Google’s email service is estimated as one of the main tools to manage large amounts of information. Therefore, most of the people, use this platform when handling their emails.
However, over the years, these users are likely to accumulate multiple emails in your account and for that reason, it is more difficult to find certain contents between the folders. Therefore, it has been created advanced search function.
Inherently, this option helps locate any email or fragment of it efficiently. For this reason, we will show you what are its main pros and how it should be used to get the most out of it.
What is Gmail Advanced Search and what are the benefits of using it?
Advanced search is defined as an extension of the simple search function that offers the possibility of use a wide range of inquiry criteria when searching for archived items accurately. Thus, the advanced search for Gmail consists of a utility that allows filter the results in order to locate a specific message in a concrete and fast way.
The advanced search function of Gmail helps to locate an email suggesting certain search terms as the user enters words. Which, by default, are based on the information held by the Gmail account in question. That is, both messages and contacts, as well as previous searches and tags; for example. Therefore, this functionality is characterized by guarantee optimal benefits to users from the Gmail email platform.
These are summarized in the following:
- Speed. In just seconds, the system provides you with the information you need, without having to carry out exhaustive searches.
- Ease. Just by entering a word or term, you can find what you need among all your emails.
- Organization. As if that weren’t enough, this Gmail option also serves to clean up your service mailbox.
- Versatility. Apart from locating any message easily, advanced search helps to free up and reclaim space in your Gmail account, targeting the oldest and most useless messages in order to delete them.
Learn step by step how to use Gmail’s advanced search to find any email on all devices
In order to get the most out of the advanced search in Gmail, it is appropriate that you know how should you make use of this function.
That is why, below, we specify each of the available options to do it with advanced search commands, specify an email or obtain a specific attachment, according to your requirements:
Gmail Advanced Search Commands
The system Gmail provides a series of commands that they are called “operators” and are defined as text strings made up of words and symbols that are entered in the search field to perform special actions supported by the email service of Google. They are useful and ideal commands to quickly filter emails and even handle other functions. In addition to streamlining the search process, you will have the possibility to combine commands to filter results to a greater degree.
In this way, it will be easy to modify the search, acquire much more satisfactory results and find what you need in a rush within Gmail. In this sense, the main reason for using these operators is that they are characterized by save time for the user. Either, for example, to search for messages from a specific sender (desde), specify detailed keywords (subject), get emails sent to a certain recipient (to), etc.
The process to use them on the platform consists of:
- First, access your Gmail account.
- From the main page, locate the search bar at the top.
- Following, enter the advanced search command or operator what you want to use.
- Finally, enter your search term and hit the Enter key to see the matching results.
Search any mail
This is the most used method when it comes to advanced search for Gmail. A) Yes, it’s about making use of the search tab at the top. Which offers the possibility of filtering different data around what you need.
In this sense, the procedure to follow to search for any email based on this method is based on the following step by step:
- Access your Gmail account, to start.
- Now, press the down arrow seen in the search bar.
- Once a tab unfolds, it’s time to detail the most specific data you can, about the email you are trying to locate.
- Finally, when you fill in the fields you want, just subtract click on the “Search” button to see the matches. If you want, you can also create a filter with it.
It is appropriate to highlight that the available fields that help to discriminate the advanced search in this way are: From, To, Subject, Contains the words (key terms), Does not contain, Size (in MB), Date ranges, Search, Contains attachments (or not) and Don’t include chats.
Find an attachment
Yes, instead of locating an email message from a specific person or in a specific date range, for example; what you need is look for an email with an attachment, you must follow other more specific procedures.
Thus, the main one of all, is the following:
- Login to your account Gmail Y go to the search bar from the top.
- Then select the down arrow found there and press on “Contains attachments” to press the button “Look for”.
- Next, to further filter the search term, choose choose the type of attachment at the top (image, spreadsheet, Pdf, document, etc.). That’s all.
For its part, another way to find an attachment specific within your account Gmail, consists in use the search command called “filename”. Which is characterized by facilitating the search for a certain file or a type of attachment. For example, if you need to get a PDF, the search term would be: filename: program.pdf.
List of the most useful advanced search commands to find anything in Gmail
In case it seems more practical make use of advanced search operators in Gmail to filter your e-mails and refine the data more quickly, it is essential that you know what the commands are most useful of all in order to take full advantage of this functionality.
Therefore, here we highlight the most efficient shortcuts that you can enter in the search bar:
- Filename: (file name) or (file type) – Allows you to search for a specific file or kind of attachment in the system.
- Subject: (word) or (phrase) – To locate emails that contain the word or phrase specified in the subject.
- Category: (category name) – Search emails in the category entered.
- Before: (before – date) – View emails sent before a specific date.
- After: (after – date) – Locate the emails sent on or after the date described.
- From: (sender) – This is a command that allows you to view messages from a concise sender.
- To: (recipient) – Employee to search for the recipient of a message in Gmail.
- In: (folder) or (label) – It is useful to search the emails that are inside that folder or label.
- CC: (name) – Specify a sent Gmail email that has copied a certain name.
- Bcc: (name) – Helps to locate shared emails that blindly copy a certain user.
- Label: (label) – It deals with searching for messages by certain labels.
- In: anywhere: – Observe emails in any of your email service folders.
- Has: attachment – Search for messages that have an attachment within them.
- OR: (uppercase only) – Works to make word combinations. Example: subject: (job OR delivery).
- (finished) – Ideal for excluding emails with that specific term.
- (term or phrase) – Locate a specific word or phrase among all messages.
- + (word) – Search for email messages that contain the exact word.