Pro Tips: Gmail Search

Day after day, your email is buried underneath hundreds of new email. So even after a week, if you want to dig up a particular email, you get into trouble. Here are a few tips I'd like to share that you can use in Gmail search to help you save time digging up email.

1. is:unread

When I read an email, if it's something I need to take an action on (e.g. reply back or re-read it more thoroughly, etc.) but I don't have time right now, I mark it as unread so that I can go over it later. Then, later on when I want to find out all the unread email, I type in "is:unread" in the search box. Voila!

2. is:starred

Similar to the above tip, if you have email that you have favorited, you can dig them up by typing "is:starred" on the search box. Or I guess you can just simply click on "Starred" on your left pane, too! lol

3. from:<person> & to:<person>

Got an email from your girlfriend recommending you an awesome restaurant a while ago (hint: she's asking you to take her there)? You can find it simply by typing, for example, "from:John Doe" in the search box. If that email contained the word "restaurant", you can narrow the email list down by searching "restaurant from:John Doe". Similarly, if you want to dig up an email you sent to your friend Donald, you can try "to:Donald Lau".

4. has:attachment

"Where is my electronic bus ticket from greyhound?", "Where is the email that had these documents?" Email with attachment can be easily found with "has:attachment". If you are running out of your Gmail inbox space, you might want to find all the email with attachments and delete them first, too!

5. Mix and Match All of the Above

You can use AND & OR keyword to mix and match all of the above search techniques. For example, if you want starred email from John Doe, you can type "is:starred AND from:John Doe".


Those are the ones that I use the most often when I search my inbox. If you'd like to see the complete list of advanced search options, check out http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7190

I'll share a few more Gmail pro tips later. Keep an eye on them if you found this posting useful.