Module 5 · 5.3
English
Searching like a pro
Module 5: Organising and finding · Reading time: 9 minutes
Learning objective: After this lesson you can choose the right search field, type, date and scope for any search, and you understand why the webmail sometimes cannot find something.
Key concepts: search box, search options, Scope, Entire message, Type, IMAP SEARCH, clearing the search
Searching happens on the server
When you search in the webmail, it is not your browser that searches your email, but the mail server. The webmail sends a search command (IMAP SEARCH) to the server via IMAP, for example: "give me the messages in the Inbox whose sender contains ahmed". The server sends back the numbers of the matching messages, and the webmail shows them.
That explains a few things:
- Searching is just as fast on an old laptop as on a fast computer, because the work happens on the server.
- You search everything on the server, including messages from years ago that your email program no longer downloaded.
- What the server does not see as text, it cannot find. The text inside an attachment, such as a PDF or a Word file, is not searched. So a word that only appears in the quote attached to an email will not be found. Search by sender, subject or period instead.
Where to search: the fields
By default, the webmail searches the subject and the sender. Click the arrow in the search box to open the search options and choose where the webmail looks. You can switch on several fields at once; a message then counts as a match if the word appears in at least one of those fields.
| Field | Where the webmail searches | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | the Subject header | "offerte" |
| From | the From header, name and address | "ahmed" or "example.net" |
| To | the To header | the address of a supplier you emailed |
| Copy | the Cc header | someone who was copied in |
| Bcc | the Bcc header (only in your own sent email) | who you copied in secretly |
| Body | the text of the message | a word from the email itself |
| Entire message | headers and text together | when you don't know where the word is |
There are also Reply-To and Followup-To, for the headers with those names. You will rarely need them.
Why not always use Entire message? Because you then get far more matches. If you search for "example.net" in the entire message, you find not only email from Ahmed, but every email in which that domain appears anywhere: in a signature, in a forwarded email, in a header added by a server. The more specific the field, the shorter the list.
Type and date: narrowing the list further
With Type you choose which kind of messages you want to see: All, Unread, Flagged, Unanswered, Deleted, Not deleted, With attachment or Priority. This also works without a search term. If you only choose Type With attachment in Sent, you see everything you sent with an attachment.
With Date you choose a period: younger or older than a week, a month or a year. "Older than a year" is handy when tidying up (lesson 5.4), "younger than a month" when you know it was recent.
Type, date and search term work together. Every extra criterion makes the list shorter.
Scope: which folders
The Scope determines which folders the server searches:
- Current folder: only the folder you have open. The fastest and the smallest.
- This and subfolders: the folder you have open plus all folders below it. Handy if you have a folder Klanten (clients) with a subfolder for each client, or an archive split up by year.
- All folders: every folder in your mailbox, including Sent, Spam and Trash.
When you search several folders at once, you also see which folder each message is in. That way you immediately see where a message ended up, for example because of a filter.
Keep two things in mind. The scope is relative: "This and subfolders" means something different when you are in the Inbox than when you are in Klanten. And a message you sent yourself is in Sent, not in the Inbox. If you are looking for an email you sent to someone, the To field and a scope that includes Sent is the right choice.
A three-step approach
If you are looking for something and don't know where to start, work from narrow to broad:
- What do you know for sure? The sender, a word from the subject, roughly when. Choose the field that matches.
- Where is it probably? Choose the smallest scope that is sure to be right.
- Nothing found? Widen it step by step: add Body, then All folders, and only then Entire message. Also look in Spam and Trash; All folders automatically includes them.
Search for part of a name if you are not sure of the rest: just the surname "Vries" also finds "Sanne de Vries". Capital letters make no difference.
After searching, don't forget to clear the search with the cross in the search box. Otherwise the list stays filtered and you think email is missing. The options you chose also stay set for your next search. If you are surprised that a normal search suddenly looks in all folders, you probably set it up that way last time.
Searching your address book
The address book has its own search box. There you search by name or address, and with Search at the top you can search in more detail, for example by organisation. This is separate from searching your email. Module 7 covers the address book in more depth.
In practice: how it works in the webmail
The search box is above the message list; the arrow on the right inside it opens the search options with the fields, Type, Date and Scope. The envelope icon in the search box shows only unread messages in one click. The steps are in the Roundcube manual under Searching your email. Other webmail works in a similar way: Gmail and Outlook.com have a search bar with advanced options, and Gmail supports search operators such as from: and has:attachment.
Summary
- Searching happens on the mail server (IMAP SEARCH); the text in attachments is not searched.
- Choose the most specific field: From, To or Subject gives less noise than Entire message.
- Type and Date make the list shorter, even without a search term.
- Scope: Current folder, This and subfolders, or All folders. Your own sent email is in Sent.
- Work from narrow to broad and clear the search when you are done.
Quiz
Exercise
Exercise A5.3: Which search? Sanne's mailbox has an Inbox, Sent, Spam, Trash, a folder Klanten (clients) with a subfolder for each client, and an Archive split up by year. For each question, choose the Scope (Current folder, This and subfolders or All folders) and the search field (Subject, From, To, Body or Entire message). Always take the smallest scope and the most specific field that is sure to work. 1. Sanne has the Inbox open. She is sure the email from ahmed@example.net is still there, but she has no idea what the subject was. 2. Sanne is looking for an email she sent to levering@example.org herself. She doesn't know whether it is still in Sent or already in one of the archive folders. 3. Sanne has the folder Klanten open. She knows a client once wrote the word "rozenboog" in the text of his email, but not in the subject, and she no longer remembers which client it was. For each question, the program compares your scope and field with the answer key and explains every mistake.
Further reading
Where steps in the webmail are described, they apply to the WebOké webmail; other webmail works in a similar way.
- Roundcube Webmail 9.1: Searching your mail
- Roundcube Webmail 8.1: Adding and finding contacts
- Restore mailbox or deleted emails from the backup
- RFC 9051, IMAP version 4rev2, with the SEARCH command: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9051