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Google Advanced Search

Google Advanced search operators allow users to refine Gmail searches through special query words or symbols. The document lists many useful operators such as "from:", "to:", and "subject:" to search by sender, recipient, or subject line. It also describes how to search by label, attachment, or time period. Boolean operators like "OR" and "-" can be used to find messages matching either term or excluding certain terms.

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654 views

Google Advanced Search

Google Advanced search operators allow users to refine Gmail searches through special query words or symbols. The document lists many useful operators such as "from:", "to:", and "subject:" to search by sender, recipient, or subject line. It also describes how to search by label, attachment, or time period. Boolean operators like "OR" and "-" can be used to find messages matching either term or excluding certain terms.

Uploaded by

AI
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Google Advanced search

Advanced search operators are query words or symbols that perform special actions in Gmail search. These operators allow you to find what you're
looking for quickly and accurately. They can also be used to set up filters so you can organize your inbox automatically. Some of the most useful
operators are listed below. You can also refine your search by clicking the arrow in the search box.

Operator

Definition

Examples

from:

Used to specify the sender

Example: from:amy
Meaning: Messages from Amy

to:

Used to specify a recipient,


including "cc:" and "bcc:" fields

Example: to:david
Meaning: All messages that were sent to David (by you/someone else)

subject:

Search for words in the subject line

Example: subject:dinner
Meaning: Messages that have the word "dinner" in the subject

OR

Search for messages matching


term A or term B*
*OR must be in all caps

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
the word "movie"

label:

Search for messages by label

Example: from:amy label:friends


Meaning: Messages from Amy that have the label "friends"
Example: from:david label:my-family
Meaning: Messages from David that have the label "My Family"

has:attachment

Search for messages with an


attachment

Example: from:david has:attachment


Meaning: Messages from David that have an attachment

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 attachment named "physicshomework.txt"

Example: label:work filename:pdf


Meaning: Messages labeled "work" that also have a PDF file as an
attachment
""
(quotes)

()

Used to search for an exact


phrase*
*Capitalization isn't taken into
consideration

Example: "i'm feeling lucky"


Meaning: Messages containing the phrase "i'm feeling lucky" or "I'm
feeling lucky"

Used to group words


Used to specify terms that
shouldn't be excluded

Example: from:amy (dinner OR movie)


Meaning: Messages from Amy that contain either the word "dinner" or
the word "movie"

Example: subject:"dinner and a movie"


Meaning: Messages containing the phrase "dinner and a movie" in the
subject

Example: subject:(dinner movie)


Meaning: Messages in which the subject contains both the word
"dinner" and the word "movie"
in:anywhere

Search for messages anywhere in


Gmail*
*Messages in Spam and Trash are
excluded from searches by default

Example: in:anywhere movie


Meaning: Messages in All Mail, Spam, andTrash that contain the
word "movie"

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 inTrash

is:important
label:important

Search within messages


thatPriority Inbox considers
important.

Example: is:important from:janet


Meaning: Messages from Janet that were marked as important
by Priority Inbox

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 have been read and are marked
with a star

has:yellow-star
has: red-bang
has: green-check
has: blue-info

Search for messages with a


particular star (red, orange, green,
blue, purple, orange-guillemet,
purple-question, yellow-bang

Example: has:purple-star from:David


Meaning: Messages from David that are marked with a purple star

cc:

Used to specify recipients in

Example: cc:david

bcc:

thecc: or bcc: fields*


*Search on bcc: cannot retrieve
messages on which you were blind
carbon copied

Meaning: Messages that were cc-ed to David

after:
before:
older:
newer:

Search for messages sent or


received during a certain period of
time
(using the date format yyyy/mm/dd)

Example: after:2004/04/16 before:2004/04/18


Meaning: Messages sent between April 16, 2004 and April 18, 2004.*
*More precisely: Messages sent after 12:00 AM (or 00:00) April 16,
2004 and before April 18, 2004.

older_than
newer_than

Similar to older and newer, but


allows relative dates using d, m,
and y for day, month, and year

Example: newer_than:2d
Meaning: Finds messages sent within the last two days.

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 DeliveredTo: field of the message header (which can help you find messages
forwarded from another account or ones sent to an alias).

circle:

Search for messages that were


sent from someone who you added
to a particular Google+ circle

Example: circle:friends
Meaning: Any message that was sent by a person in your "Friends"
circle.
Examples: circle:"soccer friends (team blue)" or circle:"my \"fab
four\""
Notes: For circle names that include a space, parentheses, curly
brackets, or vertical bar, add quotes around the name. For names that
include quotes, add a back slash immediately before the quotes.

has:circle

Search for all messages that were


sent from someone who you added
to your Google+ circles

Example: has:circle
Meaning: Any message that was sent by a person in any of your
circles.

category:

Search for messages within a


category

Example: category:updates
Meaning: All messages in the Updates category.
Example: category:social Mindy
Meaning: Messages in the Social category that include Mindy.

size:

Search for messages larger than


the specified size in bytes

Example: size:1000000
Meaning: All messages larger than 1MB (1,000,000 bytes) in size.

larger:
smaller:

Similar to size: but allows


abbreviations for numbers

Example: larger:10M
Meaning: All messages of at least 10M bytes (10,000,000 bytes) in
size.

+
(plus sign)

Match the search term exactly

Example: +unicorn
Meaning: Finds messages containing unicorn but not unicorns or
unciorn

rfc822msgid:

Find a message by the message-id


header

Example:rfc822msgid:200503292@example.com
Meaning: Locates the exact message with the specified SMTP
message-id. Learn more about headers.

has:userlabels
has:nouserlabels

Search for messages that have


and have not had labels that you
created applied to them.
NOTE: Gmail applies labels to
individual messages, not to
conversation threads.

Example: has:nouserlabels
Meaning: Finds all messages without any of your own labels (excludes
automatic labels like inbox, spam, and trash). Since Gmail applies
labels to individual messages, you might see results that appear to
have labels; in this case, another message in the same conversation
thread has had a label applied to it.

Boolean operators
You can use boolean operators such as 'OR' when searching in Gmail.
For example, to look for messages from username@gmail.com and messages that contain the subject line 'Meeting reminder', you can enter
'username@gmail.com OR meeting reminder' in your Gmail search box.
Using these along with Gmail's advanced operators can be a great way of making your search criteria more powerful. The 'or' function in Gmail is
represented by 'OR,' and the 'not' function is represented by a minus (-). You also can use quotes (" ") to specify an exact phrase.

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