Choose a search level

Search Off skips search preparation. Basic Search finds senders, recipients, subjects, dates, attachments, and Outlook folder paths. Content Search also finds words in message text. Preparation can be paused and resumed from Activity or Search Level.

Use words, phrases, and exclusions

Plain words match searchable fields; Content Search also matches message text. Put a phrase in quotation marks to keep its words together. Prefix a word or filter with a minus sign to exclude it. Separate terms are combined, so every condition must match.

A content search for “Kyoto” combined with the sender filter for Sam. View full size
PST Office finding one archived email with the search query Kyoto sender colon Sam

Narrow results with filters

Use filters such as from:alex, to:team, subject:invoice, mailbox:inbox, date:2025, has:attachment, after:2025-01-01, or before:2026-01-01. Dates accept a year or YYYY-MM-DD where appropriate. The Filter menu can toggle has:attachment for you.

Check preparation and results

The status line shows preparation progress and the number of matches. Results are capped at the first 1,000 matches, and a large archive may find more results as search preparation continues.