between the terms in the clause is AND. Example: project meeting minutes finds matches where terms project, meeting and minutes all occur in any position of the text. Note: If you want to search for the exact string put the phrase in quotes. Example: “project meeting minutes”.
In Sender and Recipient fields you can specify:
  • the sender’s or recipient’s name as a whole or part of it. Example: John Smith. Example: John.
  • the sender’s or recipient’s Internet email address or part of it. Example: john.smith@acme.com. Example: acme.com.
  • the recipient’s alias that you have specified for a directory entry when searching sent messages. Example: Johnny (alias for a directory entry John Smith)
  • the recipient as a group name when searching sent messages. Example: Sales team.
TO, CC, and BCC recipients are searched in sent messages. TO and CC messages are searched in received messages.
Note: Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT are not supported in Sender, Recipient and Subject fields. Use + instead of AND, use your list separator instead of OR, use – instead of NOT.
Tip: You can use a bracketed search like john (smythe smith schmidt) to find either of the names John Smythe, John Smith, or John Schmidt.
Free text field
By default Free text field searches text that exists in the message text and text-based attachment files. Example: The search term report in Free text field finds messages with the word report either in the message text or attached files. Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT are supported in Free text field. Example: order OR invoice finds messages with the word order or the word invoice in the message text or attached files. Bracketing terms is important when using combinations of AND and OR operators. The interpretation of the search clause a AND b OR c is not straightforward. Specify the criteria explicitly with brackets. Example: (a AND b) OR c. Example: a AND (b OR c)
Note: Comma cannot be used as separator in Free text field. Use OR instead.
Free text field can also be used for advanced searches that use prefixes to indicate search target and the different search types. This allows using Free text field to search also for sender, recipient, and subject. The Free text field prefixes also include attachment file name and date range prefixes.
The prefix indicators available in Free text field are:
  • from: - sender. Example: from: “john smith”
  • to: - TO recipients. Example: to: jones
  • cc: - CC recipients. Example: cc: peter.jones@acme.com
  • bcc: - BCC recipients. Example: bcc: ann.taylor@acme.com
  • subject: - term or phrase in Subject field. Example: subject: “marketing plan ”
  • attname: - file name of an attachment. Example: attname: budget.doc
  • date: - date range. Example: date:[19990101 TO 19990131]
Examples of advanced searches in Free text field:
  • to: “john smith” OR from: “john smith” finds messages sent to John Smith (TO recipient) and messages John Smith sent to you
  • to: “john smith” AND attname: budget.doc finds messages sent to John Smith that contain an attachment called budget.doc